Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 28, 1917.djvu/383

 The Bird Cult of Easter Island. 349

for ever in stolid calm. It is difficult to escape from the question, Were the statues on the mountain those of bird- men ?

The hopu also retired into private life ; if he were of the Mata-toa he could come to Orohie, but he might also reside in his own house, which was in that case divided by a partition through which food was passed ; it might not be eaten with his right hand as that had taken the egg. Gifts of food were supplied for three months by his late employer, but he could not eat them on pain of death ; they were therefore forwarded to others. The same rule applied to any present from the hopu to the bird-man. His wife and children were also kept in seclusion and forbidden to associate with others.

The new Mata-toa had meanwhile taken up their abode at Mataveri, the egg being, it was said, handed to them for a few minutes as a sign of succession. From here a few weeks after their arrival they went formally to Motu Nui to obtain the young manu-tara, known from their cry as " piu." After the brief visit of the birds when the first €gg was laid they absented themselves from the islet for a period varyingly reported as from three days to a month ; on their return they laid plentifully and as soon as the nestlings were hatched the Mata-toa carried them to the mainland, swimming with them in baskets bound round the forehead after the manner of the first egg. They were then taken in procession round the island, or, according to another account, as far as Orohie. It was not until the " piu " had been obtained that it was permissible to €at the egg, the period of commencement being known as " Toro," and they were then consumed by the Mata-kio only, not by the Mata-toa ; the first two or three eggs, it was explained, were given to god, to eat them would prove fatal. Some of the young manu-tara were kept in confinement till they were full grown, when a piece of red tapa was tied round the wing and leg and they were