o a
temporary shed just large enough to shelter him from the sun or screen
him from the rain; for if the man died in it, the destruction of the
wretched hovel was no great loss to the survivors.[95] A widow was
tabooed and had to observe the aforesaid restrictions from the death of
her husband until his bones had been scraped and deposited in their last
resting-place; and the same rule applied to a widower.[96] These taboos
were temporary and could be removed by a priest, who performed certain
rites and repeated certain spells (_karakias_), and thereby relieved the
tabooed person from the state of sanctity or consecration under which he
had laboured. The performance of the ceremony put an end to the
spiritual quarantine; the man ceased to be sacred, he became common
(_noa_) once more, and could mingle freely with his fellows. One of the
ceremonies of desecration, as we may call it, was to pass a consecrated
piece of wood over the right shoulder of the tabooed person, then round
his loins, and back again over the left shoulder, after which the stick
was broken in two and buried, burned, or cast into the sea.[97] Again, a
temporary taboo was laid on all persons who were engaged in planting
sweet potatoes, or in sorting the seed, or in digging and preparing the
ground; they might not leave the fields where they were at work nor
undertake any other labour. The fields themselves were sacred during
these operations; none but the persons who were tabooed for the purpose
might set foot on the ground or pluck up the weeds which grow rankly
round the roots of the vegetable.[98] Similarly, in their great
fishing-expeditions to catch mackerel, all concerned in making or
mending the nets were under a taboo: the ground where the nets were made
was sacred, and so was the river on the banks of which the work went on.
No man but the tabooed persons might walk over the land or pass up or
down the river in a canoe: no fire might be lighted within a prescribed
distance: no food might be dressed while the taboo lasted. Not till the
net had been finished and wetted with the sacred water, and the owner
had caught and eaten a fish, did these burdensome restrictions come to
an end by the removal of the taboo.[99] Once more, the men who took part
in a warlike expedition were under a severe taboo and had to observe
very strictly the customs which that mysterious state of consecration
rendered obligatory.[100] Even after their return home they were