82 Origin and Migrations of tlie Polynesian Nation. 



famine, the taboo is laid upon certain articles of food, perhaps for 

 a period of six months, and a supply is thus reserved for the 

 future. In the islands towards the north, certain fruit-bearing 

 trees, and in New Zealand certain plats of Tcumara or sweet 

 potatoes are tabooed every season. The produce of these trees 

 or plats is gathered in the time of harvest, and distributed 

 among the people. And in New Zealand, evidently to guard" 

 against the events of war and the pressure of famine, the seed 

 potatoes are always separated from the rest of the stock at the 

 time of ingathering, and placed in a storehouse which is tabooed ; 

 and any person found stealing from such a house is punished 

 with death. 



It may doubtless be difficult to account for so singular an 

 institution as the Polynesian taboo ; but its Asiatic origin is 

 evident and indubitable. Its influence and operation may be 

 traced from the Straits of Malacca across the whole continent of 

 Asia to the Sea of Tiberias and the isles of Greece. In Ionia, in 

 Hindostan, and in Tahiti, the person, the place, or the thing that 

 was subjected to the influence of the mysterious taboo, was 

 thenceforth, in the words of the poet, auguriis pairum, et prisca 

 formidine sacrum, " abstracted from the common usages of life, 

 by a superstitious dread, the result of ancient religious obser- 

 vances." 



III. Numerous Asiatic customs and observances are practised 

 in the South Sea Islands as well as in the Indian Archipelago, 

 which closely adjoins the continent of Asia, and must therefore 

 have been originally peopled from it. 



To instance only a few of these — in Tahiti, as in Bengal, women 

 are not allowed to eat with their husbands, or to partake of 

 certain articles of food which are indiscriminately eaten by their 

 lords and masters. The general posture in sitting is that of the 

 Asiatics — on the ground, cross-legged ; and in the Friendly 

 Islands, as in the kingdom of Siam and in other Eastern countries, 

 it is deemed most respectful to sit in the presence of the 

 sovereign. The New Zealanders and Friendly Islanders salute 

 each other by touching noses — a ceremony which is not unknown 

 in Eastern Asia ; and in the island of Tonga there is a game 

 called hico, which consists in throwing up and keeping in the air 

 a number of balls, and is still practised by the Indian and 

 Chinese jugglers. 



Nay, similar modes of thinking, and corresponding peculiarities 

 of action, are found to prevail both in Asia and in the South Sea 

 Islands. The New Zealanders, for example, uniformly . ascribe 

 internal maladies to the anger of some atua or divinity, who is 

 supposed to be gnawing the patient's viscera. In such cases, 

 therefore, instead of administering anything in the shape of 

 medicine, the priest or soothsayer is consulted, who, after certain 



