358 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
has, however, been impressed by evidence so vari¬ 
ous and multiplied, as to preclude uncertainty. 
Their mythology led them to suppose, that the 
spirits of the dead are eaten by the gods or de¬ 
mons ; and that the spiritual part of their sacri¬ 
fices is eaten by the spirit of the idol before whom 
it is presented. Birds resorting to the temple, 
were said to feed upon the bodies of the human 
sacrifices, and it was imagined the god approached 
the temple in the bird, and thus devoured the 
victims placed upon the altar. In some of the 
islands, “ man-eater” was an epithet of the princi¬ 
pal deities; and it was probably in connexion 
with this, that the king, who often personated the 
god, appeared to eat the human eye. Part of 
some human victims were eaten by the priests. 
The Marquesians are known to be cannibals; the 
inhabitants of the Palliser or Pearl Islands, in the 
immediate neighbourhood of Tahiti, to the east¬ 
ward, are the same. A most affecting instance of 
their anthropophagism is related by recent visitors; 
who state that a captive female child, pining with 
hunger, on begging a morsel of food from the 
cruel and conquering invaders of her native 
island, received a piece of her own father’s flesh! 
The bodies of prisoners in war, or enemies slain 
in battle, appear to have been eaten by most of 
the Hervey Islanders, who reside a short distance 
to the west of the Society group. There were 
several inducements to this horrid practice. The 
New Zealanders ate the bodies of their enemies, 
that they might imbibe their courage, &c. Hence, 
they exulted in their banquet on a celebrated war¬ 
rior ; supposing that, when they had devoured his 
flesh, they should be imbued with his valiant and 
daring spirit. I am not certain that this was the 
