IX POLYNESIA. sis 



not only a religion and a worship, but a kind of constitution, a litera- 

 ture, and a penal code. This code condemns certain classes of 

 criminals to be eaten alive. After the sentence has been pronounced 

 by the competent tribunal, two or three days are suffered to elapse 

 in order to give the people time to assemble. On the appointed day 

 the criminal is led to the place of execution, and bound to a stake. 

 The offended party, or his nearest relation, if he has been murdered, 

 advances and chooses the choicest morsel ; the others follow in their 

 turn, and with their own hands cut off such pieces as please their 

 fancy. Finally, the unfortunate wretch is relieved from his sufferings 

 by the chief, who strikes off his head. The flesh is eaten on the 

 spot, raw or cooked, according to each man's taste. 



The natives of some of the Polynesian Islands consider that they 

 render a service to their aged parents by slaying them, and that, by 

 eating them, they provide the most honourable mode of sepulture. 

 Others believe that a man, by devouring his enemy, infiltrates into 

 his blood all the virtues with which the latter was endowed. A 

 similar prejudice exists among certain tribes on the Amazon. 



It is beyond doubt that, in a majority of cases, anthropophagy 

 originates in scarcity of food, in the lack of cattle and game, while, 

 in others, many cannibals are attracted by the delicious savour of 

 human flesh, which they prefer to every other. Among the Cohens 

 of the Uanpes, says Maury, man is considered as veritable game, and 

 these savages declare war against the neighbouring tribes only with 

 the object of procuring a supply of human flesh. When they have 

 more than they require for present needs, they dry it, smoke it, and 

 store it away as provision. 



In the Viti Islands, whose natives are eulogized by Dumont- 

 d'Urville as the most intelligent in Melanesia, great festivals are 

 celebrated at different epochs of the year, which require a certain 

 number of victims. Prisoners of war are the first to be immolated ; 

 then all those unfortunates who are without an asylum are hunted 

 and collected ; and if this inhuman chase should not be sufficiently 

 productive, the purveyors eke out the supplies by adding some 



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