Note 16 — Chapter V

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.