assistants plied their
bludgeons on the bodies of all and sundry who chanced to fall into their
hands. At such times safety was only to be found in the king's temple,
which served on this as on other occasions as a sort of sanctuary or
place of refuge. Having thus scoured the country, the mummers marched
several times round the platform where the body was exposed, after which
they bathed in a river and resumed their customary apparel. This
performance was repeated at intervals for five moons, but less and less
frequently as the end of the time approached. The longer it lasted, the
greater was the honour supposed to be done to the dead. The relatives
took it in turn to assume the fantastic dress and discharge the office
of leader. Throughout the ceremonies the performers appeared and acted
as if they were deranged. They were supposed to be inspired by, or at
all events to represent, the spirit of the deceased, to revenge any
injury he might have received, or to punish those who had not shown due
respect to his remains.[198] Hence we may infer that the whole of this
quaint masquerade was designed to appease the anger of the ghost, and so
to protect the survivors by preventing him from returning to take
vengeance on them for any wrongs or slights he might have suffered at
their hands.

[198] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 138 _sq._, 219; J. R. Forster,
_Observations made during a Voyage round the World_, pp. 560
_sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 413 _sq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _op.
cit._ i. 549 _sq._ According to Ellis, the mummers were supposed
to be inspired by the spirit of the deceased; according to
Moerenhout, they were not inspired by, but merely represented,
the ghost. The difference between spiritual representation and
inspiration is somewhat fine; too fine perhaps to be apprehended
by Tahitian intelligence. Forster says that the procession
started from the house of the deceased, Ellis that it started
from a valley.

The same fear of the returning ghost is clearly expressed in a prayer
which the natives used to address to a dead relative at burial. They put
blossoms of bread-fruit and leaves of the edible fern under the arms of
the corpse, and as they did so, they prayed, saying, "You go to the Po
[Night, the World of Shades], plant bread-fruit there, and be food for
the gods; but do not come and strangle us, and we will feed your swine
and cultivate your lands."[199]

[199] D.