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[Page 479]

Manners & Customs of the South Sea Islands

some one of their Marais or places of publick worship & if it is one of their Earees or cheifs his Scull is preservd & being wrappd up in fine Cloth is plac'd in a kind of case made for that purpose which stands in the marai. The mourning then ceases unless some of the women who find themselves more than commonly afflicted by the Loss repeat the ceremony of Poopooing or bleeding themselves in the head which they do at any where time or in any place where they happen to be when the whim takes them

The ceremonies however are far from Ceasing at this time frequent prayers are to be said by the preist & frequent offerings made for the benefit of the deceasd or more properly for that of the Preists who are well paid for their prayers by the surviving relations. During this ceremony Emblematical devices are made use of a young plantain tree signifies the Deceased & a bunch of feathers the Deity invokd opposite to this the preist places himself often attended by relations of the deceasd

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