[16] W. Ellis, op. cit. iii. 108 sqq. Compare J. Wilson, op. cit. pp. 327 sq.; J. A. Moerenhout, op. cit. ii. 22 sq.; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, Journal of Voyages and Travels, i. 526 sq., ii. 56. Another singular ceremony observed at the installation of a king was this. The king advanced into the sea and bathed there. Thither he was followed by the priest of Oro bearing a branch plucked from a sacred tree that grew within the precincts of the temple. While the king was bathing, the priest struck him on the back with the holy bough, at the same time invoking the great god Taaoroa. This ceremony was designed to purify the monarch from any defilement or guilt he might previously have contracted. See W. Ellis, op. cit. iii. 110.
[17] D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, Journal of Voyages and Travels, i. 529 sq.
[18] Tyerman and Bennet, op. cit. i. 524.
[19] J. Cook, Voyages, i. 225 sq.; W. Ellis, op. cit. iii. 99 sq. Compare J. Wilson, op. cit. pp. 180 sq., 327, 330, 333; J. Turnbull, Voyage round the World (London, 1813), pp. 134, 137, 188 sq., 344; J. A. Moerenhout, op. cit. ii. 13 sq.
[20] W. Ellis, op. cit. i. 321; compare J. A. Moerenhout, op. cit. i. 417.
[21] W. Ellis, op. cit. i. 361.
[22] W. Ellis, op. cit. i. 350.
[23] J. Cook, Voyages, vi. 148, 160; J. R. Forster, Observations made during a Voyage round the World (London, 1778), p. 539.
[24] J. Cook, Voyages, vi. 148 sq.
[25] W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, i. 350.