Our men returned bringing with them ten men, four women and two children. Some were borne upon the backs of the captors, others were drawn upon the ground by the feet. They were brought alive, though their limbs were broken and their skulls badly fractured. Our canoes shoved off amid the groans of the dying and the shouts and songs of triumph of the captors. The next morning those that were brought alive, having in one or two instances returned to consciousness, were brought forward to the tabu ground, and fastened[128] with the face towards a stake, driven in the ground for the purpose. The king then with a long pole, on the end of which is a wad, or tuft of hair, white as snow, which is the beard of some man, generally of their own tribe, who had lived to a great age, walks slowly around the stake followed by the chief, who carries a heavy war club, which he brandishes furiously about, at the same time chanting a kind of tune, in which he is joined by many of the tribe, who are all gathered around. After walking a few times around, the chief, quick as thought, gives the prisoner a blow upon the head, which at once puts an end to his existence; he was then unloosed from the stake, and prepared for the oven. A war dance was then performed around the body, accompanied with loud shouting, singing, and clapping of hands. The preparations were then made for roasting the bodies; the ovens were heated, bread fruit, and other things collected in great abundance; the bodies were brought forward, having the entrails removed, the legs bent upon the back, and fastened to the neck. Small hot stones were placed in the body, and the whole then placed in the ovens, as described. The time required for baking a body in that manner, does not exceed forty minutes. When the bodies are baked, they are removed from the oven to a table, where they are disjointed. A procession is then formed, headed by the king and chiefs, followed by the members of the royal family. A person selected for the purpose then follows with a calabash,[129] filled with a portion of the body, also of the other articles prepared for the occasion. The procession is made up of all belonging to the tribe, and are marched amid loud shouting and singing to the place where the remains of the former kings lie, where the contents of the calabash is cast, saying, "there is some for you;" this is repeated at every feast, and often times at every meal, a bit is thrown into a calabash, (set on purpose), with the same feeling of dependence. In and around the houses of the gods, are bones of all shapes and kinds, of men, beasts, fowls, and fishes, beside great quantities of fruits of all kinds, which are carried there from time to time, and deposited with incantations.