POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
15 
pair of Hessian boots^ and a cocked hat! The figure 
hung there till about noon^ when it was taken down^ 
and fastened upon the back of a young ox: one end of 
a rope was tied to each of the animars horns, and the 
other end held at a distance of six or eight yards by 
two young men; who, keeping opposite sides of the 
road, ran backwards and forwards with the animal, till it 
became quite furious, and at last, dislodging the image 
of Judas from its back, the ox tore it to pieces with its 
horns and its feet. The spectators appeared to derive 
no small gratification from the exhibition; but such a 
scene, partaking, according to their opinion, in some 
degree, of a religious observance, could not be witnessed 
by a Christian without emotions of pain. 
I draw no invidious comparisons between Roman 
Catholics and Protestants; I desire to cultivate towards 
the former, as individuals, every feeling of Christian kind¬ 
ness and charity; but I could contemplate Popery with 
no satisfaction, not because its extension circumscribes 
the influence of Protestantism, but because it has always 
appeared to me one of the most absurd and fatal delu¬ 
sions which the powers of darkness ever invented for the 
destruction of mankind. 
Here, for the first time, we came into actual contact 
with slavery. There are, perhaps, few’ places where the 
slaves meet with milder treatment; but it was most 
distressing, on passing the slave market, to observe the 
wretched captives there bought and sold like cattle; or 
to see two or three interesting looking youths, wear¬ 
ing a thin dress, and having a new red cotton hand¬ 
kerchief round their heads, led through the streets by 
a slave-dealer, who, entering the different houses or 
workshops as he passed along, offered the young 
