built as usual upon the
summit of a pi-pi, and at least two hundred feet in length, though not
more than twenty in breadth. The whole front of this latter structure was
completely open, and from one end to the other ran a narrow verandah,
fenced in on the edge of the pi-pi with a picket of canes. Its interior
presented the appearance of an immense lounging-place, the entire floor
being strewn with successive layers of mats, lying between parallel trunks
of cocoa-nut trees, selected for the purpose from the straightest and most
symmetrical the vale afforded.

To this building, denominated in the language of the natives, the "Ti,"
Mehevi now conducted us. Thus far we had been accompanied by a troop of
the natives of both sexes; but as soon as we approached its vicinity, the
females gradually separated themselves from the crowd, and standing aloof,
permitted us to pass on. The merciless prohibitions of the taboo extended
likewise to this edifice, and were enforced by the same dreadful penalty
that secured the hoolah hoolah ground from the imaginary pollution of a
woman's presence.

On entering the house, I was surprised to see six muskets ranged against
the bamboo on one side, from the barrels of which depended as many small
canvas pouches, partly filled with powder. Disposed about these muskets,
like the cutlasses that decorate the bulkhead of a man-of-war's cabin,
were a great variety of rude spears and paddles, javelins, and war-clubs.
This then, said I to Toby, must be the armoury of the tribe.

As we advanced farther along the building, we were struck with the aspect
of four or five hideous old wretches, on whose decrepid forms time and
tattooing seemed to have obliterated every trace of humanity. Owing to the
continued operation of this latter process, which only terminates among
the warriors of the island after all the figures stretched upon their
limbs in youth have been blended together--an effect, however, produced
only in cases of extreme longevity--the bodies of these men were of a
uniform dull green colour--the hue which the tattooing gradually assumes as
the individual advances in age. Their skin had a frightful scaly
appearance, which, united with its singular colour, made their limbs not a
little resemble dusty specimens of verde-antique. Their flesh, in parts,
hung upon them in huge folds, like the overlapping plaits on the flank of
a rhinoceros. Their heads were completely bald, whilst their faces were