Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/458

392 of which thefyfoca consists, may be strewed in like manner, it being considered a great embel- lishment to a grave to have it thus covered, and is thought to appear very well from a dis- tance, where the clean sand may be seen on the outside of the fytoca ; besides which, it is the custom, and nobody can explain the reason why, — which is the case with several of their customs. This being done, the temporary house is taken to pieces, and thrown behind the fyloca in the hole,, out of which the earth was originally dug to raise the mount on which the fytoca stands * : in this hole also are thrown all the baskets in which the sand was brought, as well as the remaining quantity of earth not used in filling up the grave. The ground within the fytoca is now covered with mats, similar to what are commonly used in the houses, and which are made of the leaves of the cocoa-nut tree. During the whole of this time the company was seated on the green be- fore the fytoca^ still clothed in mats, and their necks strung with the leaves of the ifi tree : after this they arose and went to their respective ha- bitations, where they shaved their heads, and burnt their cheeks with a small lighted roll of • Or rather the house upon the fytoca, for the latter is a term given merely to the mount and the grave within it ; they have several Jytocas which have no houses on them.