DISPOSITIONS OF THE NEW ZEALANDERS. 



ilmcst all the other islands of the Southern 

 Ocean. The following description is given by 

 M. de la Perouse, of the inhabitants of Maouna 

 Oyolava, and the other islands in the Navigator s 

 Archipdago. &quot; Their native ferocity of coun 

 tenance always expresses either surprise or an 

 ger. The least dispute between them is follow 

 ed by blows of sticks, clubs, or paddles, and of 

 ten, without doubt, costs the combatants their 

 lives.&quot; With regard to the women, he remarks : 

 &quot;The gross effrontery of their conduct, the in 

 decency of their motions, and the disgusting of 

 fers which they made of their favours, rendered 

 them fit mothers and wives for the ferocious be 

 ings that surrounded us.&quot;. The treachery and 

 ferocity of these savages were strikingly display 

 ed in massacring M. de Langle, the astronomer, 

 and eleven of the crew that belonged toPerouse s 

 vessel, and such was their fierce barbarity, 

 that, after having killed them, they still continued 

 to wreak Jieir fury upon the inanimate bodies 

 with their clubs. The natives of New Caledonia 

 are a race of a similar description. Though 

 Captain Cook describes them as apparently a 

 good natured sort of people, yet subsequent na 

 vigators have found them to be almost the very 

 reverse of what ho described ; as ferocious in the 

 extreme, addicted to cannibalism, and to every 

 barbarity shocking to human nature. The French 

 navigator, Admiral D Entrecasteaux, in his in 

 tercourse with these people, received undoubted 

 proofs of their savage disposition, and of their 

 being accustomed to feed on human fiVsh. Speak 

 ing of one of the natives, who had visited his 

 ship, and had described the various practices 

 connected with cannibalism, he says, &quot; It is 

 difficult to depict the ferocious avidity with which 

 he expressed to us, that the flesh of their unfor 

 tunate victims was devoured by them after they 

 had broiled it on the coals. This cannibal also 

 let us know, that the flesh of the arms and legs 

 was cut into slices, and that they considered the 

 most muscular parts a very agreeable dish. It 

 was then easy for us to explain, why they fre 

 quently felt our arms and legs, manifesting a 

 violent longing ; they then uttered a faint whist 

 ling, which they produced by closing their teeth, 

 and applying to them the tip of the tongue ; af 

 terwards opening their mouth, they smacked their 

 lips several times in succession.&quot; 



The characters of the islanders now described, 

 may be considered as common to the inhabitants 

 of the New Hebrides, the Friendly Islands, the 

 Marquesas, the Sandwich, New Guinea, New 

 Britain, the Ladrones, and almost all the islands 

 which are dispersed over the vast expanse of 

 the Pacific Ocean. Captain Cook, when de 

 scribing th-s natives of New Zealand, remarks, 

 that, &quot; the inhabitants of the other parts of the 

 South Seas have not even the idea of indecency 

 with respect to any object, or to any action. 

 T.ie inhabitants even of the Society and of the 



Sandwich K.es, prior to the state of moral and 

 religious impiwement to which they have iateiy 

 advanced, though their dispositions were some 

 what milder tiian those of the other islancs 

 were almost equally low in point of moral de 

 basement. Captain Cook, speaking of the na 

 tives of Otaheile, declares, &quot; They are all ar 

 rant thieves, and can pick pockets with the dex 

 terity of the most exoert London blackguard. * 

 When describing the societies distinguished by 

 the name of Arreoy, he declares, us a character 

 istic of the female part of the community, &quot; If 

 any of the women happen to be with child, which 

 in this manner of life, happens less frequently 

 than in ordinary cases, the poor infant is smo 

 thered the moment it is born, that it may be no 

 incumbrance to the father, nor interrupt the 

 mother in the pleasures of her diabolical pros 

 titution.&quot;! Another circumstance, stated by the 

 same navigator, exhibits their former moral cha 

 racter in a still more shocking point of view. 

 On the approach of war with any of the neigh 

 bouring islands, or on other interesting occa 

 sions, human sacrifices were a universal practice. 

 &quot; When I described,&quot; says this illustrious voya 

 ger, &quot; the Natibe at Tongabatoo, I mentioned, 

 that, on the approaching sequel of that festival, 

 we had been told that ten men were to be sacri 

 ficed. This may give us an idea of the extent 

 of this religious massacre on that islar.c 1 . And 

 though we should suppose, that never more than 

 one person is sacrificed on any single occasion 

 at Otaheite, it is more than probable, that ihese 

 occasions happened so frequently, as to maxe a 

 shocking waste of the human race ; for I counted 

 no less than forty-nine skulls of former victims, 

 lying before the Morai, where we saw one more 

 added to the number. And, as none of these 

 skulls had, as yet, suffered any considerable 

 change from the weather, it may hence be infer 

 red, that no great length of time had elapsed, since 

 this considerable number of unhappy wretches 

 had been offered on this altar of blood. &quot;J 

 He also informs us, that human sacrifices were 

 more frequent in the Sandwich, than in any of 

 the other islands. &quot; These horrid rites,&quot; says 

 he, &quot; are not only had recourse to upon the rorn- 

 mencement of war, and preceding great battles, 

 and other signal enterprises; but the death of 

 any considerable chief calls for a sacrifice cf one 

 or more Towtows, (that is, vulgar or low persons,) 

 according to his rank ; and we were told that ten 

 men were destined to suffer on the death of 

 Teneeoboo, one of their great chiefs. 



Such are a few specimens of the moral dispo 

 sitions the hatred, the horrid warfare, and the 

 abominable practices, which are displayed over 



* Hawkesworth s Narrative of Cook s Voyages, 

 vol. II. 



t Ibid. : Ibid. 



Hawkesworth s Narrative of Cook s Voyages. 

 Vol. n. 



