the grave. There was no village burying-ground all preferred laying
their dead among the ashes of their ancestors on their own particular
ground. They carried the skulls of their dead from a land where they
had been residing during war back to the graves of their fathers as
soon as possible after peace was proclaimed. The grave was often dug
close by the house. They made it about four feet deep, and after
spreading it with mats, like a comfortable bed, there they placed the
body with the head to the rising of the sun, and the feet to the west.
With the body they deposited several things which may have been used
during the person's illness, such as his clothing, his drinking-cup,
and his bamboo pillow. The sticks used to answer the purpose of a
pick-axe in digging the grave were also carefully buried with the
body. Not that they thought these things of use to the dead; but it
was supposed that if they were left and handled by others further
disease and death would be the consequence. Other mats were spread
over the body, on these a layer of white sand from the beach, and then
they filled up the grave. The spot was marked by a little heap of
stones a foot or two high. The grave of a chief was neatly built up in
an oblong slanting form, about three feet high at the foot and four
at the head. White stones or shells were intermixed with the top
layer, and if it had been a noted warrior his grave might be
surrounded with spears, or his club laid loosely on the top.

_Embalming_ was known and practised with surprising skill in one
particular family of chiefs. Unlike the Egyptian method, as described
by Herodotus, it was performed in Samoa exclusively by women. The
viscera being removed and buried, they, day after day, anointed the
body with a mixture of oil and aromatic juices. To let the fluids
escape, they continued to puncture the body all over with fine
needles. In about two months the process of desiccation was completed.