hand to any thing. * The oldest English name is believed to be Pratt (the family name of Lord Camden). This is “praet,” the “ready” man. This is clearly seen in Tongan, where tufunga means any kind of workman as tufunga ta maka, a mason; tufunga fei cava, a barber. In an early stage of society, such men naturally take the place of leaders, and if they could add a little superstition to their other abilities, this would help them all the more to keep down the common people. Another custom very prevalent in the Polynesian Islands, though not strictly confined to them, was that of cannibalism. It is true that, in Australia, with a population quite as savage as can be found anywhere else, as also in Micronesia, man-eating was not practised,—moreover, that it was less frequent in the Navigator's Friendly Society and Sandwich islands than in New Zealand, the Marquesas, etc. Still, there can be no question that the practice was occasional everywhere and involved no loss of caste or character on the part of those addicted to it. In some places, too, it would seem that the victims, generally slaves or captives were fattened previously to being killed. Much has been written on this subject, and it has been held up to view as the most atrocious act that man can commit: it seems, however, to me to be, but one more instance of the entire disregard of anything sacred in the human body or in human life, which the stories in the works of Mr. Mariner and Mr. Ellis show to have been so generally prevalent in the Pacific Islands. It is not pleasant to call hard names, but there can be no doubt that, till very recently, murder daily and under every form, was the characteristic practice of all these Island populations. To eat portions of a body so slain—especially, if slain with the view of propitiating some evil spirit, is not unnatural, and has been done in modern times and by people calling themselves Christians. † So lately as in the insurrection of 1848, in the public streets of Palermo, and, during Garibaldi's war of independence, at Messina. A Sicilian Brigand just slain, is stated to have eaten the hearts of the people he murdered (Daily News, October 18, 1865.) Another custom, like most of those I have mentioned, very universal among these Islands, though, not absolutely restricted to them was that of Tattoo;—the carving on the outward surface of their bodies,—and, especially of their faces, certain patterns, generally curves, and forcing into the skin thus incised, various pigments most frequently of a blue colour. This custom, though partially practised by some of the Tribes now living in the Eástern outskirts of India, cannot, I believe, be traced to India itself. The word used for it is nearly the same in most of the dialects. Thus, Tahit., tatau; (with two special words given by Monkhouse and Cook for tattooing in different