_Arrival of the Ships at Hepaee, and friendly Reception there.--Presents
and Solemnities on the Occasion.--Single Combats with Clubs.--Wrestling
and Boxing Matches.--Female Combatants.--Marines exercised.--A Dance
performed by Men.--Fireworks exhibited.--The Night-entertainments of
Singing and Dancing particularly described_.
By the time we had anchored, (May 17) the ships were filled with the
natives, and surrounded by a multitude of canoes, filled also with them.
They brought from the shore, hogs, fowls, fruit, and roots, which they
exchanged for hatchets, knives, nails, beads, and cloth. Feenou and Omai
having come on board, after it was light, in order to introduce me to
the people of the island, I soon accompanied them on shore, for that
purpose, landing at the north part of Lefooga, a little to the right of
the ship's station.
The chief conducted me to a house, or rather a hut, situated close to
the sea-beach, which I had seen brought thither, but a few minutes
before, for our reception. In this, Feenou, Omai, and myself, were
seated. The other chiefs, and the multitude, composed a circle, on the
outside, fronting us; and they also sat down. I was then asked, How long
I intended to stay? On my saying, Five days, Taipa was ordered to come
and sit by me, and proclaim this to the people. He then harangued them,
in a speech mostly dictated by Feenou. The purport of it, as I learnt
from Omai, was, that they were all, both old and young, to look upon me
as a friend, who intended to remain with them a few days; that, during
my stay, they must not steal any thing, nor molest me any other way; and
that it was expected, they should bring hogs, fowls, fruit, &c. to the
ships, where they would receive, in exchange for them, such and such
things, which he enumerated. Soon after Taipa had finished this address
to the assembly, Feenou left us. Taipa then took occasion to signify to
me, that it was necessary I should make a present to the chief of the
island, whose name was Earoupa. I was not unprepared for this, and gave
him such articles as far exceeded his expectation. My liberality to him
brought upon me demands, of the same kind, from two chiefs of other
isles who were present; and from Taipa himself. When Feenou returned,
which was immediately after I had made the last of these presents, he
pretended to be angry with Taipa for suffering me to give away so much;
but I looked upon this as a mere finesse; being confident that he acted
in concert with the others. He now took his seat again, and ordered
Earoupa to sit by him, and to harangue the people as Taipa had done, and
to the same purpose; dictating, as before, the heads of the speech.
These ceremonies being performed, the chief, at my request, conducted me
to three stagnant pools of fresh water, as he was pleased to call it:
And, indeed, in one of these the water was tolerable, and the situation
not inconvenient for filling our casks. After viewing the
watering-place, we returned to our former station, where I found a baked
hog, and some yams, smoking hot, ready to be carried on board for my
dinner. I invited Feenou, and his friends, to partake of it; and we
embarked for the ship; but none but himself sat down with us at the
table. After dinner I conducted them on shore; and, before I returned on
board, the chief gave me a fine large turtle, and a quantity of yams.
Our supply of provisions was copious; for, in the course of the day, we
got, by barter, alongside the ship, about twenty small hogs, beside
fruit and roots. I was told, that on my first landing in the morning, a
man came off to the ships, and ordered every one of the natives to go on
shore. Probably this was done with a view to have the whole body of
inhabitants present at the ceremony of my reception; for when that was
over, multitudes of them returned again to the ships.
Next morning early, Feenou, and Omai, who scarcely ever quitted the
chief, and now slept on shore, came on board. The object of the visit
was to require my presence upon the island. After some time, I
accompanied them; and, upon landing, was conducted to the same place
where I had been seated the day before; and where I saw a large
concourse of people already assembled. I guessed that something more
than ordinary was in agitation; but could not tell what, nor could Omai
inform me.
I had not been long seated, before near a hundred of the natives
appeared in sight, and advanced, laden with yams, bread-fruit,
plantains, cocoa-nuts, and sugar-canes. They deposited their burdens, in
two heaps, or piles, upon our left, being the side they came from. Soon
after, arrived a number of others from the right, bearing the same kind
of articles, which were collected into two piles upon that side. To
these were tied two pigs, and six fowls; and to those upon the left, six
pigs, and two turtles. Earoupa seated himself before the several
articles upon the left; and another chief before those upon the right;
they being, as I judged, the two chiefs who had collected them, by order
of Feenou, who seemed to be as implicitly obeyed here, as he had been at
Annamooka; and, in consequence of his commanding superiority over the
chiefs of Hepaee, had laid this tax upon them for the present occasion.
As soon as this munificent collection of provisions was laid down in
order, and disposed to the best advantage, the bearers of it joined the
multitude, who formed a large circle round the whole. Presently after, a
number of men entered this circle, or area, before us, armed with clubs,
made of the green branches of the cocoa-nut tree. These paraded about
for a few minutes, and then retired; the one half to one side, and the
other half to the other side; seating themselves before the spectators.
Soon after, they successively entered the lists, and entertained us with
single combats. One champion, rising up and stepping forward from one
side, challenged those of the other side, by expressive gestures, more
than by words, to send one of their body to oppose him. If the challenge
was accepted, which was generally the case, the two combatants put
themselves in proper attitudes, and then began the engagement, which
continued till one or other owned himself conquered, or till their
weapons were broken. As soon as each combat was over, the victor
squatted himself down facing the chief, then rose up, and retired. At
the same time, some old men, who seemed to sit as judges, gave their
plaudit in a few words; and the multitude, especially those on the side
to which the victor belonged, celebrated the glory he had acquired in
two or three huzzas.
This entertainment was, now and then, suspended for a few minutes.
During these intervals there were both wrestling and boxing matches. The
first were performed in the same manner as at Otaheite; and the second
differed very little from the method practised in England. But what
struck us with most surprise, was, to see a couple of lusty wenches step
forth, and begin boxing; without the least ceremony, and with as much
art as the men. This contest, however, did not last above half a minute,
before one of them gave it up. The conquering heroine received the same
applause from the spectators which they bestowed upon the successful
combatants of the other sex. We expressed some dislike at this part of
the entertainment; which, however, did not prevent two other females
from entering the lists. They seemed to be girls of spirit, and would
certainly have given each other a good drubbing, if two old women had
not interposed to part them. All these combats were exhibited in the
midst of, at least, three thousand people, and were conducted with the
greatest good humour on all sides; though some of the champions, women
as well as men, received blows, which, doubtless, they must have felt
for some time after.
As soon as these diversions were ended, the chief told me, that the
heaps of provisions on our right hand were a present to Omai; and that
those on our left hand, being about two-thirds of the whole quantity,
were given to me. He added, that I might take them on board whenever it
was convenient; but that there would be no occasion to set any of our
people as guards over them, as I might be assured, that not a single
cocoa-nut would be taken away by the natives. So it proved; for I left
every thing behind, and returned to the ship to dinner, carrying the
chief with me; and when the provisions were removed on board, in the
afternoon, not a single article was missing. There was as much as loaded
four boats; and I could not but be struck with the munificence of
Feenou; for this present far exceeded any I had ever received from any
of the sovereigns of the various islands I had visited in the Pacific
Ocean. I lost no time in convincing my friend, that I was not insensible
of his liberality; for, before he quitted my ship, I bestowed upon him
such of our commodities, as, I guessed, were most valuable in his
estimation. And the return I made was so much to his satisfaction, that,
as soon as he got on shore, he left me still indebted to him, by sending
me a fresh present, consisting of two large hogs, a considerable
quantity of cloth, and some yams.
Feenou had expressed a desire to see the marines go through their
military exercise. As I was desirous to gratify his curiosity, I ordered
them all ashore, from both ships, in the morning of the 20th. After they
had performed various evolutions, and fired several vollies, with which
the numerous body of spectators seemed well pleased, the chief
entertained us, in his turn, with an exhibition, which, as was
acknowledged by us all, was performed with a dexterity and exactness,
far surpassing the specimen we had given of our military manoeuvres. It
was a kind of a dance, so entirely different from any thing I had ever
seen, that, I fear, I can give no description that will convey any
tolerable idea of it to my readers. It was performed by men; and one
hundred and five persons bore their parts in it. Each of them had in his
hand an instrument neatly made, shaped somewhat like a paddle, of two
feet and a half in length, with a small handle, and a thin blade; so
that they were very light. With these instruments they made many and
various flourishes, each of which was accompanied with a different
attitude of the body, or a different movement. At first, the performers
ranged themselves in three lines; and, by various evolutions, each man
changed his station in such a manner, that those who had been in the
rear came into the front. Nor did they remain long in the same position;
but these changes were made by pretty quick transitions. At one time
they extended themselves in one line; they, then, formed into a
semicircle; and, lastly, into two square columns. While this last
movement was executing, one of them advanced, and performed an antic
dance before me; with which the whole ended.
The musical instruments consisted of two drums, or rather two hollow
logs of wood, from which some varied notes were produced, by beating on
them with two sticks. It did not, however, appear to me, that the
dancers were much assisted or directed by these sounds, but by a chorus
of vocal music, in which all the performers joined at the same time.
Their song was not destitute of pleasing melody; and all their
corresponding motions were executed with so much skill, that the
numerous body of dancers seemed to act, as if they were one great
machine. It was the opinion of every one of us, that such a performance
would have met with universal applause on a European theatre; and it so
far exceeded any attempt we had made to entertain them, that they seemed
to pique themselves upon the superiority they had over us. As to our
musical instruments, they held none of them in the least esteem, except
the drum; and even that they did not think equal to their own. Our
French horns, in particular, seemed to be held in great contempt; for
neither here, nor at any other of the islands, would they pay the
smallest attention to them.
In order to give them a more favourable opinion of English amusements,
and to leave their minds fully impressed with the deepest sense of our
superior attainments, I directed some fireworks to be got ready; and,
after it was dark, played them off in the presence of Feenou, the other
chiefs, and a vast concourse of their people. Some of the preparations
we found damaged; but others of them were in excellent order, and
succeeded so perfectly, as to answer the end I had in view. Our water
and sky-rockets, in particular, pleased and astonished them beyond all
conception; and the scale was now turned in our favour.
This, however, seemed only to furnish them with an additional motive to
proceed to fresh exertions of their very singular dexterity; and our
fireworks were no sooner ended, than a succession of dances, which
Feenou had got ready for our entertainment, began. As[160] a prelude to
them, a band of music, or chorus of eighteen men, seated themselves
before us, in the centre of the circle, composed by the numerous
spectators, the area of which was to be the scene of the exhibitions.
Four or five of this band had pieces of large bamboo, from three to five
or six feet long, each managed by one man, who held it nearly in a
vertical position, the upper end open, but the other end closed by one
of the joints. With this close end, the performers kept constantly
striking the ground, though slowly, thus producing different notes,
according to the different lengths of the instruments, but all of them
of the hollow or base sort; to counteract which, a person kept striking
quickly, and with two sticks, a piece of the same substance, split, and
laid along the ground, and, by that means, furnishing a tone as acute
as those produced by the others were grave. The rest of the band, as
well as those who performed upon the bamboos, sung a slow and soft air,
which so tempered the harsher notes of the above instruments, that no
bye-stander, however accustomed to hear the most perfect and varied
modulation of sweet sounds, could avoid confessing the vast power, and
pleasing effect, of this simple harmony.
[Footnote 160: Mr Andersen's account of the night dances being much
fuller than Captain Cook's, the reader will not be displeased that it
has been adopted.--D.]
The concert having continued about a quarter of an hour, twenty women
entered the circle. Most of them had, upon their heads, garlands of the
crimson flowers of the China rose, or others; and many of them had
ornamented their persons with leaves of trees, cut with a deal of nicety
about the edges. They made a circle round the chorus, turning their
faces toward it, and began by singing a soft air, to which responses
were made by the chorus in the same tone; and these were repeated
alternately. All this while, the women accompanied their song with
several very graceful motions of their hands toward their faces, and in
other directions at the same time, making constantly a step forward, and
then back again, with one foot, while the other was fixed. They then
turned their faces to the assembly, sung some time, and retreated slowly
in a body, to that part of the circle which was opposite the hut where
the principal spectators sat. After this, one of them advanced from each
side, meeting and passing each other in the front, and continuing their
progress round, till they came to the rest. On which, two advanced from
each side, two of whom also passed each other, and returned as the
former; but the other two remained, and to these came one, from each
side, by intervals, till the whole number had again formed a
circle-about the chorus.
Their manner of dancing was now changed to a quicker measure, in which
they made a kind of half turn by leaping, and clapped their hands, and
snapped their fingers, repeating some words in conjunction with the
chorus. Toward the end, as the quickness of the music increased, their
gestures and attitudes were varied with wonderful vigour and dexterity;
and some of their motions, perhaps, would, with us, be reckoned rather
indecent. Though this part of the performance, most probably, was not
meant to convey any wanton ideas, but merely to display the astonishing
variety of their movements.
To this grand female ballet, succeeded one performed by fifteen men.
Some of them were old; but their age seemed to have abated little of
their agility or ardour for the dance. They were disposed in a sort of
circle, divided at the front, with their faces not turned out toward the
assembly, nor inward to the chorus; but one half of their circle faced
forward as they had advanced, and the other half in a contrary
direction. They, sometimes, sung slowly, in concert with the chorus;
and, while thus employed, they also made several very fine motions with
their hands, but different from those made by the women, at the same
time inclining the body to either side alternately by raising one leg,
which was stretched outward, and resting on the other; the arm of the
same side being also stretched fully upward. At other times they recited
sentences in a musical tone, which were answered by the chorus; and, at
intervals, increased the measure of the dance, by clapping the hands,
and quickening the motions of the feet, which, however, were never
varied. At the end, the rapidity of the music, and of the dancing,
increased so much, that it was scarcely possible to distinguish the
different movements; though one might suppose the actors were now almost
tired, as their performance had lasted near half an hour.
After a considerable interval, another act, as we may call it, began.
Twelve men now advanced, who placed themselves in double rows fronting
each other, but on opposite sides of the circle; and, on one side, a man
was stationed, who, as if he had been a prompter, repeated several
sentences, to which the twelve new performers, and the chorus, replied.
They then sung slowly; and afterward danced and sung more quickly, for
about a quarter of an hour, after the manner of the dancers whom they
had succeeded.
Soon after they had finished, nine women exhibited themselves, and sat
down fronting the hut where the chief was. A man then rose, and struck
the first of these women on the back, with both fists joined. He
proceeded, in the same manner, to the second and third; but when he came
to the fourth, whether from accident or design I cannot tell, instead of
the back, he struck her on the breast. Upon this a person rose instantly
from the crowd, who brought him to the ground with a blow on the head;
and he was carried off without the least noise or disorder. But this did
not save the other five women from so odd a discipline, or perhaps
necessary ceremony; for a person succeeded him, who treated them in the
same manner. Their disgrace did not end here; for when they danced, they
had the mortification to find their performance twice disapproved of,
and were obliged to repeat it. This dance did not differ much from that
of the first women, except in this one circumstance, that the present
set sometimes raised the body upon one leg, by a sort of double motion,
and then upon the other alternately, in which attitude they kept
snapping their fingers; and, at the end, they repeated, with great
agility, the brisk movements, in which the former group of female
dancers had shewn themselves so expert.
In a little tine, a person entered unexpectedly, and said something in a
ludicrous way, about the fireworks that had been exhibited, which
extorted a burst of laughter from the multitude. After this, we had a
dance composed of the men, who attended, or had followed, Feenou. They
formed a double circle (i.e. one within another) of twenty-four each,
round the chorus, and began a gentle soothing song, with corresponding
motions of the hands and head. This lasted a considerable time, and then
changed to a much quicker measure, during which they repeated sentences,
either in conjunction with the chorus, or in answer to some spoken by
that band. They then retreated to the back part of the circle, as the
women had done, and again advanced, on each side, in a triple row, till
they formed a semicircle, which was done very slowly, by inclining the
body on one leg, and advancing the other a little way, as they put it
down. They accompanied this with such a soft air as they had sung at the
beginning; but soon changed it to repeat sentences in a harsher tone, at
the same time quickening the dance very much, till they finished with a
general shout and clap of the hands. The same was repeated several
times; but, at last, they formed a double circle, as at the beginning,
danced, and repeated very quickly, and finally closed with several very
dexterous transpositions of the two circles.
The entertainments of this memorable night concluded with a dance, in
which the principal people present exhibited. It resembled the
immediately preceding one, in some respects, having the same number of
performers, who began nearly in the same way; but their ending, at each
interval, was different; for they increased their motions to a
prodigious quickness, shaking their heads from shoulder to shoulder,
with such force, that a spectator, unaccustomed to the sight, would
suppose, that they ran a risk of dislocating their necks. This was
attended with a smart clapping of the hands, and a kind of savage holla!
or shriek, not unlike what is sometimes practised in the comic dances on
our European theatres. They formed the triple semicircle, as the
preceding dancers had done; and a person, who advanced at the head on
one side of the semicircle, began by repeating something in a truly
musical recitative, which was delivered with an air so graceful, as
might put to the blush our most applauded performers. He was answered in
the same manner, by the person at the head of the opposite party. This
being repeated several times, the whole body, on one side, joined in the
responses to the whole corresponding body on the opposite side, as the
semicircle advanced to the front; and they finished, by singing and
dancing as they had begun.
These two last dances were performed with so much spirit, and so great
exactness, that they met with universal approbation. The native
spectators, who, no doubt, were perfect judges whether the several
performances were properly executed, could not withhold their applauses
at some particular parts; and even a stranger, who never saw the
diversion before, felt similar satisfaction, at the same instant. For
though, through the whole, the most strict concert was observed, some of
the gestures were so expressive, that it might be said, they spoke the
language that accompanied them; if we allow that there is any connection
between motion and sound. At the same time, it should be observed, that
though the music of the chorus, and that of the dancers, corresponded,
constant practice in these favourite amusements of our friends, seems to
have a great share in effecting the exact time they keep in their
performances. For we observed, that if any of them happened accidentally
to be interrupted, they never found the smallest difficulty in
recovering the proper place of the dance or song. And their perfect
discipline was in no instance more remarkable, than in the sudden
transitions they so dexterously made from the ruder exertions, and harsh
sounds, to the softest airs, and gentlest movements.[161]
[Footnote 161: In a former note, it was observed, that the songs and
dances of the Caroline Islanders, in the North Pacific, bear a great
resemblance to those of the inhabitants of Wateeoo. The remark may be
now extended to those of the Friendly Islanders, described at large in
this chapter. That the reader may judge for himself, I have selected the
following particulars from Father Cantova's account. "Pendant la nuit,
au clair de la lune, ils s'assemblent, de temps en temps, pour chanter &
danser devant la maison de leur _Tumole_. Leurs danses se font au son de
la voix, car ils n'ont point d'instrument de musique. La beauté de la
danse, consiste dans l'exacte uniformité des mouvemens du corps. Les
hommes, separés des femmes, se postent vis-à-vis les uns des autres;
après quoi, ils remuent la tête, les bras, les mains, les pieds, en
cadence. Leur tête est couverte de plumes, on de fleurs;--et l'on voit,
attachées à leurs oreilles, des feuilles de palmier tissues avec assez
d'art--Les femmes, de leur coté,--se regardant les unes les autres,
commencent un chant pathétique & langoureux, accompagnant le son de leur
voix du mouvement cadencé de la tête & des bras."--_Lettres Edifiantes &
Curiesues_, tom. xv. p. 314, 315.--D.]
The place where the dances were performed was an open space amongst the
trees, just by the sea, with lights, at small intervals, placed round
the inside of the circle. The concourse of people was pretty large,
though not equal to the number assembled in the forenoon, when the
marines exercised. At that time, some of our gentlemen guessed there
might be present about five thousand persons; others thought there were
more; but they who reckoned that there were fewer, probably, came nearer
the truth.