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skin with Cocoa Nut oil scented with the Same wood; the Body is laid on a Beir in a house by itself & Covered with Cloth which the relations present as they Come to the Place, which they all do if they are in the Island. The body is often dressd in the same Manner as it used to do while alive, the Head Ornamented with Flowers, the house is fenced in and hung round with Cloth finely scented and the beir is ornamented with Garlands of Palm Nuts which having an agreeable Smell keep off any foul one — The Tears Shed on these Occasions are saved on peices of Cloth together with the Blood from their heads, and thrown within the rail of the Sacred house, all which they suppose gives satisfaction to the departed soul, who [is] hovering about the Body while it remains without Moldering — Others are hung up on a Beir under a thatchd Covering Covered and dressd with Cloth; they are also ornamented with Palm Nuts, Cocoa Nut leaves platted in a Curious Manner and raild in with reeds which the Man that is appointed to take Care of the Body keeps in repair, and he is obliged to have a Man to feed him as he must not toutch any sort of food for one Month, after he has toutchd a dead body or any of the things which belong to it — they also offer Provisions &c. near the Corps not for it but the Deity who presides over it.
. The body is Calld Toopapow, the Beir Fwhatta and the House wherein it is Containd Farre Toopapow — those who are embalmed are Calld Toopapow Meere — They are kept each on their own land and Not Carryd to the Moral where none are interrd, but those Killd in War, or for Sacrafice or the Children of Chiefs who have been Strangled at their birth.
When Chiefs or People of rank die their bodys are Embalmed and they are Carried round the Island to evry part where they have any Posessions, in each of which the Tyehaa or Weeping Ceremony is renewd; and after a Journey of 6 or 8 Months returns to their own estate where they are kept till the Body decays when the bones are interd. Some who have a great Veneration for the deceased wrap up the Scull and Hang it up in their house in token of their love and in this Manner is the Sculls of several kept — these bodys, while they are whole, are liable to be taken in War and the Man who takes one of them gets the Name and honors as if He had killd a Warrior, and should the body of a Chief be Carried off in this Manner before an other was Named the District would fall to the Conqueror as if he had killd him; for this reason they are always removed, having each a Steady Man to Carry them away into the
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Indigenous Histories |  |
© Derived from the 1935 Print Edition edited by Owen Rutter, page 232, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-morrison-107.html