A 



c 



V 



RELIGION 



E M A R K S 



O N 



THE 



Hves though not united with the body, I was not able to difcover 



1 



when they fuppofed the foul removed or left the neighbourhood 

 of the corpfe and the bones- For it has been already obferved^ 



i 



alTembly of heavens^ 



that they imagine that the chiefs and better fort of people go to 

 Maouwe Into the fun and feaft on bread-fruit, and meat of dogs 



+ I 



and hogs, which requires no dreffing, in the 

 or T^e-rooa te-i^nl. The time when the deceafed are thought to^ 

 go to this affembly remains therefore unfettled. * The Egyptian, 

 dodlriae of the tranfmigration of the foul has been,. I believe often' 

 mentioned, but feldom underilood. The Egyptians were of* 

 opinion, that the foul of man was obliged after the Decay of 

 the body to animate the bodies of animals, birds, and fifh, till 

 after a revolution of three thoufand y«ar& the fame ibul. again 



■t^ 



refumed 



raw hides of oxen, nud ha?ig them upby a chain in the air; The inhabitants of Chili put. 

 their deceafed in the attitude of a child in the mother's womb, and then they expofe them 

 on a flage fix feet high,- Supple7nent io Anfons Voyage. All thefe accounts evidently prove, 

 that many nations obfcrve the fame- cuflom w^ith regard to tke corpfcs of their deceafed. 

 friends as at 0-Taheitce, in expofingthem to putrefaction and afterwards burying the bones 

 only,. And though fome of them differ, fomewhat in their method of treating the remains of. 

 their relations, there are however others who do not bury them imder ground, but fever 

 the flefli from the bones,, and preferve the Ikeleton drcfTed out and finely ornamented in. 

 caves under ground, (fivch for inflance are the cuftoma of the Moluches, Taluhcts, and. 



ao 



DefcriptiQ7i cf P. 



P^ Il8, 120. 



* We fhall in the next chapter give an account of the docflrine of the foul as it is received-; 

 among the inhabitants of the Caroline iflandsj which can be employed for the, illuftration of 

 fch-e define of the Taheit^ans* 



, \ 



