Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/457

Rh THiE TONGA ISLANDS. 391 Mr. Manner has forgotten the exact words) that iQj'ala (which is the name of this part of the ceremony) is coming, and that every body must get out of the way. When they arrived at the back of the island, where any body may be present to see them, and, on this occasion, it Was at the part called Mofooe, every one proceeded to make a small basket of the leaves of the cocoa-nut tree, hold- ing about two quarts, and to fill it with sand : this being done, each of the men carried two upon a stick across the shoulder, one at each end — while the women only carried one, pressed, in general, against the left hip, or rather upon it, by the hand of the same side, and supported by the hand of the opposite side/ brought backwards across the loins, Vhich they consider the easiest mode for women to carry small burdens *; they then proceeded back the same way, and with the same ceremony, to the gtave. By this time the grave above the vault was nearly filled with the earth lately dug out, the remaining small space being left to be filled up by the sand, which is always more than enough for this purpose, that the mount, which the men use, as just described, dmo ; carrying in the^ hand by the side, taggi-laggi ; — ^whilst the general term for any mode of carrying is fooa.
 * This mode, which the women use, is called fafa ; that