A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16Kerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
resemblance--_Dans leurs assemblees elles se mettent doux ou trieze
femmes en rond, debout, sans se remuer. Dans cette attitude elles
chantent les vers fabuleux de leurs poetes avec un agrement, et une
justesse qui plairoit en Europe. L'accord de leur voix est admirable,
et ne cede en rien a la musique concertee. Elles ont dans les mains
de petits coquilles, dont elles se servent avec beaucoup de precision.
Elles soutiennent leur voix, et animent leur chants avec une action
si vive, et des gestes si expressives, qu'elles charment ceux qui
les voient, et qui les entendent._ 5. We read in Captain Cook's first
voyage, that at Otaheite garlands of the fruit of the palm-tree and
cocoa-leaves, with other things particularly consecrated to funeral
solemnities, are deposited about the places where they lay their dead;
and that provisions and water are also left at a little distance. How
conformable to this is the practice at the Ladrones, as described
by Le Gobien!--_Ils font quelques repas autour du tombeau; car on
en eleve toujours un sur le lieu ou le corps est enterre, ou dans
le voisinage; on le charge de fleurs, de branches de palmiers, de
coquillages, et de tout ce qu'ils ont de plus precieux._ 6. It is the
custom at Otaheite not to bury the skulls of the chiefs with the rest
of the bones, but to put them into boxes made for that purpose. Here
again, we find the same strange custom prevailing at the Ladrones;
for Le Gobien expressly tells us, _qui'ls gardent les cranes, en leur
maisons_, that they put these skulls into little baskets (_petites
corbeilles_); and that these dead chiefs are the _Anitis_, to whom
their priests address their invocations. 7. The people at Otaheite, as
we learn from Captain Cook, in his account of Tee's embalmed corpse,
make use of cocoa-nut oil, and other ingredients, in rubbing the
dead bodies. The people of the Ladrones, Father Le Gobien tells
us, sometimes do the same--_D'autres frottent les morts d'huile
odoriferante._ 8. The inhabitants of Otaheite believe the immortality
of the soul; and that there are two situations after death, somewhat
analogous to our heaven and hell; but they do not suppose, that their
actions here in the least influence their future state. And in the
account given in this Voyage of the religious opinions entertained at
the Friendly Islands, we find there exactly the same doctrine. It
is very observable, how conformable to this is the belief of the
inhabitants of the Ladrones--_Ils sont persuades_ (says Le Gobien) _de
l'immortalite de l'ame. Ils reconnoissent meme un Paradis et un Enfer,
dont ils se forment des idees assez bizarres. Ce n'est point, selon
eux, la vertu ni le crime, qui conduit dans ces lieux la; les bonnes
ou les mauvaises actions n'y servent de rien._ 9. One more very
singular instance of agreement shall close this long list. In Captain
Cook's account of the New Zealanders, we find that, according to them,
the soul of the man who is killed, and whose flesh is devoured, is
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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