which took place in a great assembly of the
body, the candidate received a new name, by which he was thenceforth
known in the Society.[41] When a member was advanced from a lower to a
higher grade, the ceremony was performed at a public festival which all
the members of the Society in the island were expected to attend. The
candidate was then taken to a temple, where he was solemnly anointed
with fragrant oil on the forehead, and offered a pig to the god.[42]

[38] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 239, 245; G. Forster, _op. cit._
ii. 130; J. R. Forster, _op. cit._ pp. 411 _sq._

[39] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 239, 244; J. Turnbull, _op. cit._
p. 364; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 492.

[40] G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii. 128 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._
i. 238; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ i. 491.

[41] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 239 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op.
cit._ i. 491 _sqq._

[42] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 241 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op.
cit._ i. 493 _sq._

When a member of the Society died his body was conveyed by the Areois to
the grand temple, where the bones of the kings were deposited. There the
priest of Oro, standing over the corpse, offered a long prayer to his
god. This prayer, and the ceremonies accompanying it, were designed to
divest the body of all the sacred and mysterious influence which the
deceased was thought to have received from the god at the moment when,
in the presence of the idol, the perfumed oil had been sprinkled on him,
and he had been raised to the order or rank in which he died. By this
act they supposed that the sacred influence was restored to Oro, by whom
it had been imparted. The body was then buried, like that of a common
man, within the precincts of the temple, in which the mortal remains of
chiefs were interred.[43] But if for any reason the corpse were buried
in unconsecrated ground, the ghost would appear to a survivor next day
and remonstrate with him, saying, "You have buried me in common earth,
and so long as I lie there, I cannot go to heaven. You must bury me with
ceremonies, and in holy ground." After that the corpse was disinterred,
and having been doubled up by tying the arms to the shoulders and the
knees to the trunk, it was buried in a sitting posture in a hole so
shallow that the earth barely covered the head. This was esteemed the
most honourable form of sepulture, and was principally confined to
personages of high rank.[44]