THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
133 
mark, that, being prefent when he examined the man i 77 
who had the fmall piece of falted flefh wrapped in cloth, it , Mar 
ftruck me very forcibly, that the figns he made life of 
meant nothing more, than that it was intended to be eat, 
and that it was very pleafant or wholefome to the ftomach. 
In this opinion I was confirmed, by a circumftance which 
came to our knowledge, after the death of my worthy and 
ingenious friend, viz. that almoft every native of thefe 
iflands carried about with him, either in his calibafh, or 
wrapped up in a piece of cloth, and tied about his waifi, 
a fmall piece of raw pork, highly falted, which they con- 
fidered as a great delicacy, and ufed now and then to tafte 
of. With refpe£t to the confufion the young lad was in 
(for he was not more than fixteen or eighteen years of age), 
no one could have been furprized at it, who had feen the 
eager and earned: manner in which Mr. Anderfon quef- 
tioned him. 
The argument drawn from the infirument made with 
fhark’s teeth, and which is nearly of the fame form with 
thofe u.fed at New Zealand for cutting up the bodies of their 
enemies, is much more difficult to controvert. I believe it 
to be an undoubted fac% that this knife, if it may be fo 
called, is never ufed by them in cutting the flefh of other 
animals. However, as the cuftom of offering human facri- 
fices, and of burning the bodies of the llain, is ftill preva¬ 
lent here, it is not improbable, that the ufe of this inftru- 
ment is retained in thofe ceremonies. Upon the whole, X 
am ftrongly inclined to think, and particularly from this 
laft circumftance, that the horrid practice, in queflion, has 
but lately ceafed amongft thefe and other iflands of the 
South Sea. Omai, when prefied on this fubjedt, con felled, 
that, in the rage and fury of revenge, they would fome- 
times 
