386 RELIGION. 



of the enterprise, and the skill with which it appears to have 

 been carried out. It is, perhaps, the most important monu- 

 ment which is known to have been constructed with stone 

 tools only, and renders it the less unlikely that some of the 

 large tumuli and other ancient monuments of Europe may 

 belong to the Stone age. When a chief died, his relations 

 and attendants cut and mangled themselves in a dreadful 

 manner. They ran spears through their thighs, arms, and 

 cheeks, and beat themselves about the head with clubs " till 

 the blood ran down in streams." They also frequently cut 

 off the little finger on these occasions; a curious custom, 

 which is common also in the Friendly Islands. 



In Tiarrabou, Captain .Cook saw a rude figure of a man, 

 made of basket-work and about seven feet high. This was 

 intended as a representation of one of the inferior gods, but 

 was said to be the only one on the island ; for the natives, 

 though they worshipped numerous deities, to whom also 

 human sacrifices were sometimes offered, yet were not 

 idolaters. Ellis, however, saw among them many rude 

 idols.* Captain Cook found their religion "like that of 

 most other countries, involved in mystery, and perplexed 

 with apparent inconsistencies, "f They believed in the im- 

 mortality of the soul, and in "two situations of different 

 degrees of happiness, somewhat analogous to our heaven and 

 hell," but far from regarding them as places of reward and 

 punishment, thought that the happiest lot was of course 

 intended for the chiefs and superior classes, the other for 

 the people of inferior rank. J Indeed, they did not suppose 

 that their actions here in the least influenced their future 

 state ; so that their religion did not act upon them by pro- 

 mises or threats, and "their expressions of adoration and 



Ellis, I.e. vol. i., p. .526 ; Wilson, I.e. p. 242. 



f See also Forster, I.e. p. 539. 



J Coot's First Voyage, vol. ii., p. 239 : Ellis, vol. i., p. 518. 



