general charailer, in other refpefts, has evident traces o f
the prevalence o f humane and tender feelings *. When an
/
* T h a t the Caroline Iflands are inhabited b y the Tame tribe or nation, whom Captain
Cook found, at fuch immenfe diftances, fpread^throughout thè South Pacific
Ocean, has been fatisfa&orily eftablifhed in fome preceding notes. T h e fituation of
the Ladrones, or Marianne Iflands, ilill farther'North than the Carolines, but at no
great diftance from them, Is favourable, at firit fight, to the conje&ure, that the
•fame race alfo peopled that chiller $ and, on looking into Father leG o bien ’s Hiftory of
them, this conjecture appears to be aibually confirmed by direfi evidence. One o f the
greateft fingularities o f the Olaheite manners, is the exiftence o f the fociety o f young
men, called Erroes, o f whom fome. account is given in the preceding paragraph.
N ow we learn from Father le Gobien, that fuch a fociety e x ifts alfo amongft the inhabitants
o f the Ladrones. His words are ; Les Urritjoes font parmi eux lesjeuns gens
qui viverti avec des maitrejfes, fans vouloir s'engager dans les liens du mariage. T h a t there
ihould be young men in the Ladrones, as well as in Otaheite, who live with mifirejfes,
without being inclined to enter into the married fiate, would not, indeed,, furnilh the
ihadow o f any peculiar refemblance between them. But that the young men in
the Ladrones, and in Otaheite, whofe manners are thus licentious, ihould be con-
fidered as a diftinct confraternity, called by a particular name ; and that this name
ihould be the fame in both places; this Angular coincidence o f cuftom, confirmed by
that o f language, feems to furniih an irrefragable proof o f the inhabitants o f both'places
being the fame nation. W e know, that it is thè general property o f the Otaheite
dialed!, to foften the pronunciation o f its words. And, it is obfervable, that, by the
omiflion o f one Angle letter (the confonant/), our Arreoys (as ipelled in Hawkef-
worth’s Collection), or Efreoes (according to Mr. Anderfon’s orthography), and the
Urritoes of the Ladrones, are brought to fuch a Amilitude o f found (the only rule o f
comparing two unwritten languages), that we may pronounce, them to be the fame
word, without expofing.ourfelves to the fneers of fupereilious criticifm.
One or two more fuch proofs, „drawn from fimilarity o f language, in very fignifi-
cant words, may be aiflgned. L e Gobien tells'us, that the people o f the Ladrones
worfhip their dead, whom they call Anitis. Here, again, by dropping the cpnfonant
n, we have a word that bears a ftrong refemblance to that which fo often occurs
in Captain C o o k ’ s Voyages, when fpeaking o f the Divinities o f his iflands, whom
he calls Eatooas. And it may be matter o f curLAty to remark, that what is called
an Aniti, at the Ladrones, is, as we learn from Cantova [Lettres Edifiantes iff Curieufes9
T om . xv. p. 309, 31 p .} , at the Caroline Iflands, where dead Chiefs are alfo worfhip-
ped, calledà Tahutup ; and that, by foftening or finking the ftrong founding letters, at
the beginning and at the end o f this latter word, the Ahutu o f the Carolines, the Aiti
o f the Ladrones, and the Eatoaa o f the South Pacific. Iflands, afliime iuch: a fimilarity
in pronunciation (for we can have no other guide), as ftrongly marks'one common original.
Once more ; we learn from L e Gobien, that the Marianne people call their Chiefs
.Ghamprris, of Chamoris. -And, by foftening the afpirate Ch into T , and the harfhnef$
Erreoe woman is delivered o f a child, a piece o f cloth, d ip - tJSSS}
ped in water, is applied to the mouth andnofe, w h ich fu f- 1---- .—
focates it.
As
nefs o f r into I (o f which the vocabularies o f the different iflands give us repeated
kiftances), we have the Tamole o f the Caroline Iflands, and the Tamolao, or Tamaha±
o f the Friendly ones.
I f thefe fpecimefis o f affinity o f language ihould be thought too fcanty, fome very
remarkable inftances o f fimilarity o f cuftoms and inftitutions will go far to remove
every doubt, i . A divifion into three ■ clafles, o f nobles, a middle rank, and the
common people, or fervants,' was found, by Captain C ook, .to prevail, both.at the
Friendly and the Society Iflands. Father le Gobien exprefsly tells us^ that the fame
diftinCtion prevails at the Ladrones ; I l y a trois états, parmi les bifilaires, la nobleffe,
le tpoyen, id le menu. 2. Numberlefs inftances occur in Captain C ook’ s voyage to
prove the great fubjeCtion under which the people o f his iflands are to their Chiefs.
W e learn from L e Gobien, that it is fo alfo at the Ladrones — L a noblejfe eft d’un fierté
incroyable, tien le peuple dans un abaifement qu'on ne pourrait imaginer en Europe, & c.
3. T h e diverfions o f the natives at Wateeoo, the Friendly, and. the Society Iflands,.
have been copioufly defcribed by Captain Cook. How fimilar are thofe which L e
Gobien mentions in the following words, as prevailing at the Ladrones ? Ils fe di-
vertiffent à darfer, courir, fautir, lutter, pour s'exercer, iff éprouver leur forces. Ils
prennent grand plaifir à raconter. les avantures de leurs ancêtres, iff à reciter des vers de '
leurs poètes. 4. T h é principal ihare fuftained by the women, in the entertainments at
Captain Cook’ s iflands, appears fuificiently from a variety o f inftances in this work
and we cannot read what Le Gobien fays, o f the practice at the Ladrones, without5
tracing the ftrongeft refemblance.— Dans leurs aJfembUes elles fe mettent doux ou trieze
femmes en rond, debout, fans f e remuer. Dans cette attitude elles chantent les .vers fa*-
buleux de leurs poètes avec un agrément, iff une jufieffe qui plairoit en Europe i L'accord de
leur voix efi admirable, iff ne cède en rien à la mufique concertée. Elles ont dans les mains-
de petits coquilles, dont elles fe fervent avec beaucoup de precifion~. Elles foutiennent leur voix%
& animent leur chants avec une afîion f i vive, iff des gefies f i exprejjives, qu'elles charment
ceux qui les voient, iff qui les entendent. 5. We^ read, in Hawkefworth’ s account o f
- Captain Cook’ s firft voyage, V o l. ii. p. 235. that garlands o f the fruit o f the palm-
tree and cocoa-leaves, with other things particularly confecrated to funeral folemnities^
are depofited about the places where they lay their dead j and that provifions and watei
are alfo left a t a little diftance. How conformable to this is the praCiice at the L a drones,
as defcribed by L e Gobien ! Ils font quelques repas autour du tombeau j car on-
en eleve -toujours un fu r le lieu où le corps efi enterréou dans le voifinage ; on le charge de
fleurs, de branches de palmiers, de coquillages, iff de tout ce qu'ils ont de plus precieux~
t* It is the cuftom at Otaheite [fee Hawkefworth, Vol. ii. p. 236 ] not to bury the
fculls o f the Chiefs, with the reft o f the bones, but to put them into boxes made for
.that purpofe. Here again, we find the fame itrange, cuftom prevailing at the La^
drones^