; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 344.

That the mourners were not anxious to detain the departed spirit appears
from a custom observed by the Rarotongans and described by the
discoverer of the island, John Williams. He tells us that in order to
secure the admission of a departed spirit to future joys, the corpse was
dressed in the best attire the relatives could provide, the head was
wreathed with flowers, and other decorations were added. A pig was then
baked whole and placed on the body of the deceased, surrounded by a pile
of vegetable food. After that, supposing the departed to have been a
son, the father would thus address the corpse: "My son, when you were
alive I treated you with kindness, and when you were taken ill I did my
best to restore you to health; and now you are dead, there is your
_momoe o_, or property of admission. Go, my son, and with that gain an
entrance into the palace of Tiki,[44] and do not come to this world
again to disturb and alarm us." The whole would then be buried; and, if
they received no intimation to the contrary within a few days of the
interment, the relatives believed that the pig and the rest of the
victuals had obtained for the deceased an entrance to the abode of
bliss. If, however, a cricket was heard to chirp in the house, it was
deemed an ill omen, and they would immediately break into loud laments,
saying, for example, "Oh, our brother! his spirit has not entered the
paradise; he is suffering from hunger; he is shivering with cold!"
Forthwith the grave would be opened and the offering repeated. This
usually effected the purpose.[45]

[44] The name of the god of the Rarotongan paradise.

[45] John Williams, _Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the
South Sea Islands_, pp. 477 _sq._

In Rarotonga the provisions which were buried with the dead person as an
offering to Tiki sometimes consisted of the head and kidneys of a hog, a
split coco-nut, and a root of kava; in the island of Aitutaki it was
usual to place at the pit of the stomach of the corpse the kernel of a
coco-nut, and a piece of sugar-cane; in Mangaia the extremity of a
coco-nut frond served the same purpose of propitiating Tiki and ensuring
the entrance of the ghost into paradise.[46]

[46] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, pp.
170 _sq._

The bodies of the dead were anointed with scented oil, carefully wrapt
up in a number of cloths, and so committed