Nothing certain is known about the gourd
masks, crested with ferns and bearded by tapa streamers, except that they were
seen and recorded by Webber (artist on Cook's ship) in several drawings.
Anthropologists believe they had some religious significance; but then
everything in the old culture had religious significance. The men may be of a
priesthood, for the man on the center deck is carrying a feather image, and a
sacrificial pig has been killed and set behind him.
They have set a
course for Hikiau at the western end of the bay, where the rock platform of the
heiau (temple) still stands above the beach. The yellow-dyed tapa
capes proclaim the men as persons of status.
Page 93, Voyagers
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