ere deposited upon the ground; but although I had no doubt as to their
contents, still their thick coverings prevented my actually detecting
the form of a human body.

The next morning, shortly after sunrise, the same thundering sounds
which had awakened me from sleep on the second day of the Feast of
Calabashes, assured me that the savages were on the eve of celebrating
another, and, as I fully believed, a horrible solemnity.

All the inmates of the house, with the exception of Marheyo, his son,
and Tinor, after assuming their gala dresses, departed in the direction
of the Taboo Groves.

Although I did not anticipate a compliance with my request, still, with
a view of testing the truth of my suspicions, I proposed to Kory-Kory
that, according to our usual custom in the morning, we should take a
stroll to the Ti: he positively refused; and when I renewed the request,
he evinced his determination to prevent my going there; and, to divert
my mind from the subject, he offered to accompany me to the stream. We
accordingly went, and bathed. On our coming back to the house, I was
surprised to find that all its inmates had returned, and were lounging
upon the mats as usual, although the drums still sounded from the
groves.

The rest of the day I spent with Kory-Kory and Fayaway, wandering about
a part of the valley situated in an opposite direction from the Ti,
and whenever I so much as looked towards that building, although it was
hidden from view by intervening trees, and at the distance of more than
a mile, my attendant would exclaim, 'Taboo, taboo!'

At the various houses where we stopped, I found many of the inhabitants
reclining at their ease, or pursuing some light occupation, as if
nothing unusual were going forward; but amongst them all I did not
perceive a single chief or warrior. When I asked several of the people
why they were not at the 'Hoolah Hoolah' (the feast), their uniformly
answered the question in a manner which implied that it was not intended
for them, but for Mehevi, Narmonee, Mow-Mow, Kolor, Womonoo, Kalow,
running over, in their desire to make me comprehend their meaning, the
names of all the principal chiefs.

Everything, in short, strengthened my suspicions with regard to the
nature of the festival they were now celebrating; and which amounted
almost to a certainty. While in Nukuheva I had frequently been informed
that the whole tribe were never present at these cannibal banquets, but
the chi