Those who are devoted to suffer, are never apprised of their fate, till the blow is given, that puts an end to their being.

Whenever, upon any particular emergency, one of the great chiefs considers a human sacrifice to be necessary, he pitches upon the victim, and then orders him to be suddenly fallen upon and killed, either with clubs or stones.

Although it should be supposed, that no more than one person is ever devoted to destruction on any single occasion, at Otaheite, it will still be found that these occurrences are so frequent, as to cause a shocking waste of the human race; for our commander counted no less than forty-nine skulls of former victims, lying before the Morai, where he had seen another added to the number.

It was apparent, from the freshness of these skulls, that no great length of time had elapsed since the wretches to whom they belonged had been offered upon the altar of blood.
There is reason to fear, that this custom is as extensive as it is horrid.

It is highly probable that it prevails throughout the widely diffused islands of the Pacific Ocean; and Captain Cook had particular evidence of its subsisting at the Friendly Islands.