"A new Cythera emerges from the bosom of the enchanted wave. An
amphitheatre of verdure rises to our view; tufted groves mingle
their foliage with the brilliant enamel of meadows; an eternal
spring, combining with an eternal autumn, displays the opening
blossoms along with the ripened fruit."--_Maltebrun._
[Illustration: The Island of Rotuma.]
This is one of the beautiful islands of Polynesia, in the South
Pacific Ocean. It was discovered in the year 1791, and has been since
occasionally visited by English and American whalers, and a few other
ships, for the purpose of procuring water and a supply of vegetable
productions, with which it abounds. It is situated in latitude 12° 30'
south, and longitude 177° east, and is distant about 260 miles from the
nearest island of the Fidji group. It is of a moderate height, densely
wooded, and abounding in cocoa-nut trees, and is about from thirty
to thirty-five miles in circumference. Its general appearance is
beautifully picturesque, verdant hills gradually rising from the sandy
beach, giving it a highly fertile appearance. It is surrounded by
extensive reefs, on which at low water the natives may be seen busily
engaged in procuring shell and other fish, which are abundantly produced
on them, and constitute one of their articles of daily food. At night,
they fish by torch-light, lighting fires on the beach, by which the fish
are attracted to the reefs. The torches are formed of the dried spathe
or fronds of the cocoa-nut tree, and enable them to see the fish, which
they take with hand-nets. It is by these lights that the fish are
attracted, but not so in the opinion of the natives, who say, "they
come to the reef at night to eat, then sleep, and leave again in the
morning."
[Mr. George Bennett, in his account of his recent visit, says:--]
We made this island on the 21st of February, 1830: it bore west by
south-half-south, about twenty-five miles distant; at 11 A.M. when close
in, standing for the anchorage, we were boarded by several natives, who
came off in their canoes, and surprised us by their acquaintance with
the English language; this it seems they had acquired from their
occasional intercourse with shipping, but principally from the European
seamen, who had deserted from their ships and were residing on the
island in savage luxury and indolence. When at anchor, the extremes of
the land bore from east by north to west by compass. An island rather
high, quoin shaped, and inhabited, situated at a short distance from the
main land, (between which there is a passage for a large ship,) was at
some distance from our present anchorage, and bore west-half-north by
compass; it was named Ouer by the natives. Close to us were two rather
high islands, or islets, of small extent, planted with cocoa-nut trees,
and almost connected together by rocks, and to the main land by a reef;
they shelter the bay from easterly winds. Their bearings are as
follow:--the first centre bore east-half-north; the second centre bore
east-half-south, extreme of the main land east-south-east by compass.
One of the chiefs, on our anchoring, addressing the Commander made the
following very _humane_ observation, "If Rótuma man steal, to make
hang up immediately." Had this request been complied with, there would
have been a great depopulation during our stay, and it is not improbable
that a few chiefs might have felt its effects.
On a second visit to this island in March, 1830, we anchored in a fine
picturesque bay, situated on the west side of the island, named Thor, in
fourteen fathoms, sand and coral bottom, about three miles distant from
the centre. A reef extends out some distance from the beach at this bay,
almost dry at low water, and with much surf at the entrance, from which
cause the procuring of wood and water is attended with more difficulty
than at Onhaf Bay.
On landing, the beautiful appearance of the island was rather increased
than diminished; vegetation appeared most luxuriant, and the trees and
shrubs blooming with various tints, spread a gaiety around; the clean
and neat native houses were intermingled with the waving plumes of the
cocoa-nut, the broad spreading plantain, and other trees peculiar to
tropical climes. That magnificent tree the callophyllum inophyllum, or
fifau of the natives, was not less abundant, displaying its shining,
dark, green foliage, contrasted by beautiful clusters of white flowers
teeming with fragrance. This tree seemed a favourite with the natives,
on account of its shade, fragrance, and ornamental appearance of the
flowers. When I extended my rambles more inland, through narrow and
sometimes rugged pathways, the luxuriance of vegetation did not
decrease, but the lofty trees, overshadowing the road, defended the
pedestrian from the effects of a fervent sun, rendering the walk under
their umbrageous covering cool and pleasant. The gay flowers of the
hibiscus tiliaceus, as well as the splendid huth or Barringtonia
speciosa, covered with its beautiful flowers, the petals of which are
white, and the edges of the stamina delicately tinged with pink, give
to the trees when in full bloom a magnificent appearance; the hibiscus
rosa-chinensis, or kowa of the natives also grows in luxuriance and
beauty. The elegant flowers of these trees, with others of more humble
and less beautiful tints, everywhere meet the eye near the paths,
occasionally varied by plantations of the ahan or taro, arum esculentum,
which, from a deficiency of irrigation, is generally of the mountain
variety. Of the sugar-cane they possess several varieties, and it is
eaten in the raw state; a small variety of yam, more commonly known by
the name of the Rótuma potato, the ulé of the natives, is very abundant;
the ulu or bread-fruit, pori or plantain and the vi, (spondias dulcis,
Parkinson,) or, Brazilian plum, with numerous other kinds, sufficiently
testify the fertility of the island. Occasionally the mournful toa or
casuarina equisetifolia, planted in small clumps near the villages or
surrounding the burial-places, added beauty to the landscape.
The native houses are very neat; they are formed of poles and logs, the
roof being covered with the leaves of a species of sagus palm, named
hoat by the natives, and highly valued by them for that purpose on
account of their durability; the sides are covered with the plaited
sections of the cocoa-nut branches, which form excellent coverings.
The natives are a fine-looking and well-formed people; they are of good
dispositions, but are much addicted to thieving, which seems indeed to
be a national propensity; they are of a light copper colour, and the
men wear the hair long and stained at the extremities of a reddish
brown colour; sometimes they tie the hair in a knot behind, but the
most prevailing custom is to permit it to hang over the shoulders. The
females may be termed handsome, of fine forms, and although possessing
a modest demeanour, flocked on board in numbers on the ship's arrival.
The women before marriage have the hair cut close and covered with the
shoroi, which is burnt coral mixed with the gum of the bread-fruit tree;
this is removed after marriage and their hair is permitted to grow long,
but on the death of a chief or their parents it is cut close as a badge
of mourning. Both sexes paint themselves with a mixture of the root of
the turmeric plant (curcuma longa) and cocoa-nut oil, which frequently
changed our clothes and persons of an icteroid hue, from _our_
curiosity to mingle with them in the villages--_theirs_ to come on
board the ship.
On visiting the king, who resided at the village of Fangwot, we found
him a well-formed and handsome man, apparently about thirty years of
age; the upper part of his body was thickly covered with the Rang, or
paint of turmeric and oil, which had been recently laid on in honour
of the visit from the strangers. There was somewhat of novelty, but
little of "regal magnificence" in our reception. In the open air, under
the wide-spreading branches of their favourite Fifau, (Callophyllum
Inophyllum) sat his Majesty squatted on the ground, and surrounded by a
crowd of his subjects. The introduction was equally unostentatious; one
of the natives who had accompanied us from the ship, pointing towards
him, said, in tolerably pronounced English, "That the king." His Majesty
not being himself acquainted with our language, one of his attendants,
who spoke it with considerable fluency, acted as interpreter. After some
common-place questions, such as where the ship came from, where bound
to, what provisions we stood in need of, &c., we adjourned to the royal
habitation, which differed in no respect from the other native houses.
Yams, bread-fruit, and fish, wrapped in the plantain leaves in which
they had been cooked, were here placed before us, with cocoa-nut water
for our beverage; plantain leaves serving also as plates.
The chiefs are elected kings in rotation, and the royal office is
held for six months, but by the consent of the other chiefs, it may be
retained by the same chief for two or three years. The royal title is
Sho: the king to whom we had been introduced, as a chief, is named Mora.
We had an interview also with the former king, named Riemko; he is a
chief of high rank, and a very intelligent man: he spoke the English
language with much correctness. Being naturally of an inquisitive
disposition, and possessing an exceedingly retentive memory, he had
acquired much information; this he displayed by detailing to us many
facts connected with the history of Napoleon Buonaparte, Wellington,
&c., which had been related to him by various European visiters, and
which he appeared to retain to the most minute particulars. He surprised
us by inquiring if we resided in "Russell-square, London?"
An innate love of roaming seems to exist among these people; they
set sail without any fixed purpose in one of their large canoes:
few ever return, some probably perish, others drift on islands either
uninhabited, or if inhabited, they mingle with the natives, and tend to
produce those varieties of the human race which are so observable in the
Polynesian Archipelago. I frequently asked those of Rótuma what object
they had in leaving their fertile island to risk the perils of the deep?
the reply invariably was, "Rótuma man want to see new land:" they thus
run before the wind until they fall in with some island, or perish in
a storm. Cook and others relate numerous instances of this kind.
As an evidence of the great desire of the natives of both sexes to
leave their native land, I may mention the offers which were made to the
commander of the ship, of baskets of potatoes and hogs, as an inducement
to be carried to the island of Erromanga, where our vessel was next
bound to. Two hundred were taken on board for the purpose of cutting
Sandal wood, but from the unhealthy state in which we found the island
on our arrival, and the numerous deaths that had occurred among native
gangs that had been brought by other vessels for a similar purpose, we
returned to Rótuma and landed them all safely. The perfect apathy with
which they leave parents and connexions, departing with strangers to a
place respecting which they are in total ignorance, is quite surprising,
placing an unbounded confidence in those differing in colour, language,
and customs from themselves: the young, timid females, to whom a ship
was a novelty, those who had never before seen a ship, were all anxious
to visit foreign climes,--even, they said, London.
Much wonder was excited, when I exhibited to the natives of this island
coloured engravings of flowers, birds, butterflies, &c.; they imagined
them to be the original plant or butterfly attached to the paper--no
mean compliment to the artist. The engravings in Charles Bell's
Anatomy of Expression always excited much interest when shown to the
Polynesians; the plate representing Laughter never failed of exciting
sympathy. A caricature representation of one of the fashionable belles
of 1828 puzzled them exceedingly; some thought it "a bird," others that
it was a nondescript of some kind, but when they were told that it was a
Haina London, or English lady, they laughed, and said Parora, "you are
in joke," so incredible did it seem to their unsophisticated minds.[11]
[10] From a drawing, obligingly furnished by Mr. George Bennett,
Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, &c.
[11] Abridged from the _United Service Journal_.
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