 with fearful curiosity at the three
packages, which now were deposited upon the ground; but although I had no doubt
as to their contents, still their thick coverings prevented my actually
detecting the form of a human body.
    The next morning, shortly after sunrise, the same thundering sounds which
had awakened me from sleep on the second day of the Feast of Calabashes, assured
me that the savages were on the eve of celebrating another, and, as I fully
believed, a horrible solemnity.
    All the inmates of the house, with the exception of Marheyo, his son, and
Tinor, after assuming their gala dresses, departed in the direction of the Taboo
groves.
    Although I did not anticipate a compliance with my request, still, with a
view of testing the truth of my suspicions, I proposed to Kory-Kory that,
according to our usual custom in the morning, we should take a stroll to the Ti:
he positively refused; and when I renewed the request, he evinced his
determination to prevent my going there; and, to divert my mind from the
subject, he offered to accompany me to the stream. We accordingly went, and
bathed. On our coming back to the house, I was surprised to find that all its
inmates had returned, and were lounging upon the mats as usual, although the
drums still sounded from the groves.
    The rest of the day I spent with Kory-Kory and Fayaway, wandering about a
part of the valley situated in an opposite direction from the Ti; and whenever I
so much as looked toward that building, although it was hidden from view by
intervening trees, and at the distance of more than a mile, my attendant would
exclaim, »Taboo, taboo!«
    At the various houses where we stopped, I found many of the inhabitants
reclining at their ease, or pursuing some light occupation, as if nothing
unusual were going forward; but amongst them all I did not perceive a single
chief or warrior. When I asked several of the people why they were not at the
Hoolah-Hoolah (the feast), they uniformly answered the question in a manner
which implied that it was not intended for them, but for Mehevi, Narmonee,
Mow-Mow, Kolor, Womonoo, Kalow, running over, in their desire to make me
comprehend their meaning, the names of all the principal chiefs.
    Everything, in short, strengthened my suspicions with regard to the nature
of the festival they were now celebrating; and which amounted almost to a
certainty. While in Nukuheva I had frequently been informed that the whole tribe
were
