131 Interesting Particulars respecting New Zealand. part of a southern continent, but it is now known to consist of two large islands, divided from each other by a strait four or five leagues broad. 182 However, I man to have two wives. "Every family is divided into three classes; the first consists of the father, mother, children, and relatives; the "Every kind of European fruits, grain, and plants, would flourish here in the utmost luxuriance. The win-second of the person called the steward, ters are milder than those in Europe, and the summers not so hot, though more equally warm. his wife, and children; and the third of the cook or common servant, and his family. These people never eat food in their houses; they have a superstitious notion among them, that food pollutes the house; and from this persuasion, they always take their "The inhabitants of these islands are in general very stout and robust, and are equal in muscular strength to the largest men in Europe; their number is supposed to be nearly one mil-food in the open air. lion. Their colour in general is brown, but not much more so than that of a Spaniard, who has been much exposed to the sun. Both the men and women have good features. Their dress consists of mats made of flax, which grows in abundance in the island, and is of a very fine texture. The natives are accustomed to mark or tattoo their bodies, and particularly their faces. 66 They have various weapons of war, the principal of which are lances, darts, and a kind of battle-axe. "Their religious principles are little known. Some writers say, that they believe the souls of such as are killed in battle, and whose flesh is afterwards eaten by their enemies, are doomed to perpetual fire; while the souls of those who die a natural death, or whose bodies are preserved from such ignominious treatment, ascend to the habitation of the gods. "The method of disposing of their dead is, first, if the deceased has been a person of rank, his friends put him in the earth for a few weeks or months, and then take up his body, and scrape the decayed flesh off the bones, and collect them together; then the priest sets apart a number of men, whose duty it is to carry the bones to a cave at a distance. Every person who touches a part of the body, is in a state of pollution for a certain number of days. 66 They have no places for worship, nor do they ever assemble together for religious services. They have priests, whose business it is to address the gods in prayer, for the welfare of the natives in their temporal affairs, for victory over their enemies, or for success in their fishing excursions. It is stated that they allow of polygamy, and that it is not uncommon for one "The manner of dressing their victuals is as follows. It is the duty of the cook to prepare the meat. This he does by making a large hole in the earth, which he paves with stones; he then puts in wood and fire to heat the stones; after the fire has ceased to burn, the ashes are removed. Then the potatoes are thrown into the hole, the pork or fish is placed upon the potatoes, and covered up, first with a piece of old mat, and then with earth. When the cook thinks the food sufficiently dressed, he gives the word of command to all who may be concerned. They place themselves in small circles, then the man uncovers the provision, and if the piece of pork be large, he takes hold of it with one hand, and with the fingers of the other tears off pieces, throws the first to the master, the second to the mistress, and so on till all are served." That the New Zealanders are cannibals, the evidence is most unequivocal. Of this horrid practice, we gave an instance in col. 27 of our preceding number, and the dreadful fact is confirmed by the account now before us. Alluding to that circumstance, the writer says, "In the company which waited for the body of the roasted youth, was shown to me the mother of the child. The mother and child were both slaves, having been taken in war. However, she would have been compelled to share in the horrid feast, if they had not been prevailed upon to give up the body. "But notwithstanding this melancholy picture of New Zealand cannibalism, I believe they are very capable of receiving religious instruction, and a knowledge of arts in general. They are very ingenious and enterprising, and discover a surprising willingness to receive information. I did not 133 The Moralizer.-No. 5. visit any one village, where the principal chiefs did not strongly urge my residence among them, and I believe that God is preparing them to receive the ever-blessed gospel of peace. "The following is what the Rev. S. Marsden has related to me from time to time, while I resided in New South Wales: "With respect to the tradition relative to the Moon, Mr. Marsden observed, I was one evening, when the moon was shining very bright, talking to a New Zealander, about the creation of the heavenly bodies. The moon at length became the topic of our conversation. He told me, that there was a man at New Zealand a long time ago, named Rona, who was going for some water one very dark night, and by accident hurt his foot, and though there were neither moon nor stars to be seen at the time, while Rona was in this situation, and so lame as not to be able to return to his house, the moon came suddenly upon him. Rona laid hold of a tree to save himself, but in vain, for the moon carried both him and the tree away:' and there they believe he is to this day. The New Zealanders believe that all their comforts and enjoyments are from the favour of their Attua, (their great god.) They also believe, that if they are good, he will do them good; but if wicked, he will be angry with them. They believe, that if a man was a robber, or in any way wicked, his potatoes would not grow when planted, and he would catch no fish when he went a fishing, and that his wife and children would also be wicked. 66 THE MORALIZER.-NO. 5. Saturday, October 21st, 1820. 134 Pejor est bello, timor ipse belli.-Seneca. Or a multiplicity of events, which are allowed to be real evils, few have not been more or less the subjects of undue exaggeration. Viewed relatively, rather than abstractedly, they have been arrayed in unsubstantial terrors; have been objects of aversion rather than of evitation; and have paralyzed by their menaces, those powers which should have been employed in anticipating their occurrence, and in preventing their consequences. To this cause, in its application to many cases, may be attributed the truth of the remark, that “Misfortunes seldom come alone." We are aware, how fatally the passion of fear has operated in instances too numerous and too notorious to be recorded; how often it procures the fate which it deprecates, and yields to the pressure of a calamity, which it was intended to divert. Thus we confer on real evil a prolific power, an inherent ability of propagating its kind; multiply our miseries, aggravate the wretchedness which we lament, and “feel,” as a certain writer says, a thousand deaths in fearing one." But it is not sufficient, that there really exist causes for fear; their existence is often visionary; and I am disposed to give Menander equal credit as a poet and as a philosopher, when I hear him say, 6 · Ἡμεῖς δὲ χωρὶς τῶν ἀναγκαίων κακῶν, “ Mr. Marsden has likewise observ- | ed, that a New Zealand chief with whom he was acquainted, said to him with apparent concern, that a New Zealand And whilst "cowardice is mistaken man did not know how to make a for elegance," nature will be disguised Sunday; but as soon as he returned with horrors, and peopled with monhe would make one, and requested me sters. The air is crowded with sylphs to get him some colours at Port Jack-and genii, and the earth swarms with зon, that he might on a Sunday morning hoist a signal, and let his people know it was the Sabbath. This young chief had noticed the observation of the sabbath-day in England and Port Jackson; and he said he is persuaded, that his countrymen will sanction the institution of the Sabbath. They would have had one before now, he says, but they did not know how to make a Sunday.” ghosts and apparitions. Every storm is the vehicle of a magician, and every eclipse the presage of doomsday. We cannot enjoy the fireside circle, without ominous apprehensions, nor read by candlelight, without affixing some certain explanation, to every appearance which our luminary presents. These effeminate panics are not uncommonly, constitutional, and involuntary. The power of the imagina 135 The Moralizer.-No. 5. 136 -a labyrinth in which we are in danger of ranging at random, through the mazes of idle speculation; or of ciful elevations of self-importance. To a proper performance of our several parts, on the stage of human existence, some degree of acquaintance with ourselves is absolutely es The languor of depression will naturally succeed to extravagance of expectation, but defeat is not unfrequently less disgraceful than conquest. The meanest advocate of truth, when sinking under the power of a mightier foe, will fall with the triumphant exultation,— tion is greater than that of reason; and education has, in many instances, nurtured those dispositions, which it should have aimed to suppress. Itsettling with composure, on the fanargued no inconsiderable superiority of information, as well as of resolution, in the son of Philip, to remove the uneasiness of his soldiers, on the appearance of a lunar eclipse preceding the battle of Arbela; and to dis-sential. cern the futility of those predictions, which would have prevented him from making Babylon the centre of his conquests, the seat of his empire, and the theatre of his triumphs. The imbecility and impolicy of listening to fears, which have no solid foundation, and no profitable tendency, demand neither confirmation from argument, nor elucidation from example. But the task of a Moralist, in cases where error is unconcealed, is rather to shew the means of escape, than to announce the existence of danger. To draw a faithful line of distinction betwixt reality and romance; to guard candour against the admission of prejudice; to vindicate circumspection from the charge of cowardice; and to defend the territories of reason from the irruptions of fancy, "Hoc opus, hic labor est." "In this the task, the mighty labour, lies." Those apprehensions, which result from frequent experience of the inconstancy and the depravity of mankind, though not altogether unreasonable, are always disgusting. He who has suffered from the treachery of professed friendship, or the assaults of open hostility, may be expected to look with less complacency on the attentions, and with less candour on the failings, of those with whom he is connected. But let him not conceive that all are deceitful, because some have proved false. Let him not, by brooding over the memory of a disaster, imbitter those enjoyments which are yet in reversion for him. Let him remember that all pleasure is not happiness, nor all misfortune misery. But the discouragements inspired by an imperfeet inspection of our own powers, or an improper estimate of the efficacy of those with which we know ourselves invested, must not be overlooked. | There is perhaps no inquiry more interesting, and at the same time more intricate, than one which conducts into the labyrinth of the human mind; ""Tis true I perish, but I perish great." But of all the doleful tones which have recently interrupted social pleasure, and roused patriotic feeling, the national knell of departed glory and ruined credit, has been longest and loudest continued. As a matter of universal concern, few villages and even hamlets have not furnished an echo to the sound. Its dreary monotony is at length familiarized to the public ear, and, like other reports of a similar nature, the oftener it has been repeated, the less it has been regarded. There have existed, and there certainly are at present, grounds for complaint-" Rumor publicus non omninò frustra est."—But with what benefit have these complaints been attended? That they have served to engender the whispers of disaffection, and the vociferations of disgust, cannot be denied; but that they have been effectual in producing any salutary consequences, few will have the hardihood to affirm. It is said of the inhabitants of Amyclæ, a city of Italy, that they were so frequently harassed with false rumours of hostile invasion, as to enact a law, prohibiting the circulation of any such reports; and that their enemies availing themselves of this new regulation, made a sudden inroad on their territories, and roused them from their slumber of imaginary security, by imposing on them the yoke of servitude. An attempt to suppress the voice of public opinion, in a free country, would not only be hazardous, but impracticable. The erection of a Bastile on English ground, or the establishment of an Inquisition in the British metropolis, might be adopted with equal appearance and justice, and prosecuted with equal pro- | bability of success. But could we lay some restriction on the tongues of those who mistake assertion for evidence; and who substitute invective for argument, the time which has hitherto been employed in censuring the conduct of others, might be devoted to purposes more advantageous, and more becoming. To attempt a correct calculation of the mischiefs which have accrued to men, in consequence of the spread of representations, whose authenticity has been unestablished, would be wholly irrelevant. How many battles have been lost by the dread of defeat;-how many pleasures have been sullied by the fear of misfortune;--and how many beauties have been blasted by the suggestions of timidity!—But the fatal effects of giving publicity to apprehensions which arise exclusively from the distracted state of private feeling, needs no other confirmation than that of the Divine Being himself, whose signal vengeance on those who were the means of diffusing dismay and discontent throughout a whole nation, would be sufficient, unaccompanied by any additional evidence, to prove the impropriety of the practice under consideration. Numbers, xiv. &c. To fear HIM, who, in comparison with every other object, is alone " worthy to be feared," constitutes at once the characteristic of piety, and the security of virtue. By transferring every feeling of devotional confidence, and sincere attachment, to the great Author of All, we secure to ourselves, in danger the primest defence; in trial -the sweetest consolation; through life-the most constant friend; and in death-the most indubitable assurances of permanent happiness. 138 material: my only object being to excite the attention of those, who are not only able to trace the evil to its source, but also to apply such remedy as the nature of the case may require. To this end it was my intention to have troubled you with a few observations of my own, but perusing, the other day, that celebrated little work of Dr. Goldsmith's, entitled, "The Vicar of Wakefield," I there found some remarks so appropriate to the present subject, and so superior to any I could offer, that I resolved to request the favour of an increased circulation thereof, through the medium of your valuable miscellany. Few of your readers will be unacquainted with the various vicissitudes of fortune, which at last left the worthy vicar no other home than that of a gaol. During his short confinement in this abode of wickedness and misery, he effected much good; for by religious admonitions and friendly counsel, (which were at first ridiculed and rejected) he brought some to a state of penitence, and all to a respectful attention. Upon contemplating the effects of his ministry and advice, he could not refrain from regarding himself as a legislator, who had brought men from their native ferocity into friendship and obedience. "And (he proceeds) it were highly to be wished, that legislative power would thus direct the law rather to reformation than severity. That it would seem convinced that the work of eradicating crimes, is not by making punishments familiar, but formidable. Then, instead of our present prisons, which find or make men guilty, which inclose wretches for the commission of one crime, and return them, if returned alive, fitted for the perpetration of thousands; it were to be wished we had, as in other parts of Europe, places of penitence and solitude, where the accused might be attended by such as could give them reSIR,-The great number of Capitalpentance if guilty, or new motives of Punishments which have taken place in this country, and especially of late, augurs either a great increase of enormous crimes and desperate depravity, or that the penalties of our Penal Code are not proportioned to the offences which men are daily liable to commit. To which of these causes this increasing and dreadful calamity may be attributed, is, to my present purpose, im No. 24.-VOL. III. On Penal Laws. MR. EDITOR, virtue if innocent. And this, but not the increasing punishment, is the way to mend a state; nor can I avoid even questioning the validity of that right which social combinations have assumed, of capitally punishing offences of a slight nature. "In cases of murder, their right is obvious, as it is the duty of us all, from the law of self-defence, to cut off K 1.39 Penal Laws.-Barbarous Customs at Tongabatoo. that man who has shewn a disregard for the life of another. Against such all nature rises in arms; but it is not so against him who steals my property. Natural law gives me no right to take away his life, as by that, the horse he steals, is as much his property as mine. If, then, I have any right, it must be from a compact made between us, that he who deprives the other of his horse shall die. But this is a false compact; because no man has a right to barter his life, no more than take it away, as it is not his own. And besides, the compact is inadequate, and would be set aside even in a court of modern equity, as there is a great penalty for trifling convenience, since it is far better that two men should live, than one man should ride. But a compact that is false between two men, is equally so between a hundred, and a hundred thousand; for as ten millions of circles can never make a square, so the united voice of myriads cannot lend the smallest foundation to falsehood. It is thus that reason speaks, and untutored nature says the same thing- Savages, that are directed by natural law alone, are very tender of the lives of each other; they seldom shed blood, but to retaliate former cruelty. "Our Saxon ancestors, fierce as they were in war, had but few executions in times of peace; and in all commencing governments that have the print of nature still strong upon them, scarce any crime is held capital. "It is among the citizens of a refined community, that Penal Laws, which are in the hands of the rich, are laid upon the poor. Government, while it grows older, seems to acquire the moroseness of age; and as if our property were become dearer in proportion as it increased, as if the more enormous our wealth, the more extensive our fears, all our possessions are paled up with new edicts every day, and hung round with gibbets to scare every invader. "I cannot tell, whether it is from the number of our Penal Laws, or the licentiousness of our people, that this country should show more convicts in a year, than half the dominions of Europe united. Perhaps it is owing to both; for they mutually produce each other. When by indiscriminate Penal Laws, a nation beholds the same punishment affixed to dissimilar 140 degrees of guilt, from perceiving no distinction in the penalty, the people are led to lose all sense of distinction in the crime, and this distinction is the bulwark of all morality: thus the multitude of laws produce new vices, and new vices call for fresh restraints. "It were to be wished then, that power, instead of contriving new laws to punish vice, instead of drawing hard the cords of society till a convulsion come to burst them, instead of cutting away wretches as useless before we have tried their utility, instead of converting correction into vengeance, it were to be wished that we tried the restrictive arts of Government, and made Law the protector, but not the tyrant of the people. We should then find, that creatures whose souls are held as dross, only wanted the hand of a refiner: we should then find, that wretches, now stuck up for long tortures, lest luxury should feel a momentary pang, might, if properly treated, serve to sinew the state in times of danger; that as their faces are like ours, their hearts are so too; that few minds are so base, as that perseverance cannot amend; that a man may see his last crime without dying for it; and that very little blood will serve to cement our security." If these invaluable considerations were duly attended to, I feel confident some plan might be devised which would lessen the frequency of crime, and which would tend to ameliorate the present severity of our Penal Code. That they may meet the eyes of some who having the will, possess also the power of giving them effect, is the sincere wish of, Sir, your most obedient servant, E. W. Liverpool, 11th Dec. 1820. Barbarous Customs, formerly practised among the Islanders of Tongataboo in the South Seas. THE following facts are taken from the first Missionary Voyage to the Pacific ocean in 1797. To several of our readers, no doubt they are already known; yet a far greater number, we are induced to believe, are ignorant of the moral degradation which human nature exhibits in a state of savage darkness. But it will be pleasing to all to learn, that, through the missionary exertions which have been made, |