noon
While in Nukuheva I had frequently been informed that the whole tribe were never present at these cannibal banquets , but the chiefs and priests only ; and everything I now observed agreed with the account . The sound of the drums continued without intermission the whole day , and falling continually upon my ear , caused me a sensation of horror which I am unable to describe . On the following day , hearing none of those noisy indications of revelry , I concluded that the inhuman feast was terminated ; and feeling a kind of morbid curiosity to discover whether the Ti might furnish any evidence of what had taken place there , I proposed to Kory-Kory to walk there . To this proposition he replied by pointing with his finger to the newly risen sun , and then up to the zenith , intimating that our visit must be deferred until noon . Shortly after that hour we accordingly proceeded to the Taboo Groves , and as soon as we entered their precincts , I looked fearfully round in , quest of some memorial of the scene which had so lately been acted there ; but everything appeared as usual . On reaching the Ti , we found Mehevi and a few chiefs reclining on the mats , who gave me as friendly a reception as ever . No allusions of any kind were made by them to the recent events ; and I refrained , for obvious reasons , from referring to them myself .