efs and priests only; and everything I now observed agreed with
the account.

The sound of the drums continued without intermission the whole day, and
falling continually upon my ear, caused me a sensation of horror which I
am unable to describe. On the following day, hearing none of those
noisy indications of revelry, I concluded that the inhuman feast was
terminated; and feeling a kind of morbid curiosity to discover whether
the Ti might furnish any evidence of what had taken place there, I
proposed to Kory-Kory to walk there. To this proposition he replied
by pointing with his finger to the newly risen sun, and then up to the
zenith, intimating that our visit must be deferred until noon. Shortly
after that hour we accordingly proceeded to the Taboo Groves, and as
soon as we entered their precincts, I looked fearfully round in, quest
of some memorial of the scene which had so lately been acted there; but
everything appeared as usual. On reaching the Ti, we found Mehevi and a
few chiefs reclining on the mats, who gave me as friendly a reception as
ever. No allusions of any kind were made by them to the recent events;
and I refrained, for obvious reasons, from referring to them myself.

After staying a short time I took my leave. In passing along the piazza,
previously to descending from the pi-pi, I observed a curiously carved
vessel of wood, of considerable size, with a cover placed over it, of
the same material, and which resembled in shape a small canoe. It was
surrounded by a low railing of bamboos, the top of which was scarcely
a foot from the ground. As the vessel had been placed in its present
position since my last visit, I at once concluded that it must have
some connection with the recent festival, and, prompted by a curiosity
I could not repress, in passing it I raised one end of the cover; at the
same moment the chiefs, perceiving my design, loudly ejaculated, 'Taboo!
taboo!'

But the slight glimpse sufficed; my eyes fell upon the disordered
members of a human skeleton, the bones still fresh with moisture, and
with particles of flesh clinging to them here and there!

Kory-Kory, who had been a little in advance of me, attracted by
the exclamations of the chiefs, turned round in time to witness the
expression of horror on my countenance. He now hurried towards me,
pointing at the same time to the canoe, and exclaiming rapidly,
'Puarkee! puarkee!' (Pig, pig). I pretended to yield to the deception,
and repe