CASE OF DEATH.

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objects of their superstition. I was somewhat sur-prised at the little veneration shewn for the idols oftheir own worship, though not ignorant of the greatinconsistency often discovered among the heathen inthe grossness of the adulation of their gods at onetime, and their disregard and even abuse of themat another. I recollect to have heard, while livingat the Sandwich Islands, of instances in which per-sons disappointed in their expectations and prayers,have not only scolded and upbraided, but actuallybeaten their images of wood and stone.

On pursuing our walk still farther, we unexpect-edly met that which led to full information in re-ference to the funeral ceremonies of the people. Itwas in coming to a house surrounded by the remainsof a feast given on such occasions, with the prepa-rations making for the deposit -of the body, stilllying in an open building, at a short distance fromthat at which the festival had been celebrated.

During the severe sickness of a person, the housein which he lies is crowded with women, wailing inthe mournful tones by which the Polynesians expresstheir grief. The Tauas, in the mean time, are ex-erting all their skill and sorcery to stay the disease,and when these fail, and it becomes evident thatdeath is approaching, they all dance naked aroundthe mat of the dying man, cutting themselves withsharp stones, as if in a phrensy, and uttering the mostpiercing lamentations, though often without the ap-pearance of much sincere distress. This continuestill the person expires, when all unite in a most ter-rific and prolonged howl.