It is also their
custom to prepare the dying man's coffin before his eyes; and what
is still more incredible, when they see him about to render up his
last sigh, they place a bit of moistened 'tapa'[17] in his mouth,
whilst the fingers of some _friend_ are employed in closing the lips
and nostrils!"
[Footnote 17: Tapa is a species of stuff made from the inner bark of
the mulberry-tree.]
GRANDY. "All this appears very unfeeling to us my dear; but cruelty
is not the intention of the poor Kannaks. They believe that the soul
escapes with the parting breath, and their desire is to secure the
spirit within the body until the body wastes; when, according to
their doctrine, it animates another body, which, during the process
of decomposition in the old one, has been created in a far distant
island, where all the good things of this life are found in
abundance, and the soul flies thither as soon as its old habitation
is destroyed."
EMMA. "Poor people! What a lamentable state of ignorance! How I pity
them. Are there any more miserable people to be visited here?"
CHARLES. "Well, here are the Low Islands to the south of the
Marquesans; but I have not the pleasure of an acquaintance with the
people, therefore I cannot say if they be happy or miserable.
Gambia, Crescent, and Clermont Isles are the principal. Gambia
contains upwards of a thousand inhabitants. Crescent Isle is not
very fertile, and occupied by a few natives, who have erected little
huts their, and procure a scanty subsistence.
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