PACIFIC AND BEEPING’S STRAIT. 
177 
Were put to death, and eaten alike with their victims. They have still a CHAP, 
great partiality for raw food, which is but one remove from cannibalism ; 
and when a canoe full of fish was brought one day to the village, the Feb. 
men, before it could be drawn to the shore, fell upon its contents, and 
devoured every part of the fish except the bones and fins. The women, 
whose business it was to unload the boat, did the best they could with 
one of them between their teeth, while their hands were employed 
portioning the contents of the canoe into small heaps. But even in 
this repast we were glad to observe some indication of feeling by their 
putting the animal speedily out of torture by biting its head in two, 
the only proof of humanity which they manifested. In like manner, 
cleanliness was not overlooked by them, for they carefully rinsed their 
mouths after the disgusting meal. 
It appeared that the chief had three wives, and that polygamy 
Was permitted to an unlimited extent ; any man of the community, we 
Were told, might put away his wife whenever it is his pleasure to do 
so, and take another, provided she were disengaged. No ceremony 
takes place at the wedding ; it being sufficient for a man to say to a 
Woman, “ You shall be my wife and she becomes so. 
The offspring of these unions seem to be the objects of the only 
feelings of affection the male sex possess, as there was certainly none 
bestowed on the women. Indeed the situation of the females is much 
to be pitied ; in no part of the world, probably, are they treated more 
brutally. While their husbands are indulging their lethargic disposi- 
tion under the shade of the cocoa-nut trees, making no effort toward 
their own support, beyond that of eating when their food is placed 
before them, the women are sent to the reefs to wade over the sharp- 
pointed coral in search of shell-fish, or to the w'oods to collect pan- 
danus-nuts. We have seen them going out at daylight on these pur- 
suits, and returning quite fatigued with their morning toil. In this state, 
instead of enjoying a little repose on reaching their home, they are en- 
gaged in the laborious occupation of preparing what they have gathered 
for their hungry masters, who, immediately the nuts are placed before 
them, stay their appetites by extracting the pulpy substance contained 
in the outside woody fibres of the fruit, and throw the remainder to 
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