IDEAS SUGGESTED BY THE FEAST OF CALABASHES--INACCURACY OF CERTAINPUBLISHED ACCOUNTS OF THE ISLANDS--A REASON--NEGLECTED STATE OFHEATHENISM IN THE
IDEAS SUGGESTED BY THE FEAST OF CALABASHES--INACCURACY OF CERTAINPUBLISHED ACCOUNTS OF THE ISLANDS--A REASON--NEGLECTED STATE OFHEATHENISM IN THE VALLEY--EFFIGY OF A DEAD WARRIOR--A SINGULARSUPERSTITION--THE PRIEST KOLORY AND THE GOD MOA ARTUA--AMAZINGRELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE--A DILAPIDATED SHRINE--KORY-KORY AND THEIDOL--AN INFERENCE
ALTHOUGH I had been baffled in my attempts to learn the origin ofthe Feast of Calabashes, yet it seemed very plain to me that itwas principally, if not wholly, of a religious character. As areligious solemnity, however, it had not at all corresponded withthe horrible descriptions of Polynesian worship which we havereceived in some published narratives, and especially in thoseaccounts of the evangelized islands with which the missionarieshave favoured us. Did not the sacred character of these personsrender the purity of their intentions unquestionable, I shouldcertainly be led to suppose that they had exaggerated the evilsof Paganism, in order to enhance the merit of their owndisinterested labours.
In a certain work incidentally treating of the 'Washington, orNorthern Marquesas Islands,' I have seen the frequent immolationof human victims upon the altars of their gods, positively andrepeatedly charged upon the inhabitants. The same work givesalso a rather minute account of their religion--enumerates agreat many of their superstitions--and makes known the particulardesignations of numerous orders of the priesthood. One wouldalmost imagine from the long list that is given of cannibalprimates, bishops, arch-deacons, prebendaries, and other inferiorecclesiastics, that the sacerdotal order far outnumbered the restof the population, and that the poor natives were more severelypriest-ridden than even the inhabitants of the papal states. These accounts are likewise calculated to leave upon the reader'smind an impression that human victims are daily cooked and servedup upon the altars; that heathenish cruelties of everydescription are continually practised; and that these ignorantPagans are in a state of the extremest wretchedness inconsequence of the grossness of their superstitions. Be itobserved, however, that all this information is given by a manwho, according to his own statement, was only at one of theislands, and remained there but two weeks, sleeping every nighton board his ship, and taking little kid-glove excursions ashorein the daytime, attended by an armed party.
Now, all I can say is, that in all my excursions through thevalley of Typee, I never saw any of these alleged enormities. Ifany of them are practised upon the Marquesas Islands they mustcertainly have come to my knowledge while living for months witha tribe of savages, wholly unchanged from their originalprimitive condition, and reputed the most ferocious in the SouthSeas.
The fact is, that there is a vast deal of unintentionalhumbuggery in some of the accounts we have from scientific menconcerning the religious institutions of Polynesia. Theselearned tourists generally obtain the greater part of theirinformation from retired old South-Sea rovers, who havedomesticated themselves among the barbarous tribes of thePacific. Jack, who has long been accustomed to the long-bow, andto spin tough yarns on the ship's forecastle, invariablyofficiates as showman of the island on which he has settled, andhaving mastered a few dozen words of the language, is supposed toknow all about the people who speak it. A natural desire to makehimself of consequence in the eyes of the strangers, prompts himto lay claim to a much greater knowledge of such matters than heactually possesses. In reply to incessant queries, hecommunicates not only all he knows but a good deal more, and ifthere be any information deficient still he is at no loss tosupply it. The avidity with which his anecdotes are noted downtickles his vanity, and his powers of invention increase with thecredulity auditors. He knows just the sort of informationwanted, and furnishes it to any extent.
This is not a supposed case; I have met with several individualslike the one described, and I have been present at two or threeof their interviews with strangers.
Now, when the scientific voyager arrives at home with hiscollection of wonders, he attempts, 