THIRD VOYAGE 235 



he was fixed in his resolution to go with us, and having 

 learnt that he was the only son of a deceased chief, I told 

 his mother that, in all probability, he would never return ; 

 but this made no impression on either ; for when she 

 returned the next morning, to take her last farewell of him, 

 all the time she was on board she remained quite cheerful, 

 and went away wholly unconcerned. Another youth about 

 ten years of age, accompanied him as a servant, named 

 Kokoa ; he was presented to me by his own father, who 

 stripped him, and left him naked as he was born ; indeed, 

 he seemed to part with him with perfect indifference. 



" From my own observations, and from the information of 

 Taweiharooa and others, it appears to me that the New 

 Zealanders must live under perpetual apprehensions 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 upon the watch to revenge. 

 And, perhaps, the desire of a good meal may be no small 

 incitement. One hardly ever finds a New Zealander off his 

 guard, either by night or by day ; indeed, no other man can 

 have such powerful motives to be vigilant, as the preserva- 

 tion of both body and of soul depends upon it. For, accord- 

 ing to their system of belief, the soul of the man whose 

 flesh is devoured by the enemy, is doomed to a perpetual 

 fire : whilst the soul of the man whose body has been rescued 

 from those who killed him, as well as the souls of all who 

 die a natural death, ascend to the habitations of the 

 gods. 



" Polygamy is allowed amongst these people ; and it is 

 not uncommon for a man to have two or three wives. The 

 women are marriageable at a very early age ; and it should 

 seem, that one who is unmarried, is but in a forlorn state. 



" Their public contentions are frequent, or rather per- 

 petual ; for it appears, from their number of weapons, and 

 dexterity in using them, that war is their principal pro- 

 fession. Before they begin the onset, they join in a war- 

 song, to which they all keep the exactest time, and soon 

 raise their passions to a degree of frantic fury, attended with 

 the most horrid distortion of their eyes, mouths, and 

 tongues, to strike terror into their enemies ; which, to those 

 who have not been accustomed to such a practice, makes 

 them appear more like demons than men, and would almost 

 chill the boldest with fear. To this succeeds a circumstance 

 almost foretold in their fierce demeanour, horrid, cruel, and 

 disgraceful to human nature, which is, cutting in 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 peculiar satisfaction. 



