are Haves and drudges among the favages and barbarians, but upon a.
greater equality with the males in Taheitee, and the .files occupied
by the fair race o f men.in the South-Sea,. Marriage is kept facred
among alL thofe nations whom we found to be. monogamous,. At,
the fame time that we mentioned, various inftances of; Polygyny,,
o f which the confequence feems to be a greater proportion o f women
born,, we endeavoured to point out the mod: probable caufe o f
Polyandry- now perhaps exifting at Eafter-ifland- The young women
at Taheitee,. before marriage,, are under no reltridtion.-j. but:
chaftity. after puberty and marriage, is highly honourable,. The:
advantages o f education conlift chiefly in perpetuating the jo in t
flock o f knowledge o f our fore-fathers,, and. making, oceafionafi additions,.
In. Europe,, this knowledge, is- fiab-diyided into various;
branches,, and, cannot now. be loft,becaufe the art o f printing,, fo,
happily difeovered, is fb uniyerfally pradtifed..-----------But the;
iflanders are conftrained to teach their mechanical arts, efpecially
fuch as.are neceflary for. procuring food, , and conftrufling their habitations,
to every individual from the Prince to the Have. Hifto—
rical records they have none, , i f we except a few verfes- made occa—
fionally to perpetuate the. names and actions o f fome. individuals..
They are acquainted with the polite arts o f mufic, dancing, , and.
poetry, of which a few outlines are given, particularly o f their extemporaneous
verfes and drama,. In defcribing the progrefs they
have.
581.
have made in, the' art o f medicine, we took occafion to mention manners
comparedthe
difeafes o f the country, efpecially the leprofy and the, venereal
diféafe, and made fame obfervations on. the latter.. Geography,,
aftronomy, and navigation,, are in fome meafure underflood among
them,, in confirmation: of which the files are dfefcribed„ and. our,
readers referred to a map, drawn- according to the informations-
given by Tupaya \ their hours, days o f the moon, and the number-
andnames; o f the moon. in. their year, are enumerated together with:
thofe o f the cardinal, points, andiof fome flats.. T o their education;
likewife belong the ideas relative to the Deity and. religion, . Their.-
fyftem o f polytheifm is explained, and the names and funftions of'
their gods and geniufes enumerated, their mode o f worshipping de-
fcribed, their ideas on the fubjeft of the origin o f the world and its,
files,; as well, as o f mankind in general,and on their flate after death,,
together with the various rites and ceremonies a t birth,, marriage
and death, are particularly. laid open and defcribed.. This gene—
neral view o f the hiftory. o f thefe iflanders,, enables us to form a
jndgment on their real happinefs; which is : by no means equal?
among all the nations we vifited in the courfe o f our voyage, but is,
pragrèflively varied from the wretched exiftence o f the-poor PefTe-
rais to that o f the unfettled, life o f the people in the Southern ifland:
of N ew -Z e e la n d to the more comfortable fituation of the tribes in
the Northern ifle,. where the cultivation o f ground has taken place,,
with
f
«
I