noon
Two females , of a dejected appearance , watched by its side , plaintively chanting and beating the air with large grass fans whitened with pipe-clay . In the dwelling-house adjoining a numerous company we assembled , and various articles of food were being prepared for consumption . Two or three individuals , distinguished by head-dresses of beautiful tappa , and wearing a great number of ornaments , appeared to officiate as masters of the ceremonies . By noon the entertainment had fairly begun and we were told that it would last during the whole of the two following days . With the exception of those who mourned by the corpse , every one seemed disposed to drown the sense of the late bereavement in convivial indulgence . The girls , decked out in their savage finery , danced ; the old men chanted ; the warriors smoked and chatted ; and the young and lusty , of both sexes , feasted plentifully , and seemed to enjoy themselves as pleasantly as they could have done had it been a wedding . The islanders understand the art of embalming , and practise it with such success that the bodies of their great chiefs are frequently preserved for many years in the very houses where they died .