18 ETHNOGRAPHY. 



of the Marquesans ; traits in which they surpass all the other Poly- 

 nesians, and which have hitherto rendered every attempt to civilize 

 them unavailing. 



The influence of the political state of the islanders upon their cha- 

 racter, will be exhibited in treating of the various governments of 

 Polynesia. 



RELIGION THE TABU. 



It is not intended to give here a complete account, or even a general 

 outline of the institutions and customs of the Oceanic islanders ; only 

 those will be mentioned which seem peculiar to the different races, 

 and which serve to distinguish them from one another. Under this 

 head must be ranked the institution of the tabu, which seems to be 

 confined to the Polynesian race, except in those instances where it has 

 been borrowed from them by some of the neighbouring tribes. The 

 word tabu, or tapu, is used, like most words of this language, either as 

 a noun, an adjective, or a verb. It may be defined as a law, or restric- 

 tion, which derives its sanction from religion. The latter particular 

 constitutes the only singularity of the system. Many of the tabus, or 

 social regulations, are, no doubt, strange enough, but not more so 

 than we find among most savage and many civilized nations. It is 

 the circumstance that these regulations, so multifarious and minute, 

 are observed not merely as laws but as religious ordinances, and that 

 their transgression is considered a sin as well as a crime, that gives to 

 the institution its remarkable character. We are not altogether with- 

 out examples of similar laws in our own code. Those which relate to 

 disturbances of the Sabbath, and to the sanctity of the marriage tie, 

 are instances of the force which human enactments derive from the 

 precepts of religion. Nor are the Polynesians the only people who 

 have been governed by such regulations. The laws of Moses, ema- 

 nating from a divine authority, have drawn from that source a vitality 

 which has preserved them in full vigour to this day. Among the 

 Jews it is tabu to eat certain kinds of meat, or to offer in sacrifice any 

 thing that has a blemish, or to touch certain animals termed un- 

 clean, &c. The Mahometan code, the work of an earthly lawgiver, 

 derives from its supposed divine origin a force superior to that of any 

 ordinary laws; to those who submit to its injunctions it is tabu to 

 eat pork and drink wine, or to omit certain ablutions, or to take 

 food during a certain month from sunrise to sunset, &,c. The institu- 



