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F R I N C I
P L ES O
■ SOCIET
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- die more civilized Malay tribes, mixed with the aboriginals, and
F the harlhnefs o f the climate, the roughnefs of the wild woody
country, together with its great extent, contributed to preferve
cannibalifm, and to form a coalition o f cuftoms, wherein many
points of civilization were totally loft, though the language was
taken from the new-comers, and preferved blended with fome words
o f the aboriginal tribe. Savage-ijland, whofe inhabitants we found
very tawny and ferocious, might perhaps be another ifland, which
the Malay tribes have not hitherto been able to fubdue3 nay, as the
inhabitants o f T a n n a , were likewife acquainted with a language
totally different-from theirs, called the F o o t o o n a language, or
that o f -Ir r o n a n , which we found to correfpond with the
-dialed: fpoken at the Friendly-iflands, it feems ..from thence to follow,
that the Malay tribes ftill endeavour to fpread, and to fubdue
the aboriginal tribes in the various South-Sea ifles. Thefe hints,
it is to be hoped, may induce fome future navigators more carefully
to examine the languages, manners, cuftoms, temper, habit
and colour o f body o f the inhabitants o f the various South-Sea
ifles, in order ftill better to trace the origin and migrations o f
thefe nations 3 and to throw a ftill greater light on this interefting
part o f the Hiftofy o f Man,
It is however remarkable, that the nearer we approach to the
Weftern or Friendly-iflands, the greater is the refpedt, and the
more
H U M A N S P E C I E S ,
more numerous are external marks o f fubjedtion Ihewn by the
common people to their chiefs and kings. In Eafter-ifland, and
the Marquefas, we obferved hardly any difference between the fub-
jedt and.chief, i f we except a more confpicuous drefs, fome attendants
and the name o f Areckee- or A-ka-hai. In O-Taheitee, and
the Society-ifles, the lower ranks o f people, by way o f refpedt,
ftrip off their upper garment, in the prefence o f their Aree-rahai.
But at T o n g a T a b u and H o r n - I s l a n d , * the common people
Ihew their great chief or L a t o o the greateft refpedt imaginable,
by proftrating themfelves before him, and by putting his foot on
their necks-. In the Ladrone iflands, the Tamolas or nobles are likewife
highly revered, and none o f the-commcm people dare come
near them, for fear o f defiling -them.-f- Thefe circttmftances in my
opinion, prove, -that the natives of the South-Sea ifles changed fome
o f their manners, and laid afide part o f that ftiffhefs, formality and
humiliating refpedt paid to their chiefs in proportion, as they removed
from the country, which gave birth to their firft anceftors 3
and i t is b y this mixture o f manners that the inhabitants o f T a -
heitee have arrived at that happy mean which afligns the juft bounds
■ of prerogative to each rank o f people, and' thus places the true principles
o f happinefs on a firm and folid ba-fis. Th e king has a cer-
A i a tain
* See Mr. Dalrymples Collection of Voyages to the South-Sea, vol. ii. p. 41, 55.
^ Pcs Brofles Hiftoire des Navigations aux Terres auftrales, tom. ii. p. 484, 499»
P R I N C I P
L E S OF
U N IO N .