DIFFERENT IDEAS OF VIRTUE. 459 



were habitual cannibals, who regarded mercy as a weakness, 

 and cruelty as a virtue, fully believed that a woman who was 

 not tattooed in an orthodox manner during life, could not pos- 

 sibly hope for happiness after death. This curious idea is also 

 found among the Esquimaux. Hall tells us that they tattoo 

 " from principle, the theory being that the lines thus made 

 will be regarded in the next world as a sign of goodness."* 

 It seems to the Yeddahs the most natural thing in the world 

 that a man should marry his younger sister, but marriage 

 with an elder one is as repugnant to them as to us. Among 

 the Friendly Islanders the chief priest was considered too 

 holy to be married; but he had the right to take as many 

 concubines as he pleased ; and even the chiefs dared not 

 refuse their daughters to him. Among the natives of New 

 South Wales, though the women wore no clothes, it was 

 thought indecent for children to go naked, f 



I cannot indeed but think that the differences observable in 

 savage tribes, are even more remarkable than the similarities. 



In endeavouring to estimate the moral character of savages, 

 we must remember not only that their standard of right and 

 wrong was, and is, in many cases, very different from ours : 

 but also that, according to the statements of travellers, though 

 on this point I must confess that I feel much hesitation, some 

 of them can hardly be regarded as responsible beings, and 

 have not attained to any notions, however faulty and un- 

 defined,, of moral rectitude. J But where such notions do 

 exist, they differ widely, as we have seen, from our own ; 

 and it would open up too large a question to enquire whether, 

 in all cases, our standard is the correct one. 



In considering the character of women belonging to savage 

 or semi-savage races, we must remember that savages re- 

 garded the white men as beings of a superior order to them- 



* Life with the Esquimaux, vol. ii., p. 315. f D'Urville, vol. i. p. 471. 

 J See, for instance, Burchell, vol. i., p. 461 



