T H E P A C I F I C O C E A N. 40; 



very odd cuftom which they pradlife to avert it. When I '"77- 



firft vifited thefe Iflands, during my laft voyage, I obferved « , ■ 



that many of the inhabitants had one or both of their little 

 fingers cut off; and we could not then receive any fatisfac- 

 torv account of the reafon of this mutilation*. But we 

 now learned, that this operation is performed when they 

 labour under fome grievous difeafe, and think themfelves 

 in danger of dying. They fuppofe, that the Deity will ac- 

 cept of the little finger, as a fort of facrifice efficacious 

 enough to procure the recovery of their health. They cut 

 it off with one of their (lone hatchets. There was fcarcely 

 one in ten of them whom we did not find thus mutilated, in 

 one or both hands ; which has a difagreeable effe6l, efpe- 

 cially as they fom.etimes cut fo clofe, that they encroach 

 upon the bone of the hand which joins to the amputated 

 finger f. 



From the rigid feverity with which fome of thefe mourn- 

 ing and religious ceremonies are executed, one would ex- 

 pert to find, that they meant thereby to fecure to themfelves 

 felicity beyond the grave ; but their principal objecfl relates 

 to things merely temporal. For they feem to have little 

 conception of future punifhment for faults committed in 

 this life. They believe, however, that they are juftly pu- 

 niflied upon earth ; and, confequently, ufe every method to 

 render their divinities propitious. The Supreme Author of 

 moft things they call Kallafootonga ; who, they fay, is a fe- 

 male, refiding in the fky, and diredling the thunder, wind, 

 rain ; and, in general, all the changes of weather. They 



* See Cook's Voyage, Vol. i. p. 222- 



-|- It may be proper to mention here, on the authority of Captain King, that it is 

 common for the inferior people to cut off a joint of their little finger, on account of 

 the ficknefs of the Chiefs to whom they belong. 



3 F 2 believe, 



