CANNIBALISM. 



225 



the island of cannibals. The inhabitants in lieu 

 of seizing him for the frying pan, fled precipitately 

 to their woods, whither the charitable father fol- 

 lowed them. The meek and courteous behaviour 

 on his part soon allayed their imaginary fears ; 

 and the whole island, was converted by St. Francis 

 Xavier to the catholic faith During the three 

 months that he tarried with these barbarians, no 

 mention is made, — no hint is thrown out, no soli- 

 tary instance is adduced of these people being prone 

 to cannibalism. Had his conduct tended to enrage 

 them, he certainly might have run the risk of 

 being knocked on the head, and then devoured, 

 whilst their ungovernable paroxysm of frenzy 

 lasted ; for let it be remembered, that these island- 

 ers were savages of the first description. They 

 had not been civilized : neither did they know, 

 what it was, to control their gusts of passion. 

 So that, in their rage, they ran the risk of being 

 led to commit an unnatural act, which, in their 

 cooler moments, they never would have perpetrated. 



I have remarked, at the commencement of these 

 notes, that there is a law written in the heart of 

 man, forbidding him to kill his fellow-man. But, 

 this same law does not prohibit him from eating 

 the flesh of man. In doing so, a man must be 

 governed entirely by his own imagination. Thus, 



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