d an offering of blood for the dead. In
their fury some of the mourners fell on the canoes and houses, breaking
them up and tearing them down, felling the bread-fruit trees, and
devastating the plantations of yams and taro.[155]

[155] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, p.
148; G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 144; S. Ella, _op. cit._ p. 640; J.
B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 182; G. Brown, _Melanesians and
Polynesians_, pp. 401 _sq._

As decomposition is rapid in the hot moist climate of Samoa, it was
customary to bury commoners a few hours after death. The body was laid
out on a mat, anointed with scented oil, and the face tinged with
turmeric, to soften the cadaverous look. It was then wound up in several
folds of native cloth and the chin propped up, the head and face being
left uncovered, while for some hours longer the body was surrounded by
weeping relatives, who kept constant watch over it, so long as it
remained in the house. These watchers were always women, and none of
them might quit her post under any pretext till she was relieved by
another. A fire was kept burning brightly in the house all the time. If
the deceased had died of a complaint which had previously carried off
other members of the family, they would probably open the body to
"search for the disease." Any inflamed substance which they happened to
find they would take away and burn, thinking thus to prevent any other
member of the family from being similarly afflicted. Such a custom
betrays an incipient sense of death from natural, instead of
supernatural, causes, and must have contributed to diffuse a knowledge
of human anatomy.[156]

[156] W. T. Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, pp.
148 _sq._; G. Turner, _Samoa_, pp. 144 _sq._; J. B. Stair, _Old
Samoa_, 182; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 402.

So long as a corpse remained in the house no food might be eaten under
the roof; the family had their meals outside or in another house. Those
who had attended to the deceased or handled the corpse were taboo: they
might not feed themselves or touch food with their hands. For days they
were fed by others as if they were helpless infants. Baldness and the
loss of teeth were supposed to be the punishment inflicted by the
household god for a breach of the rule. Many people fasted at such
times, eating nothing during the day, but taking a meal in the evening.
The fifth day was a day of purification. The tabooed pe