nal names of most common objects in the language underwent
considerable alterations. No one might touch the body of the king or
queen; nay, any person who should so much as stand over them, or pass
his hand over their heads, was liable to pay for the sacrilege with the
forfeiture of his life. The very ground on which the king or queen even
accidentally trod became sacred; and any house belonging to a private
person which they entered must for ever be vacated by the owner and
either set apart for the use of the royal personages or burnt down with
every part of its furniture. Hence it was a general rule that the king
and queen never entered any dwellings except such as were specially
dedicated to their use, and never trod on the ground in any part of the
island but their own hereditary districts. In journeying they were
always carried on men's shoulders.[15]

[15] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 155 _sq._; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p.
329; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iii. 101 _sq._

The inauguration of a king consisted in girding him with a sacred girdle
(_maro ura_) of red, or red and yellow, feathers, which not only raised
him to the highest earthly station, but identified him with the gods.
The red feathers were taken from the images of the gods and interwoven
with feathers of other colours. A human victim was sacrificed when they
began to make the girdle, and another was sacrificed when it was
finished; sometimes others were slaughtered at intermediate stages, one
for each fresh piece added to the girdle. The blood of the victims was
supposed to consecrate the belt.[16]

[16] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iii. 108 _sqq._ Compare J. Wilson,
_op. cit._ pp. 327 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ ii. 22
_sq._; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and
Travels_, i. 526 _sq._, ii. 56. Another singular ceremony
observed at the installation of a king was this. The king
advanced into the sea and bathed there. Thither he was followed
by the priest of Oro bearing a branch plucked from a sacred tree
that grew within the precincts of the temple. While the king was
bathing, the priest struck him on the back with the holy bough,
at the same time invoking the great god Taaoroa. This ceremony
was designed to purify the monarch from any defilement or guilt
he might previously have contracted. See W. Ellis, _op. cit._
iii. 110.

The deification of kings in their lifetime would seem not to hav