38 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. 



devastations and cruelties, and the deeds of in 

 justice and of horror which they have perpetrat 

 ed, even in our own times, are scarcely equalled 

 by the atrocities of the most savage hordes if 

 mankind. 



If we take a survey of the numerous tribes 

 which inhabit the Islands of the Indian and the 

 Pacific Oceans, we shall find similar depraved 

 and malevolent passions, raging without control, 

 and producing all those malignant and desolating 

 effects which have counteracted the benevolence 

 of the Creator, and entailed misery on the human 

 race. The dismal effects of the principle of 

 hatred directed towards human beings, the dis 

 position to engage in continual warfare, and the 

 savage ferocity of the human mind, when unre 

 strained by moral and prudential considerations, 

 are nowhere so strikingly displayed, as in the 

 isles which are scattered throughout the wide 

 expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Of the truth of 

 these positions we have abundance of melancholy 

 examples, in the reports of missionaries, and in 

 the journals which have been published by late 

 navigators, from which I shall select only two or 

 three examples. 



The first instance I shall produce, has a rela 

 tion chiefly to the inhabitants of New Zealand. 

 With respect to these islanders Captain Cook 

 remarks, &quot; Their public contentions are fre 

 quent, or rather perpetual; for, it appears from 

 their number of weapons, and dexterity in using 

 them, that war is their principal profession.&quot; 

 &quot; The war-dance consists of a great variety of 

 violent motions, and hideous contortions of the 

 limbs, during which the countenance also per 

 forms a part ; the tongue is frequently thrust out 

 to an incredible, length, and the eye-lid so forci 

 bly drawn up, that the white appears both above 

 and below, as well as on each side of the iris, so 

 as to form a circle around it; nor is anything 

 neglected so as to render the human shape fright 

 ful and deformed. To such as have not been ac 

 customed to such a practice, they appear more 

 like demons than men, and would almost chill the 

 boldest with fear ; at the same time they brandish 

 their spears, shake their darts, and cleave the 

 air with their patoo-patoos. To this succeeds a 

 circumstance almost foretold in their fierce de 

 meanour, horrid and disgraceful to human nature, 

 which is, cutting to pieces, even before being 

 perfectly dead, the bodies of their enemies; 

 and, after dressing them on a fire, devouring the 

 flesh, not only without reluctance, but with pe 

 culiar satisfaction.&quot; There is perhaps nothing 

 that can convey a more striking idea of the ac 

 tions of pure malevolence, and of the horrible 

 rage and fury of infernal fiends, than the picture 

 here presented of these savage islanders. 



These people live under perpetual apprehen 

 sions of being destroyed by each other; there 

 being few of their tribes that have not, as they 

 think, sustained wrongs from some other tribe, 



which they are continually on the watch to avenge 

 and the desire of a good meal is no small incite 

 ment. Many years will sometimes elapse before 

 a favourable oppoitunity happens, yet the son 

 never loses sight of an injury that has been done 

 to his father. &quot; Their method of executing their 

 horrible designs is by stealing upon the adverse 

 party in the night, and if they find them unguard 

 ed (which is very seldom the case) they kill 

 every one indiscriminately, not even sparing the 

 women and children. When the massacre is 

 completed, they either feast and gorge themselves 

 on the spot, or carry off as many of the dead 

 bodies as they can, and devour them at home, 

 with acts of brutality too shocking to be described. 

 If they are discovered before they execute theii 

 bloody purpose, they generally steal off again ; 

 and sometimes are pursued and attacked by the 

 other party in their turn. To give quarter, or to 

 take prisoners, makes no part of their military 

 law ; so that the vanquished can save their lives 

 only by flight. This perpetual state of war, and 

 destructive method of conducting it, operates so 

 strongly in producing habits of circumspection, 

 that one hardly ever finds a New Zealander oft 

 his guard, either by night or by day.&quot;* While 

 the mind is kept in such a state of incessant 

 anxiety and alarm, il must be impossible for hu 

 man beings to taste the sweets of rational, or 

 even of sensitive enjoyment. A melancholy 

 gloom must hang over these wretched beings, 

 and the dark suspicions, and the revengeful pas 

 sions which agitate their minds, can only fit 

 them for those regions of darkness where the 

 radiations of benevolence are completely extin 

 guished. 



The implacable hatred which these savages 

 entertain towards each other, is illustrated, in the 

 following short narrative from Captain Cook. 

 &quot;Among our occasional visitors was a chief named 

 Kahoora, who, as I was informed, headed tho 

 party that cut off Captain Furneaux s people, 

 and himself killed Mr. Rowe, the officer who 

 commanded. To judge of the character of Ka 

 hoora, by what I had heard from many of his 

 countrymen, he seemed to be more feared than 

 beloved among them. Not satisfied with telling 

 me that he was a very bad man, some of them 

 even importuned me to kill him: and, I believe 

 they were not a little surprised that I did not lis 

 ten to them ; for according to their ideas of equity, 

 this ought to have been done. But if I had fol 

 lowed the advice of all our pretended friends, I 

 might have extirpated the whole race ; for the 

 people of each hamlet or village, by turns, applied 

 to me, to destroy the other. One would have ai- 

 most thought it impossible, that so striking a 

 proof of the divided state in which this people 

 live, could have been assigned.&quot; 



Similar dispositions are displayed throughout 



Cooke s Voyages- 



