T H E P A C I F I C O C E A N. 203 



femblance, between the buryin^-place we were now vifitln?, •"^• 



'^ ' "^ January. 



and thofe of iflands we had lately come from in the South '-■ ■ "- ' -f. 

 Pacific, that we had little doubt in our minds, that the re- 

 femblance exifted alfo, in the ceremonies prat^tifed here, and 

 particularly in the horrid one of offering human facrifices. 

 Our fufpicions were too foon confirmed, by direct evidence. 

 For, on coming out of the houfe, juft on one fide of the en- 

 trance, we faw a fmall fquare place, and another (till lefs, 

 near it ; and on aflcing, what thefe were? Our guide imme- 

 diately informe<l us, that in the one was buried a man wlio 

 had been facrificed ; a Taata (Tanata or Tangata, in this 

 country) taboo (tcifoo, as here pronounced) ; and in the other, 

 a hog, which had alfo been made an offering to the divi- 

 nity. At a little diilance from thefe, near the middle of the 

 mora'h were three more of thefe fquare, inclofed places, with 

 two pieces of carved wood at each, and upon them a heap 

 of fern. Thefe, we were told, were the graves of three 

 Chiefs ; and before them, was an oblong, inclofed fpace, to 

 which our condu(ftor alfo gave the name of Ta>!gatd-taboo\ 

 telling us, fo explicitly, that we could not miflakc his 

 meaning, that three human facrifices had been buried 

 there ; that is, one at the funeral of each Chief. It was with 

 molt fincere concern, that I could trace, on fuch undoubted 

 evidence, the prevalence of thefe bloody rites, throughout 

 this immenfe ocean, amongll people disjoined by fuch a 

 diilance, and even ignorant of each other's exillence, though 

 fo ftrongly marked as originally of the fame nation. Ic 

 was no fmall addition to this concern, to rellecfl, that every 

 appearance led us to believe, that the barbarous pracTiice 

 was very general here. The ifland feemcd to abound with 

 fuch places of facrifice as this which we were now vifiting, 

 and which appeared to be one of the moO. inconliderable of 



D d : them i 



