which the bones of the chiefs are buried. At a little distance from
the end nearest the sea is the place where the sacrifices are offered,
which, for a considerable extent, is also loosely paved. There is here
a very large scaffold, or _whatta_, on which the offerings of fruits
and other vegetables are laid. But the animals are deposited on a
smaller one, already mentioned, and the human sacrifices are buried
under different parts of the pavement. There are several other
reliques which ignorant superstition had scattered about this place;
such as small stones, raised in different parts of the pavement, some
with bits of cloth tied round them, others covered with it; and upon
the side of the large pile, which fronts the area, are placed a great
many pieces of carved wood, which are supposed to be sometimes the
residence of their divinities, and consequently held sacred. But one
place more particular than the rest, is a heap of stones at one end
of the large _whatta_, before which the sacrifice was offered, with a
kind of platform at one side. On this are laid the sculls of all the
human sacrifices, which are taken up after they have been several
months under ground. Just above them are placed a great number of the
pieces of wood; and it was also here, where the _maro_, and the other
bundle supposed to contain the god Ooro (and which I call the ark),
were laid during the ceremony, a circumstance which denotes its
agreement with the altar of other nations.

It is much to be regretted, that a practice so horrid in its
own nature, and so destructive of that inviolable right of
self-preservation which every one is born with, should be found still
existing; and (such is the power of superstition to counteract the
first principles of humanity!) existing amongst a people, in many
other respects, emerged from the brutal manners of savage life. What
is still worse, it is probable that these bloody rites of worship