222

RELIGIOUS RITES

taboo, and must not be eaten until a small por-tion be first given to the gods. Any other kindof food may be n^dered taboo by a prohibitionbeing laid on it. Fruits and flowers when ta-booed are generally marked to be so, by piecesof white tapa, or a piece of plait, in the shapeof a lizard or shark*. To prevent certain kindsof food from growing scarce, a prohibition ortaboo is set on them for a time, as after theinachi, or other great and repeated ceremonies;and which taboo is afterwards removed by- theceremony called fuccalahi; but this latter termis not only applied to the ceremony which re-moves the prohibition, but is equally used toexpress the duration of the taboo itself, and whichtherefore is often called the time of the fucca-la'hi. During certain ceremonies, as that of theinachi and th ejala (see Vol. I. p. 390), nobodymay appear abroad, or at least in sight, it beingtabooed to do so.

Any thing that is not tabooed is said to begnofooa (i. e. easy, or at liberty), and is a termused in contradistinction to taboo.

When a person is tabooed, by touching asuperior chief or relation, or any thing person-ally belonging to him, he will perform the cere-

* Nevertheless they would not refuse to pluck and eat ifMr. Mariner, or any foreigner not influenced by such super-stition, would first remove this external sign of the taboo.