THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
Their long and general mourning, proves that they con- 
fider death as a very great evil. And this is confirmed by 
a very odd cuftom which they pra&ife to avert it. When I 
firfl: vifited thefe iflands, during my lad voyage, I obferved 
that many of the inhabitants had one or both of their little 
fingers cut off; and we could not then receive any fatisfac- 
tory account of the reafon of this mutilation *. But we 
now learned, that this operation is performed when they 
labour under fome grievous difeafe, and think themfelves 
in danger of dying. They fuppofe, that the Deity will ac¬ 
cept of the little finger, as a fort of facrifice efficacious 
enough to procure the recovery of their health. They cut 
it off with one of their flone hatchets. There was fcarcely 
one in ten of them whom we did not find thus mutilated, 
in one or both- hands; which has a difagreeable effeft; 
efpecially as they fometimes cut fo clofe, that they encroach 
upon the bone of the hand which joins to the amputated 
finger t. 
From the rigid feverity with which fome of thefe mourn¬ 
ing and religious ceremonies are executed, one would ex¬ 
pert to find, that they meant thereby to fecure to them¬ 
felves felicity beyond the grave; but their principal object 
relates to things merely temporal. For they feem to have 
little conception of future punifhment for faults com¬ 
mitted in this life. They believe, however, that they are 
juftly punifhed upon earth; and, confequently, ufe every 
method t,o render their divinities propitious. The Supreme 
Author of moll things they call Kallafootonga ; who, they 
* See Cook’s Voyage, Vol. i. p. 222. 
t It may be proper to mention here, on the authority of Captain King, that it is com¬ 
mon for the inferior people to cut off a joint of their little finger, on account of the fick- 
nefs of the Chiefs to whom they belong. 
3 F 2 fay. 
4°S 
T 777* 
July. 
■ » w — - 7 
