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RELIGIOUS RITES

cred ground in which he was buried should re-main polluted.

For one month, from the day of burial,greater or less quantities of provisions arebrought every day, and shared out to the peo-ple. On the first day a prodigious quantity issupplied; but on every succeeding day a lessquantity, gradually decreasing till the last,when, comparatively, a very small portion isbrought. The expenditure, and we may saywaste of provisions, is, however, so great, as torequire a taboo to be laid on certain kinds ofprovisions, (see Vol. I. p. 112), which lastsabout eight or ten months; and at the end ofthat time the ceremony of fuccalahi is performedto remove it.

Ta'jboo. —This word has various shades ofsignification: it means sacred or consecratedto a god, having the same signification as fuccaegi: it means prohibited or forbidden, and is ap-plied not only to the thing prohibited, but tothe prohibition itself, and frequently (when itis in sacred matters), to the person who breaksthe prohibition. Thus if a piece of ground ora house be consecrated to a god, by expressdeclaration, or the burial of a great chief, it issaid to he taboo; the like if a canoe be conse-crated, which is frequently done, that it maybe more safe in long voyages, See. As it is