observe, that, in the main, "notwithstanding their being cannibals, they are naturally of a good disposition, and have not a little humanity." In respect to their humanity, however, he hath sometimes been a little in doubt, from observing a strange and barbarous custom which prevails very much amongst them, viz. that of cutting off the legs and arms of several of their own people; he was seldom a day without seeing one or two, sometimes half a dozen, that had been served in this manner. He took much pains to find out the reason, but all in vain; the only information that he could acquire, was, that they were, generally, a set of brave fellows that had killed a great number of their enemies; that this was the method, and often the only method, which they took to distinguish and reward them.

In his fifty-eighth chapter he speaks of the wonderful love and affection which these people entertain for their king; far exceeding any thing in his own country. For, here, it is usual, he says, for almost every person to get as many round pieces of metal as he possibly can, with the image of the king piccaried upon them; and so astonishingly fond are they of these, that any thing whatever may be obtained for them, and particularly for the yellow ones. Their attach

ment to these little round images is so great, that, for a long time, he concluded they were the gods of Pretane; but he afterwards learned that this very singular people set a still greater value upon slips of thin cloth or paper (far inferior to the worst cloth at Otaheite), with an image of a female, which he supposes to be the queen, slightly piccaried upon it. He was unable to find out what use this thin paper could possibly be of; and, what was to him still more astonishing, notwithstanding the great value which every body put upon it, yet they strangled, without mercy or exception, almost every person that was ingenious enough to make it. In short, he adds, in many things it is absolutely impossible to assign any reason whatever for the actions of this extraordinary people; who would run all manner of risks, and part with almost every thing they had in the world, to procure such baubles, and yet would laugh at him for setting a proper value upon a red feather.

In the 359th page of his third and last volume, he expresses the most unbounded satisfaction in having found out the true Eatnas, or Gods, which the people of Pretane worship. And when I observed the rapturous manner in which he speaks upon this occasion, I began to be in

hopes that some pains had been taken with this harmless Indian, and that he had, at last, imbibed some proper notions of the deity. I even began to hope, that, together with a taste for the vices and refinements of the new world, he might stand a chance to carry back with him some sparks of that divine religion, with which this kingdom hath been so pre-eminently enlightened. But my readers will easily judge how I was hurt and disappointed, after hearing him speak in such raptures of our Eatna, to observe him express hopes that the king of the ships would permit him to carry two or three of them to Otaheite. He He says he was conducted to a very large building, surrounded by a great number of marays or burying places. Here, he was told, the people were assembled to worship their Eatna, or Deity, and he was delighted to hear the large one speak.-The voice was sometimes like thunder from the clouds ;then soft and slow, thrilling through the heart as if it made him wish to go to heaven;-then, on a sudden, it would change, and become quick and lively like the nose flutes of Ulietea, so that he expected every moment the people would jump up and dance the Timorodee. In short, it does not appear from this or any other account which

I have yet seen, that Omai might not have pitched upon the church organ, the chiming clock, or the repeating watch, for the Gods of Great Britain.

THE LOITERER, No. 25, July 18, 1789.

No. CXXVIII.

God made the country, but man made the town.

COWPER,

Sir,

GIVE me leave, by inserting the following account of my life, to make the world reluctantly own, that family pride has snatched at least one young man from the allurements of folly and dissipation, and added one good citizen, father, and husband to his country.

My father was the descendant of a family who traced their origin to the Norman invasion, and actually possessed the castle and demesne lands which had been formally granted to his ancestors by the Conqueror himself. The value of the surrounding estates scarce exceeded 10007. a year, and was all that the havoc of confiscations and forfeitures had suffered to remain of property which once extended over the greatest part of one of our western counties. This moderate revenue, hitherto free from debts or mortgage, had been found sufficient to support the family in a respectable state of independence. Our immediate ancestors had all filled the office of sheriff, were generally, chairmen at