“We left Tettaha about ten or eleven o’clock, and landed close to the morai of Attahooroo a little after noon.  There lay three canoes hauled upon the beach, opposite the morai, with three hogs exposed in each:  their sheds, or awnings, had something under them which I could not discern.  We expected the solemnity to be performed the same afternoon; but as neither Towha nor Potatou had joined us, nothing was done.

“A chief from Eimeo came with a small pig, and a plantain-tree, and placed them at Otoo’s feet.  They talked some time together; and the Eimeo chief often repeating the words, Warry, warry, ‘false,’ I supposed that Otoo was relating to him what he had heard, and that the other denied it.

“The next day (Wednesday) Towha and Potatou, with about eight large canoes, arrived, and landed near the morai.  Many plantain-trees were brought, on the part of different chiefs to Otoo.  Towha did not stir from his canoe.  The ceremony began by the principal priest bringing out the maro wrapped up, and a bundle shaped like a large sugar-loaf.  These were placed at the head of what I understood to be a grave.  Then three priests came, and sat down opposite, that is, at the other end of the grave; bringing with them a plantain-tree, the branch of some other tree, and the sheath of the flower of the cocoa-nut tree.

“The priests, with these things in their hands, separately repeated sentences; and, at intervals, two, and sometime all three, sung a melancholy ditty, little attended to by the people.  This praying and singing continued for an hour.  Then, after a short prayer, the principal priest uncovered the maro; and Otoo rose up, and wrapped it about him, holding, at the same time, in his hand, a cap or bonnet, composed of the red feathers of the tail of the tropic bird, mixed with other feathers of a dark colour.  He stood in the middle space, facing the three priests, who continued their prayers for about ten minutes; when a man, starting from the crowd, said something which ended with the word heiva! and the crowd echoed back to him, three times, Earee! This, as I had been told before, was the principal part of the solemnity.

“The company now moved to the opposite side of the great pile of stones, where is, what they call, the king’s morai, which is not unlike a large grave.  Here the same ceremony was performed over again, and ended in three cheers.  The maro was now wrapped up, and increased in its splendour by the addition of a small piece of red feathers, which one of the priests gave Otoo when he had it on, and which he stuck into it.