Having waited here till they had all passed, we then repaired to Poulaho’s house, and saw him going out. We could not be allowed to follow him; but were forthwith conducted to the place allotted to us, which was behind a fence, adjoining to the area of the _fiatooka_ where the yams had been deposited in the forenoon. As we were not the only people who were excluded from being publicly present at this ceremony, but allowed to peep from behind the curtain, we had a good deal of company; and I observed that all the other inclosures round the place were filled with people. And yet all imaginable care seemed to be taken that they should see as little as possible; for the fences had not only been repaired that morning, but, in many places, raised higher than common; so that the tallest man could not look over them. To remedy this defect in our station, we took the liberty to cut holes in the fence with our knives; and by this means we could see, pretty distinctly, every thing that was transacting on the other side. On our arrival at our station, we found two or three hundred people sitting on the grass near the end of the road that opened into the area of the _morai_, and the number continually increased, by others joining them. At length arrived a few men carrying some small poles, and branches or leaves of the cocoa-nut tree; and, upon their first appearance, an old man seated himself in the road, and, with his face toward them, pronounced a long oration in a serious tone. He then retired back, and the others advancing to the middle of the area, began to erect a small shed; employing for that purpose the materials above mentioned. When they had finished their work, they all squatted down for a moment before it, then rose up and retired to the rest of the company. Soon after came Poulaho’s son, preceded by four or five men, and they seated themselves a little aside from the shed, and rather behind it. After them appeared twelve or fourteen women of the first rank, walking slowly in pairs, each pair carrying between them a narrow piece of white cloth extended about two or three yards in length. These marched up to the prince, squatted down before him; and having wrapped some of the pieces of the cloth they had brought round his body, they rose up and retired in the same order, to some distance on his left, and there seated themselves. Poulaho himself soon made his appearance, preceded by four men, who walked two and two abreast, and sat down on his son’s left hand about twenty paces from him. The young prince, then quitting his first position, went and sat down under the shed with his attendants; and a considerable number more placed themselves on the grass before this royal canopy. The prince himself sat facing the people, with his back to the _morai_. This being done, three companies, of ten or a dozen men in each, started up from amongst the large crowd, a little after each other, and running hastily to the opposite side of the area, sat