VIII THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY 339 



selves capable of great devotion and entire faith- 

 fulness. Iii the matter of cruelty, treachery, and 

 blood thirstiriess, these islanders were neither 

 better nor worse than most peoples of antiquity. 

 It is to the credit of the Tongans that they 

 particularly objected to slander ; nor can covetous- 

 ness be regarded as their characteristic ; for Mariner 

 says : 



When any one is about to eat, lie always shares out what he 

 has to those about him, without any hesitation, and a contrary 

 conduct would be considered exceedingly vile and selfish (vol. 

 ii. p. 145). 



In fact, they thought very badly of the English 

 when Mariner told them that his countrymen did 

 not act exactly on that principle. It further 

 appears that they decidedly belonged to the school 

 of intuitive moral philosophers, and believed that 

 virtue is its own reward ; for 



Many of the chiefs, on being asked by Mr. Mariner what 

 motives they had for conducting themselves with propriety, 

 besides the fear of misfortunes in this life, replied, the agreeable 

 and happy feeling which a man experiences within himself 

 when he does any good action or conducts himself nobly and 

 generously as a man ought to do ; and this question they 

 answered as if they wondered such a question should be asked 

 (vol. ii. p. 161). 



One may read from the beginning of the book 

 of Judges to the end of the books of Samuel with- 

 out discovering that the old Israelites had a moral 

 standard which differs, in any essential respect 



z 2 



