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them on the back of the Head or Neck — if they can find none whose Crimes deserve death they tell the Chief & a hog must be killd in stead — and will not kill a Man to gratify a Private pique of any Man even tho the Chief insists upon it and if he persists in having one he must kill him himself, and should He be kilid in the Attempt the Man so killing him comes to no harm — if such a thing is insisted on, they never fail to give Notice that such as think themselves in danger may keep out of the Way and should any Man be killd without sufficient Cause (tho they Never admit them to be present at their Tryal) His Friends instantly make War on the Offenders, but if He is known to be guilty of the Crimes laid to his Charge No Notice is taken of it as evry one deems it right and the Man who kills him is Justified as having been the Executor of Justice.
If a Man of Property is found Guilty of a Crime which deserves death he is punishd as well as the Poorest in the Island. An Instance of this we saw at the time the Young King was invested with the Royal Marro — one of the first Men in Morea being sacraficed for attempting to stop the Flag from Passing through his land on that Island.
During the Celebration of that Ceremony Numbers of Human sacrifices were made and many who knew themselves Guilty took Sanctuary about our houses where they knew themselves perfectly safe, as they knew our aversion to such Horrid practises but we could not protect all tho we often tryd in vain to diswade the Chiefs to drop their Barbarous Customs, who always gave for answer, ’If we do there will be no Chiefs’. However we protected all who took sanctuary with us and tho surrounded by the Most Notorious thieves on the Island our Property was always safe.
But this was only a temporary respite as they seldom fail at one time or other to bring them up and should they Fly from one District to another their Charracter always follows them & should a Sacrifice be wanting, the Chief of the district in which they have taken shelter always points them out before one of His own People, by which Means he secures the love of his own and is dreaded by others.
If a Man under such Circumstances submits himself to be bit by a Woman so as to Draw blood he is thereby rendered unfit for a sacrafice and saves his life but can never be admitted to partake of any religeous [ceremony], being ever after deemed on an equality with Weomens food, and must be a Woman[’s] servant ever after
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Indigenous Histories |  |
© Derived from the 1935 Print Edition edited by Owen Rutter, page 207, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-morrison-080.html