THE PE LEW ISLANDS. 
that faying prayers at church was to make men good, that 
when they died, and were buried, they might live again 
above (pointing to the Iky) ; Lee Boo, with great earned:- 
nefs, replied— All fame Pelew- — Bad men flay in earth- 
good men go into Jky — become very beautiful , holding his 
hand in the air, and giving a fluttering motion to his fingers. 
—This furely conveyed a flrong idea, that they believed the 
fpirit exited when the body was no more. 
After combining all thefe facts, and uniting them with 
the moral characters of the people, the reader is left in a 
fituation to judge for himfelf (independent of Lee Boo’s 
declaration) whether it is probable that their lives could be 
conducted with that decency we have feen, and their minds 
trained to fo flrong a fenfe of juflice, propriety, and delicacy, 
without having Tome guiding principle of religion.—Thus 
much, at lead, I think we may be authorized to affert—If all 
this was effected without it, it proves that the natives of Pe¬ 
lew had been happy enough not only to difcover, but to be 
perfectly convinced, that Virtue was its own reward. 
GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE NATIVES. 
I fhall clofe this account of the Pelew illands with a few 
general remarks on the difpofition and character of the na¬ 
tives. 
The conduct of thefe people towards tli-e Englifh was, 
U u from 
329 
