[210]. At the Caroline Islands, “Ils ont horreur de l’adultère, comme d’un grand péché.” Ibid. tom. xv. p. 310.
[211]. How the inhabitants of the Caroline Islands express their grief on such occasions, may be seen, Ibid. tom. xv. p. 308.
[212]. Cantova’s account of the practice of the Caroline Islands is as follows: “Lorsqu’il meurt, quelque personne d’un rang distingu, ou qui leur est chère par d’autres endroits, ses obsèques se font avec pompe. Il y en a qui renferment le corps du défunct dans un petit édifice de pierre, qu’ils gardent au-dedans de leurs maisons. D’autres les enterrent loin de leurs habitations.”
Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses, tom. xv. p. 308, 309.
[213]. See Vol. III. p. 228.
[214]. It may be proper to mention here, on the authority of Captain King, that it is common for the inferior people to cut off a joint of their little finger, on account of the sickness of the chiefs to whom they belong.
[215]. This is peculiar to the men; the women always sitting with both legs thrown a little on one side. We owe this remark to Captain King.
[216]. Cantova gives us the same account of the profound submission of the Caroline Islanders to the orders of the Tamole. “Ils reçoivent ses ordres avec le plus profond respect. Ses paroles sont autant d’oracles qu’on révère.”
Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses, tom. xv. p. 312.
[217]. The reader need not be reminded that Tamoloa, which signifies a chief, in the dialect of Hamao and Tammaha, become the same word, by the change of a single letter, the articulation of which is not very strongly marked.