. The sheds are called
_tupapow_, and the enclosures _morai_. The _morais_ are also places of
worship".[115] Again, after describing how a dead body used to be placed
in the temporary house or shed (_tupapow_) and left there to decay for
five moons, Captain Cook tells us that "what remains of the body is
taken down from the bier, and the bones, having been scraped and washed
very clean, are buried, according to the rank of the person, either
within or without a _morai_: if the deceased was an _earee_ or chief,
his skull is not buried with the rest of the bones, but is wrapped up in
fine cloth, and put in a kind of box made for that purpose, which is
also placed in the _morai_. This coffer is called _ewharre no te
orometua_, the house of a teacher or master".[116]

[115] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 217.

[116] J. Cook, _op. cit._ i. 219.

Again, after describing the human sacrifice which he witnessed at the
great _morai_ at Attahooroo, in Tahiti, Captain Cook proceeds as
follows: "The _morai_ (which, undoubtedly, is a place of worship,
sacrifice, and burial at the same time), where the sacrifice was now
offered, is that where the supreme chief of the whole island is always
buried, and is appropriated to his family, and some of the principal
people. It differs little from the common ones, except in extent. Its
principal part is a large oblong pile of stones, lying loosely upon each
other, about twelve or fourteen feet high, contracted toward the top,
with a square area on each side, loosely paved with pebble stones, under
which the bones of the chiefs are buried.... The human sacrifices are
buried under different parts of the pavement."[117]

[117] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 37.

Again, Captain Cook tells us that after a battle the victors used to
collect all the dead that had fallen into their hands and bring them to
the _morai_, where, with much ceremony, they dug a hole and buried all
the bodies in it as so many offerings to the gods; but the skulls of the
slain were never afterwards taken up. Their own great chiefs who fell in
battle were treated in a different manner. Captain Cook was informed
that the bodies of the late king and two chiefs, who were slain in
battle, were brought to the _morai_ at Attahooroo. There the priests cut
out the bowels of the corpses before the great altar, and the bodies
were afterwards buried at three different spots in the great pile of
stones which formed the most conspicuous f