PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 93 



tors of mankind. His loss as a governor, and as a 

 father to his people, was universally felt by his sub- 

 jects. It is painful to relate that, though his death 

 occurred so recently, several human victims were sacri- 

 ficed to his manes by the priests in the morals ; and, 

 according to the custom of the islands, some who 

 were warmly attached to him committed suicide, in 

 order to accompany his corpse to the grave ; while 

 great numbers knocked out their front teeth, and 

 otherwise mutilated and disfigured themselves. 



Tamehameha was no sooner dead than his son Rio- 

 Rio, who succeeded him, effected the most important 

 change the country had yet experienced. Having 

 held conferences with the chiefs, and obtained the 

 sanction of Keopuolani, a powerful female of rank, he 

 ordered all the morais to be destroyed, and declared the 

 religion of the foreigners, — of the principles of which 

 he was then very ignorant, should henceforth be the 

 religion of the state. The burning of the idols and 

 the abolition of the tahoo immediately succeeded this 

 destruction of the morais, and put an end to many 

 cruel and degrading customs, both injurious to the 

 interests of the country and oppressive to the people, 

 especially to the females, who were thenceforth ad- 

 mitted to an equality with the men. 



The prejudices of Tamehameha had always opposed 

 this change in the religion of his subjects, not so 

 much, I am informed, from his being bigoted to idol- 

 atry as from its being better adapted to his politics. 

 The maxims of our religion he thought would tend to 

 deprive him of that despotic power which he exercised 

 over the lives and fortunes of his subjects. The ter- 

 ror inspired by human sacrifices, and the absolute 

 command which the superstitions of his idolatrous 



