MUMMIFICATION

"Embalming is known and practised with surprising skill in one particular family of chiefs. Unlike the Egyptian method, as described by Herodotus, it is performed in Samoa exclusively by women.

The viscera being removed and buried, they, day after day, anoint the body with a mixture of oil and aromatic juices.

To let the fluids escape, they continue to puncture the body all over with fine needles.

In about two months, the process of desiccation is completed. The hair, which had been cut and laid aside at the commencement of the operation, is now glued carefully on to the scalp by a resin from the bush. The abdomen is filled up with folds of native cloth; the body is wrapped up with folds of the same material, and laid out on a mat, leaving the hands, face, and head exposed."

(Turner and Stair accordning to Bierbach)