We met with two instances of persons disordered in their minds, the one a man at Owhyhee, the other a woman at Oneeheow. It appeared, from the particular attention and respect paid to them, that the opinion of their being inspired by the Divinity, which obtains among most of the nations of the east, is also received here. Though the custom of eating the bodies of their enemies be not known, by positive evidence, to exist in any of the South Sea Islands, except New Zealand, yet it is extremely probable, that it was originally prevalent in them all. The sacrificing human victims, which seems evidently to be a relic of this horrid practice, still obtains universally amongst these islanders; and it is easy to conceive, why the New Zealanders should retain the repast, which was probably the last act of these shocking rites, longer than the rest of their tribe, who were situated in more mild and fruitful climates. As the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands certainly bear a nearer resemblance to those of New Zealand, both in their persons and dispositions than to any other people of this family, so it was strongly suspected, by Mr. Anderson, that, like them, they still continue to feast on human flesh. The evidence on which he founds this opinion, has been stated very fully in the tenth chapter of the third book[14]; but, as I always entertained great doubts of the justice of his conclusions, it may not be improper to take this occasion of mentioning the grounds on which I venture to differ from him. With respect to the information derived from the natives themselves, I shall only observe, that great pains were taken, by almost every officer on board, to come at the knowledge of so curious a circumstance; and that, except in the two instances mentioned by Mr. Anderson, we found them invariably denying the existence of any such custom amongst them. It must be allowed, that Mr. Anderson’s knowledge of their language, which was superior to that of any other person in either ship, ought certainly to give his opinion great weight; at the same time, I must beg leave to remark, that, being present when he examined the man who had the small piece of salted flesh wrapped in cloth, it struck me very forcibly, that the signs he made use of meant nothing more, than that it was intended to be ate, and that it was very pleasant or wholesome to the stomach. In this opinion, I was confirmed by a circumstance which came to our knowledge, after the death of my worthy and ingenious friend, _viz._ that almost every native of these islands carried about with him, either in his calibash, or wrapped up in a piece of cloth, and tied about his waist, a small piece of raw pork, highly salted, which they considered as a great delicacy, and used now and then to taste of. With respect to the confusion the young lad was in (for he was not more than sixteen or eighteen years of age), no one could have been surprized at it who had seen the eager and earnest manner in which Mr.