A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16Kerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
As soon as we landed at Attahooroo, which was about two o'clock in the
afternoon, Otoo expressed his desire that the seamen might be ordered
to remain in the boat; and that Mr Anderson, Mr Webber, and myself,
might take off our hats as soon as we should come to the _morai_, to
which we immediately proceeded, attended by a great many men and some
boys, but not one woman. We found four priests, and their attendants,
or assistants, waiting for us. The dead body, or sacrifice, was in a
small canoe that lay on the beach, and partly in the wash of the
sea, fronting the _morai_. Two of the priests, with some of their
attendants, were sitting by the canoe, the others at the _morai_. Our
company stopped about twenty or thirty paces from the priests. Here
Otoo placed himself; we, and a few others, standing by him, while the
bulk of the people remained at a greater distance.
The ceremonies now began. One of the priest's attendants brought a
young plantain-tree, and laid it down before Otoo. Another approached
with a small tuft of red feathers, twisted on some fibres of the
cocoa-nut husk, with which he touched one of the king's feet, and then
retired with it to his companions. One of the priests, seated at
the _morai_, facing those who were upon the beach, now began a long
prayer, and at certain times, sent down young plantain-trees, which
were laid upon the sacrifice. During this prayer, a man, who stood by
the officiating priest, held in his hands two bundles, seemingly of
cloth. In one of them, as we afterward found, was the royal _maro_;
and the other, if I may be allowed the expression, was the ark of the
_Eatooa_. As soon as the prayer was ended, the priests at the _morai_,
with their attendants, went and sat down by those upon the beach,
carrying with them the two bundles. Here they renewed their prayers;
during which the plantain-trees were taken, one by one, at different
times, from off the sacrifice, which was partly wrapped up in cocoa
leaves and small branches. It was now taken out of the canoe, and
laid upon the beach, with the feet to the sea. The priests placed
themselves around it, some sitting and others standing, and one or
more of them repeated sentences for about ten minutes. The dead body
was now uncovered, by removing the leaves and branches, and laid in
a parallel direction with the sea-shore. One of the priests then
standing at the feet of it, pronounced a long prayer, in which he was
at times joined by the others, each holding in his hand a tuft of red
feathers. In the course of this prayer, some hair was pulled off the
head of the sacrifice, and the left eye taken out, both which were
presented to Otoo, wrapped up in a green leaf. He did not however
touch it, but gave to the man who presented it, the tuft of feathers
which he had received from Towha. This, with the hair and eye, was
carried back to the priests. Soon after, Otoo sent to them another
piece of feathers, which he had given me in the morning to keep in my
pocket.
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