A s in fuch a life , their women mull contribute a ve ry
ilarge Ihare o f its happinefs, it is rather fu rprizin g, befides
the humiliating reftraints they are laid under with regard to
food, to find them often treated w ith a degree o f harihnefs,
or rather brutality, w hich one wou ld fcarcely fuppofe a man
w ou ld bellow, on an objedt for whom he had the leali a f-
•drones ; for L e Gobien exprefsly tells us, qu'ils gardent les cranes en leur maifons, that
they put. thefe,fculls into little baikets (petites corbeilles) ; and that thefe dead Chiefs are
the Anitis, to whom their priefts addrefs their invocations. 7 . T h e .people o f Otaheite,
.as w e learp from C aptain C ook , in his account o f T e e 's embalmed corpfe, make ufe
•of cocoa-nut; oil, and other ingredients, in rubbing the dead bodies. T h è people o f the
Ladrones, Father L e Gobien tells us, fometimes do the fame— D'autres frottent les
marts d’huile odoriférante. 8. T h e inhabitants o f Otaheite [fee Hawkefworth, V o li 11.
,p. t fp 240.] believe the immortality o f the foul ; and that there are two fituations
after death, fomewhat analagous to our heaven and hell ; but they do not fuppofe,
that their actions here in the.leaft influence their future ftate. And in the account
given in this voyage [V o l. i . p. 40 3.], o f the religious opinions entertained at the
Friendly Iflandr, we find there, ex aflly the fame dôârine. I t is very obfervable, how
conformable to this is the belief o f the inhabitants o f the Ladrones— Ils font ferfuadis
(fays L e Gobien) de l ’immortalité de l ’âme. Ils recmmiffent même un Paradis & un
Enfer ; dont ils f c forment des idées affez bizarres. Ce n’efi point, felon eux, la Vertu
ni le crime, qui conduit dans ces lieux là-, les bonnes ou les mamaifés datons n’y fervent
de rien. 9. One more very fingular inftance o f agreement, (hall cîôfe this long lift.
In Captai» Cook’s account o f the N ew Zealanders [V o l. i. p. 13 8 .] , we find, that,'
accordino to them, thè foul o f the man who is killed, and whofe fleih is devoured, is
■doomed to a perpetual fire ; while the fouls o f all who die a natural death, afcend to the
habitations of the Gods. And, from L e Gobien, we learn, that this very notion is
adopted by his iflanders— Si on a le malheur de mourir de mort violente, on a Venfer pour
leur partage.
Surely, fuch a concurrence o f very chara&eriftic conformities cannot be the tefult
o f mere accident ; and, when combined with the fpecimens o f affinity o f language
•mentioned at the beginning o f this note, it fhould feem, that we are fully warranted,
from premifés thus unexceptionable, to draw a certain éôriduifon, that the inhabitants
-df .the various iilands difcoVered or viiited by Captain C ook, in the Sduth Pacific
Ocean, and thofe whom thë Spaniards found fettled upon the Ladrones or Mariannesj
m the Northern hemifphere, carried the'fame language, cuftoms, and opinions, from
one common center, from which they had emigrated ; and that, therefore, they may be
■confidered as fcattered members o f thé farrie nation.
See Pere le Gobien’ s Hi flaire des Ijles Mariannes ^ Book ii. or the fummary o f it in
Hijiaire des Navigations- aux TerYes Aujlrales^ T . ii. j j 492— 5 1 2, fróm which thè'
materials :for-this' note have been extracted.
fedtion.
fe ilion . Nothing, however, is more common, than to fee De^ 7b'cr
the men beat them withou t mercy ; and unlefs this treat- .— -v— >
ment is the e ffe it .of jea loufy, w hich both fexes, at leaft,
pretend to be fometimes infedled with, it w ill be difficult to
account for it. It w ill be lefs difficult to admit this as the
motive, as I have feen feveral inftances where the women
have preferred perfonal beauty to inte re ft; though, I mull
own, that, even in thefe cafes, they feem fcarcely fufceptible
o f thofe delicate fentiments that are the refult o f mutual af-
fed lion ; and, I believe, that there is lefs Platonic love in
Otaheite than in any other country.
Cutting or inciding the fore-fkin fhould be mentioned
here as a pradlice adopted amongft them, from a notion o f
cle an lin e fs ; and they have a reproachful epithet in their
languag e, fo r thofe w ho do not obferve that cullom. When o
there are five or fix lads pretty w e ll grown up in a neighbourhood,
the father o f one o f them goes to a Tahoua, or
man o f kn owledge, and lets him know. He goes with the
lads to the top o f the hills, attended by a fervant; and,
fearing one o f them properly, introduces a piece o f wood
underneath the foreikin, and defires h im to look, afide at
fomething he pretends is coming. Having thus engaged the
y ou n g man’ s attention to another ob jeil, he cuts throu gh
the ikin upon the wood, w ith a lh a rk ’s tooth, generally at
one ftroke. He then feparates, or rather turns back the divided
p a r ts ; and, having put on a bandage, proceeds to
perform the fame operation on the other lads. At the end
o f five days they bathe, and the bandages being taken off,
the matter is cleaned away, At the end o f five days more,
they bathe again, and are w e l l ; but a thicknefs o f the
prepuce, where it was cut, remaining, they go again to the
mountains with the Tahoua and fervantj and a fire being
Y o t . II. Y prepared,