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that we could tell whether they were in jest or earnest when they gave us these Heivu's as they call them, of their own accord especialy at our first coming into a place - Their signs of friendship is the waving the hand or a peice of Cloth &Ca.We were never able to learn with any degree of certainty in what manner they bury their dead, we were generaly told that they put them in the ground, if so it must be in some secrete or by place for we never saw the least signs of a burying place in the whole Country
Their Custom of Mourning for a friend or a relation is by cuting and scarifying their bodies particularly their Arms and breasts in such a Manner that the scars remain indelible and I beleive have some signification such as to shew how near related the deceas'd was to them.
With respect to Religion I beleive these People trouble themselves very little about it. they however ^they beleive that their is one Supream God whome they call and likewise a number of other inferior Deities, but whether or no they Worship or Pray to either one or the other we know not with any degree of certainty it is reasonable to suppose that they do and I beleive it, yet I never saw the least action or thing a mong them that tended to prove it —
They have the same notions of the Creation
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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Transcribed from National Library of Australia Manuscript 1 page 215, 2004
Published by South Seas
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/cook_remarks-065