454 THE NATIVK TRIBES OF POLYNESIA. 



silent. But after looking about for some time, a huge " black fellow" 

 suddenly stood at my side, his dark proportions seeming magnified in 

 the shadowy light of the moon. The whole tribe was close at hand, 

 but my companion, whose instinct seemed to tell him the object of my 

 visit, took me aside to a recess among the trees, where lay the body of 

 the old man. His eldest son had knelt upon his chest, while two 

 women had strangled him with a strip of bark. . 



This custom of killing the old and helpless is not universal, but it 

 prevails very generally. Age is respected, but as soon as a native be- 

 comes a burden to himself and to his tribe he gladly and not without 

 a degree of pride submits to being put to death. When we remember 

 the mode of life of these people, there is more real kindness than 

 cruelty in this custom. It arises certainly from no savage tendency to 

 violence ; and although at a superficial glance there may be something 

 horrible about the idea, we ought to take all the circumstances into 

 consideration before we pass a decree of condemnation upon it. The 

 tribes live by travelling from place to place. They have certain favo- 

 rite haunts, but they cannot remain long upon one location. They 

 have no means of carrying with them those of their companions who 

 are permanently disabled, and so they have established an institution 

 which saves such from starvation. 



The principal tribes of the other parts of Polynesia are of a higher 

 type than the Australians or the Tasmanians. This remark applies 

 especially to those portions of the population which have sometimes 

 been described by the term Polynesian, as distinct from the Melane- 

 rian. The latter merge into the former at about the longitude of the 

 Figis, where we find a people possessing the characteristics more or 

 less of both divisions. Time however will not permit me to dwell as 

 I would wish upon many of the details of character, custom and lan- 

 guage, of these interesting people. I must content myself with only 

 such general observations as are suggested upon a consideration of 

 their probable future. I ask to be allowed to make only one exception, 

 for the purpose of expressing my conviction upon the subject of canni- 

 balism, for which the Figians and Maories especially are rated in many 

 books and in missionary records. I do not believe in cannibalism. I 

 did believe in it once ; but that was before I had lived among the so- 

 called cannibals. As my knowledge of these increased, my belief in 

 the custom diminished ; till now there is none left. By cannibalism 

 I understand the use of human flesh as an article of food j made so, 



