o r i g i n in h ab i tan t s o f New-Zeeland certainly ■ belong to the fame race of
-of s o c i - ,e w;th the Taheiteans, it is evident that this cuftom has., been
e t i e s . 1 i
•common to the whole tribe. What is ftill more remarkable, it
feems from thence to follow, that the want of a fufficiency o f food
in this:iile, which is lefs fertile than the tropical countries,, cannot
have oceafioned . their cannibalifm, fincc even the inhabitants of the
happy and fertile tropical ides-were men-eaters, .without being
• forced to it by diftrefs and hunger, and we mull therefore certainly
he convinced that there m u lt be fome other caufe, ..which
originally Introduced this unnatural cuftom.
I f we examine the whole oeconomy o f their focieties, we . find
ihat their education is the chief Caufe o f all thefe enormities. The
- men train up the boys in a kind of. liberty,’ which<at laft degenerates
into licentioufnefs: they fuffer not the mothers to ftrike
their petulant, unruly, and wicked fens,.. for fear o f breaking that
-Ipirit o f independency,, which they feem to value above all things,
and as the moft neceffary qualification for their focieties ; this naturally
brings oh an irafcibility, which, in the men, cannot brook
any Controul, adtion or word, that can be conftrued according to
their manners and principles, into an affront, or injury; inflamed
by paflion, they are impatient to wreak their vengeance: wild fancy
paints the injury fo atrocious, that it mull be walhed in blood;
they know not where to flop, and being more and more incenfed by
6 - - The
the power o f imagination, they go to battle with a loud and barc
b.arous. fong; each feature is diftorted, each limb is fet in a ca-
denced .motion.; they bra-ndilh their deftrudtive weapons, and
llamp upon the ground with their feet, while the whole band join
in an awful, tremendous groan ; the fong begins a new., and at laft
the whole troop is loft in frenzy and rage; they fall to, and every
,onc fights' as i f animated b y furies ; and deftrudtion and carnage
await the routed party: whofoever falls, is murdered without mercy,
and the corfes o f the 11am immediately ferve-to glut the inhuman
appetites of the conquerors. When the bounds o f humanity ate
. once palled, and the reverence due to the bright image o f divinity,
-is conquered by frenzy, the pradtice foon becomes habitual, efpe-
-c-ially.as it is reckoned among the honours due to the conqueror,
to feaft upon -the wretched vidtims o f fayage vidtory; add to this,
that a nation which has no ,other animal food, than a few ftupid
dogs and filh, will foon.reconcile themfelves to human; flelli, which,
according to. feveral known inftances, * is reputed .to be .one o f
th e moft palatable dilhes.
:U u T o
-* jn the province of Matto-groffd, in Brazil, a woman fold his Excellency Chevalier
Pinto', who .was then Governor, that Jiuman flefh was extremely palatable, efpecially if
taken from a young-perfon. And during the laft dearth in Germany,- -a fhepherd killed firft
■ a young perfon, to fatisfy the cravings of hunger with his flefh, and afterwards feveral mere,
in order to pleafe. his luxurious palate.
ORIGIN
-F SOCIETIES.