THE PACIFIC OCEAN. i$$ 



remark, that, being prefent when he examined the man »779- 



March-. 



who had the fmall piece of faked flefh wrapped in cloth, it >., „ » 

 ftruck me very forcibly, that the figns he made ufe of meant 

 nothing more, than that it was intended to be eat, and that 

 it was very pleafant or wholefome to the ftomach. In this 

 opinion I was confirmed, by a circumftance which came to 

 our knowledge, after the death of my worthy and ingenious- 

 friend, viz, that almoft every native of thefe iflands carried 

 about with him, either in his calibafh, or wrapped up in a 

 piece of cloth, and tied about his waifl, a fmall piece of 

 raw pork, highly fulted, which they confidered as a great 

 delicacy, and ufcd now and then to tafle of. With refpect 

 to the confufion the you^ig lad was in (for he was not more 

 than fixteen or eighteen years of age), no one could have 

 been furprized at it, who had feen the eager and eameft 

 manner in which Mr. Anderfon queftioned him. 



The argument drawn from the inftrumcnt made with 

 mark's teeth, and which is nearly of the fame form with 

 thofe ufcd at New Zealand for cutting up the bodies of their 

 enemies, is much more difficult to controvert. I believe it 

 to be an undoubted fact; that this knife, if it may be fo 

 called, is never ufed by them in cutting the flefh of other 

 animals. However, as the cuftom of offering human facri- 

 fices, and of burning the bodies of the (lain, is ftill preva- 

 lent here, it is not improbable, that the ufe of this inftru- 

 ment is retained in thofe ceremonies. Upon the whole, I 

 am flrongly inclined to think, and particularly from this lad 

 circumftance, that the horrid practice, in queftion, has but 

 lately ceafed amongfl thefe and other iflands of the South 

 Sea. Omai, when prefTed on this fubjeel, confeffed, that, 

 in the rage and fury of revenge, they would fometimes tear 

 the flefh of their enemies, that were flain, with their teeth ; 

 5 • buc 



