i6o AVOYAGETO 



^'777; As in fuch a life, their women muft contribute a very 



December. 



large fhare of its happinefs, it is rather furprizing, befides 

 the humiliating reftraints they are laid under with regard to 

 food, to find them often treated with a degree of harflinefs, 

 or rather brutality, which one would fcarcely fuppofe a man 

 would bellow, on an objedl for whom he had the, leaft af- 



drones ; for Le Gobien exprefsly tells us, qti'ils gardent ks cranes en leiir maifons, that 

 they put thefe fcuUs into little bafkets (petites corbeiilcs) ; and that thefe dead Chiefs are 

 ihc Jnitis, to whom their priefts addrefs their invocations, y. The people of Otaheite, 

 as we learn from Captain Cook, in his account of Tee's efnbalmed corpfe, make ufc 

 of cocoa-nut oil, and other ingredients, in rubbing the dead bodies. The people of the 

 Ladrones, Father Lc Gobien tells uf, fometimcs do the fame — D'autres frcttent Us 

 fncrts d'huile odoriferante. 8. The inhabitants of Otaheite [fee Hawkefworth, Vol. ii. 

 p. 239, 240.] believe the immortality of the foul; and that there are two fituations 

 after death, fomewhat anal.igous to our heaven and hell ; but they do not fuppoie, 

 that their aftions here in the leaft influence their future ftate. And in the account 

 given in this voyage [Vol. i. p. 403.], of the religious opinions entertained at the 

 Friendly Iflands, we find there, exactly the fame doctrine. It is very obfervablc, how 

 conformable to this is the belief of the inhabitants of the Ladrones — Us font perfuades 

 (fays Lc Goh\cn) de I'immor-talite de I'amc. lis reconnoijpnt mhne un Paradis (sf un 

 Enfer, dont Us ft forment dcs idces afjez lizarres. Ce ntji point, felon eux, la vertu 

 tii le crime, qui conduit dans cts lieux la ; les bonnes ou les mauvaifes aiiions n'y fervent 

 de rien. 9. One more very fmgular inftance of agreement, Ciall clofe this long lift. 

 In Captain Cook's account of the New Zealandcrs [Vol. i. p. 138.], we find, that, 

 according to them, the (oul of ilie man who is killed, and whofe flefli is devoured, is 

 doomed to a perpetual fire ; while the fouls of all who die a natural death, afcend to the 

 habitations of the Gods. And, from Le Gobien, we learn, that this very notion is 

 adopted by his iflandcrs — 5/ «« a le malhcur de mpurir dc niort vlolente, on n T enter pour 

 leur portage. 



Surely, fuclv a concurrence of very charac'^criflic conformities cannot be the refult 

 of mere accident ; and, when combined with the fpccimens of affinity of language 

 mentioned at the beginning of this note, it fliould feem, that we are fully warranted, 

 from prrmif'J'i thus unexceptionable, to draw a certain conclufion, that the inhabitants 

 of the various iflands difcovcred or vifited by Captain Cook, in the South Pacific 

 Ocean, and thofe v/hom the Spaniards found fettled upon the Ladrones or Mariannes 

 »ii th.- Northern hcmifpherc, carried the fame language, cuftoms, and opinions, from 

 one common center, from which they h.id emigrated ; and that, therefore, they may be 

 confidcrcd as fcattered mcmbtrs of the fame nation. 



Sec I'crc lc Gobien's Hijhire des Ijles Mariannes, Book ii. or the fummary of it in 

 flijKiire dcs Navigations aux Terres Juftralcs, T. ii. p. 492—512, from which the 

 Biatcriuls for this noic Kavc been cxtraflcd. 



fccflion. 



