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[Page 475]

Manners & Customs of the South Sea Islands

40 or 50 yards from the sea & soon after brought back & this ceremony repeated which is done several times in the mean time a house has been built & a small space of ground round it raild in in the center of this house are posts set up for the supporting of the bier which as soon as the ceremonies are finishd is brought here & set upon them where the Corps is to remain & putrifie in state to the no small disgust of every one whose business requires them to pass near it

These houses of corruption Tu papow as they are calld here are of a size proportionate to the rank of the Person containd in them if he is poor they merely cover the bier & these generaly have no railing round them the largest I ever saw was 11 yards in lengh They are ornamented according to the abilities & inclinations of the surviving relations who never fail to lay a profusion of Good Cloth about the body & often almost cover the outside of the house the two ends which are open are also hung with kind of garlands of the Fruits of the Palm nut (Pandanus)

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