CLOSE OF THE EXPEDITION 



happened, or disease or famine prevails, they think their 

 god is so angry with them that he will not be conciliated 

 with the usual offering of pigs, so they select one of their 

 own number and butcher him to appease the angry deity, 

 as if by adding murder to all their other vices they could 

 please God. 



' The customs of Feejee society always require them 

 to cut off a joint of the little finger for every near relative 

 that dies. I have often taken little children by the hand 

 and found one or two joints of their finger gone, and it 

 is common for grown people to be deprived of the little 

 finger of both hands. They have cut off one joint after 

 the other, till nothing is left. They are so cold-hearted 

 that they have no tears to shed for a deceased relative, 

 and the custom of society therefore requires that they 

 should amputate a finger-joint to show their grief. But 

 even this sacrifice is too small when a chief dies. Two 

 or three of his favorite wives are required to die, and are 

 buried with him to accompany him on his passage to 

 heaven. These women are strangled and are laid out for 

 burial at the same time with the chief. So completely 

 are they controlled by the customs of society or their 

 superstitions, that they will offer their own necks to the 

 rope that is drawn around them by the savage execu- 

 tioner. . . ." 



If there are letters extant from Dana with respect to 

 the latter part of his voyage, they have escaped my 

 observation. On the homeward route there was little 

 opportunity for postal communications. 



139 



