_Arrival at Ulietea; with an Account of the Reception we met with there,
and the several Incidents which happened during our Stay. A Report of two
ships being at Huaheine. Preparations to leave the Island; and the Regret
the Inhabitants shewed on the Occasion. The Character of Oedidee; with some
general Observations on the Islands._
1774 May
As soon as we were clear of the harbour, we made sail, and stood over for
the South end of Ulietea. Oree took the opportunity to send a man with a
message to Opoony. Being little wind all the latter part of the day, it was
dark before we reached the west side of the isle, where we spent the night.
The same light variable wind continued till ten o'clock next morning, when
the trade-wind at east prevailed, and we ventured to ply up to the harbour,
first sending a boat to lie in anchorage in the entrance. After making a
few trips, we got before the channel, and with all our sails set, and the
head-way the ship had acquired, shut her in as far as she would go; then
dropped the anchor, and took in the sails. This is the method of getting
into most of the harbours which are on the lee-side of these isles; for the
channels, in general, are too narrow to ply in: We were now anchored
between the two points of the reef which form the entrance; each not more
than two-thirds the length of a cable from us, and on which the sea broke
with such height and violence, as to people less acquainted with the place,
would have been terrible. Having all our boats out with anchors and warps
in them, which were presently run out, the ship warped into safety, where
we dropt anchor for the night. While this work was going forward, my old
friend Oree the chief, and several more, came to see us. The chief came not
empty.
Next day we warped the ship into a proper birth, and moored her, so as to
command all the shores around us. In the mean time a party of us went
ashore to pay the chief a visit, and to make the customary present. At our
first entering his house, we were met by four or five old women, weeping
and lamenting, as it were, most bitterly, and at the same time cutting
their heads, with instruments made of shark's teeth, till the blood ran
plentifully down their faces and on their shoulders. What was still worse,
we were obliged to submit to the embraces of these old hags, and by that
means were all besmeared with blood. This ceremony (for it was merely such)
being over, they went out, washed themselves, and immediately after
appeared as cheerful as any of the company. Having made some little stay,
and given my present to the chief and his friends, he put a hog and some
fruit into my boat, and came on board with us to dinner. In the afternoon,
we had a vast number of people and canoes about us, from different parts of
the island. They all took up their quarters in our neighbourhood, where
they remained feasting for some days. We understood the most of them were
_Eareeoies_.
The 26th afforded nothing remarkable, excepting that Mr Forster, in his
botanical excursions, saw a burying-place for dogs, which they called
_Marai no te Oore_. But I think we ought not to look upon this as one
of their customs; because few dogs die a natural death, being generally, if
not always, killed and eaten, or else given as an offering to the gods.
Probably this might be a _Marai_ or altar, where this sort of offering
was made; or it might have been the whim of some person to have buried his
favourite dog in this manner. But be it as it will, I cannot think it is a
general custom in the nation; and, for my own part, I neither saw nor heard
of any such thing before.
Early in the morning of the 27th, Oree, his wife, son, daughter, and
several more of his friends, made us a visit, and brought with them a good
quantity of all manner of refreshments; little having as yet been got from
any body else. They staid dinner; after which a party of us accompanied
them on shore, where we were entertained with a play, called _Mididij
Harramy_, which signifies the _Child is coming_. It concluded with
the representation of a woman in labour, acted by a set of great brawny
fellows, one of whom at last brought forth a strapping boy, about six feet
high, who ran about the stage, dragging after him a large wisp of straw
which hung by a string from his middle. I had an opportunity of seeing this
acted another time, when I observed, that the moment they had got hold of
the fellow who represented the child, they flattened or pressed his nose.
From this I judged, that they do so by their children when born, which may
be the reason why all in general have flat noses. This part of the play,
from its newness, and the ludicrous manner in which it was performed, gave
us, the first time we saw it, some entertainment, and caused a loud laugh,
which might be the reason why they acted it so often afterwards. But this,
like all their other pieces, could entertain us no more than once;
especially as we could gather little from them, for want of knowing more of
their language.
The 28th was spent by me in much the same manner as the preceding day, viz.
in entertaining my friends, and being entertained by them. Mr Forster and
his party in the country botanizing.
Next morning, we found several articles had been stolen, out of our boats
lying at the buoy, about sixty or seventy yards from the ship. As soon as I
was informed of it, I went to the chief to acquaint him therewith. I found
that he not only knew they were stolen, but by whom, and where they were;
and he went immediately with me in my boat in pursuit of them. After
proceeding a good way along shore, towards the south end of the island, the
chief ordered us to land near some houses, where we did not wait long
before all the articles were brought to us, except the pinnace's iron
tiller, which I was told was still farther off. But when I wanted to go
after it, I found the chief unwilling to proceed; and he actually gave me
the slip; and retired into the country. Without him I knew I could do
nothing. The people began to be alarmed when they saw I was for going
farther; by which I concluded that the tiller was out of their reach also.
I therefore sent one of them to the chief to desire him to return. He
returned accordingly; when we sat down, and had some victuals set before
us, thinking perhaps that, as I had not breakfasted, I must be hungry, and
not in a good humour. Thus I was amused, till two hogs were produced, which
they entreated me to accept. This I did, and then their fears vanished; and
I thought myself not ill off, in having gotten two good hogs for a thing
which seemed to be quite out of my reach. Matters being thus settled, we
returned on board, and had the company of the chief and his son to dinner.
After that we all went ashore, where a play was acted for the entertainment
of such as would spend their time in looking at it. Besides these plays,
which the chief caused frequently to be acted, there was a set of strolling
players in the neighbourhood, who performed everyday. But their pieces
seemed to be so much alike, that we soon grew tired of them; especially as
we could not collect any interesting circumstances from them. We, our ship,
and our country, were frequently brought on the stage; but on what account
I know not. It can hardly be doubted, that this was designed as a
compliment to us, and probably not acted but when some of us were present.
I generally appeared at Oree's theatre towards the close of the play, and
twice at the other, in order to give my mite to the actors. The only
actress at Oree's theatre was his daughter, a pretty brown girl, at whose
shrine, on these occasions, many offerings were made by her numerous
votaries. This, I believe, was one great inducement to her father's giving
us these entertainments so often.
Early in the morning of the 30th, I set out with the two boats, accompanied
by the two Mr Forsters; Oedidee, the chief, his wife, son, and daughter,
for an estate which Oedidee called his, situated at the north end of the
island. There I was promised to have hogs and fruit in abundance; but when
we came there, we found that poor Oedidee could not command one single
thing, whatever right he might have to the _Whenooa_, which was now in
possession of his brother, who, soon after we landed, presented to me, with
the usual ceremony, two pigs. I made him a very handsome present in return,
and Oedidee gave him every thing he had left of what he had collected
during the time he was with us.
After this ceremony was over, I ordered one of the pigs to be killed and
dressed for dinner, and attended myself to the whole operation, which was
as follows:--They first strangled the hog, which was done by three men; the
hog being placed on his back, two of them laid a pretty strong stick across
his throat, and pressed with all their might on each end; the third man
held his hind legs, kept him on his back, and plugged up his fundament with
grass, I suppose to prevent any air from passing or repassing that way. In
this manner they held him for about ten minutes before he was quite dead.
In the mean time, some hands were employed in making a fire, to heat the
oven, which was close by. As soon as the hog was quite dead, they laid him
on the fire, and burnt or singed the hair, so that it came off with almost
the same ease as if it had been scalded. As the hair was got off one part,
another was applied to the fire till they had got off the whole, yet not so
clean but that another operation was necessary; which was to carry it to
the sea side, and there give it a good scrubbing with sandy stones, and
sand. This brought off all the scurf, &c. which the fire had left on. After
well washing off the sand and dirt, the carcase was brought again to the
former place, and laid on clean green leaves, in order to be opened. They
first ripped up the skin of the belly, and took out the fat or lard from
between the skin and the flesh, which they laid on a large green leaf. The
belly was then ripped open, and the entrails taken out, and carried away in
a basket, so that I know not what became of them; but am certain they were
not thrown away. The blood was next taken out, and put into a large leaf,
and then the lard, which was put to the other fat. The hog was now washed
clean, both inside and out, with fresh water, and several hot stones put
into his belly, which were shaken in under the breast, and green leaves
crammed in upon them. By this time the oven was sufficiently heated; what
fire remained was taken away, together with some of the hot stones; the
rest made a kind of pavement in the bottom of the hole or oven, and were
covered with leaves, on which the hog was placed on his belly. The lard and
fat, after being washed with water, were put into a vessel, made just then
of the green bark of the plantain tree, together with two or three hot
stones, and placed on one side the hog. A hot stone was put to the blood,
which was tied up in the leaf, and put into the oven; as also bread-fruit
and plantains. Then the whole was covered with green leaves, on which were
laid the remainder of the hot stones; over them were leaves; then any sort
of rubbish they could lay their hands on; finishing the operation by well
covering the whole with earth. While the victuals were baking, a table was
spread with green leaves on the floor, at one end of a large boat-house. At
the close of two hours and ten minutes, the oven was opened, and all the
victuals taken out. Those of the natives who dined with us, sat down by
themselves, at one end of the table, and we at the other. The hog was
placed before us, and the fat and blood before them, on which they chiefly
dined, and said it was _Mamity_, very good victuals; and we not only
said, but thought, the same of the pork. The hog weighed about fifty
pounds. Some parts about the ribs I thought rather overdone, but the more
fleshy parts were excellent; and the skin, which by the way of our dressing
can hardly be eaten, had, by this method, a taste and flavour superior to
any thing I ever met with of the kind. I have now only to add, that during
the whole of the various operations, they exhibited a cleanliness well
worthy of imitation. I have been the more particular in this account,
because I do not remember that any of us had seen the whole process before;
nor is it well described in the narrative of my former voyage.
While dinner was preparing, I took a view of this _Whenooa_ of
Oedidee. It was a small, but a pleasant spot; and the houses were so
disposed as to form a very pretty village, which is very rarely the case at
these isles, Soon after we had dined, we set out for the ship, with the
other pig, and a few races of plantains, which proved to be the sum total
of our great expectations.
In our return to the ship, we put ashore at a place where, in the corner of
a house, we saw four wooden images, each two feet long, standing on a
shelf, having a piece of cloth round their middle, and a kind of turban on
their heads, in which were stuck long feathers of cocks. A person in the
house told us they were _Eatua no te Toutou_, gods of the servants or
slaves. I doubt if this be sufficient to conclude that they pay them divine
worship, and that the servants or slaves are not allowed the same gods as
men of more elevated rank; I never heard that Tupia made any such
distinction, or that they worshipped any visible thing whatever. Besides,
these were the first wooden gods we had seen in any of the isles; and all
the authority we had for their being such, was the bare word of perhaps a
superstitious person, and whom, too, we were liable to misunderstand. It
must be allowed that the people of this isle are in general more
superstitious than at Otaheite. At the first visit I made the chief after
our arrival, he desired I would not suffer any of my people to shoot herons
and wood-peckers; birds as sacred with them as robin-red-breasts, swallows,
&c. are with many old women in England. Tupia, who was a priest, and well
acquainted with their religion, customs, traditions, &c. paid little or no
regard to these birds. I mention this, because some amongst us were of
opinion that these birds are their _Eatuas_, or gods. We indeed fell
into this opinion when I was here in 1769, and into some others still more
absurd, which we had undoubtedly adopted, if Tupia had not undeceived us. A
man of his knowledge and understanding we have not since met with, and
consequently have added nothing to his account of their religion but
superstitious notions.
On the 31st, the people knowing that we should sail soon, began to bring
more fruit on board than usual. Among those who came was a young man who
measured six feet four inches and six-tenths; and his sister, younger, than
him, measured five feet ten inches and a half.
1774 June
A brisk trade for hogs and fruit continued on the 1st of June. On the 2d,
in the afternoon, we got intelligence that, three days before, two ships
had arrived at Huaheine. The same report said, the one was commanded by
Mr Banks, and the other by Captain Furneaux. The man who brought the
account said, he was made drunk on board one of them, and described the
persons of Mr Banks and Captain Furneaux so well, that I had not the
least doubt of the truth, and began to consider about sending a boat
over that very evening with orders to Captain Furneaux, when a man, a
friend of Mr Forster, happened to come on board and denied the whole,
saying it was _wà warre_, a lie. The man from whom we had the intelligence
was now gone, so that we could not confront them, and there were none
else present who knew any thing about it but by report; so that I laid
aside sending over a boat till I should be better informed. This evening
we entertained the people with fire-works, on one of the little isles
near the entrance of the harbour.
I had fixed on the next day for sailing, but the intelligence from Huaheine
put a stop to it. The chief had promised to bring the man on board who
first brought the account; but he was either not to be found, or would not
appear. In the morning, the people were divided in their opinions; but in
the afternoon, all said it was a false report. I had sent Mr Clerke, in the
morning, to the farthest part of the island, to make enquiries there; he
returned without learning any thing satisfactory. In short, the report
appeared now too ill founded to authorize me to send a boat over, or to
wait any longer here; and therefore, early in the morning of the 4th, I got
every thing in readiness to sail. Oree the chief, and his whole family,
came on board, to take their last farewell, accompanied by Oo-oo-rou, the
_Earee di hi_, and Boba, the _Earee_ of Otaha, and several of
their friends. None of them came empty; but Oo-oo-rou brought a pretty
large present, this being his first and only visit. I distributed amongst
them almost every thing I had left. The very hospitable manner in which I
had ever been received by these people, had endeared them to me, and given
them a just title to everything in my power to grant. I questioned them
again about the ships at Huaheine; and they all, to a man, denied that any
were there. During the time these people remained on board, they were
continually importuning me to return. The chief, his wife and daughter, but
especially the two latter, scarcely ever ceased weeping. I will not pretend
to say whether it was real or feigned grief they shewed on this occasion.
Perhaps there was a mixture of both; but were I to abide by my own opinion
only, I should believe it was real. At last, when we were about to weigh,
they took a most affectionate leave. Oree's last request was for me to
return; when he saw he could not obtain that promise, he asked the name of
my _Marai_ (burying-place). As strange a question as this was, I
hesitated not a moment to tell him Stepney; the parish in which I live when
in London. I was made to repeat it several times over till they could
pronounce it; then, Stepney _Marai no Toote_ was echoed through an
hundred mouths at once. I afterwards found the same question had been put
to Mr Forster by a man on shore; but he gave a different, and indeed more
proper answer, by saying, no man, who used the sea, could say where he
should be buried. It is the custom, at these isles, for all the great
families to have burial-places of their own, where their remains are
interred. These go with the estate to the next heir. The _Marai_ at
Oparee in Otaheite, when Tootaha swayed the sceptre, was called _Marai no
Tootaha_; but now it is called _Marai no Otoo_. What greater proof
could we have of these people esteeming us as friends, than their wishing
to remember us, even beyond the period of our lives? They had been
repeatedly told that we should see them no more; they then wanted to know
where we were to mingle with our parent dust. As I could not promise, or
even suppose, that more English ships would be sent to those isles, our
faithful companion Oedidee chose to remain in his native country. But he
left us with a regret fully demonstrative of the esteem he bore to us; nor
could any thing but the fear of never returning, have torn him from us.
When the chief teased me so much about returning, I sometimes gave such
answers as left them hopes. Oedidee would instantly catch at this, take me
on one side, and ask me over again. In short, I have not words to describe
the anguish which appeared in this young man's breast when he went away. He
looked up at the ship, burst into tears, and then sunk down into the canoe.
The maxim, that a prophet has no honour in his own country, was never more
fully verified than in this youth. At Otaheite he might have had any thing
that was in their power to bestow; whereas here he was not in the least
noticed. He was a youth of good parts, and, like most of his countrymen, of
a docile, gentle, and humane disposition, but in a manner wholly ignorant
of their religion, government, manners, customs, and traditions;
consequently no material knowledge could have been gathered from him, had I
brought him away. Indeed, he would have been a better specimen of the
nation, in every respect, than Omai. Just as Oedidee was going out of the
ship, he asked me to _Tatou_ some _Parou_ for him, in order to
shew the commanders of any other ships which might stop here. I complied
with his request, gave him a certificate of the time he had been with us,
and recommended him to the notice of those who might afterwards touch at
the island.
We did not get clear of our friends till eleven o'clock, when we weighed,
and put to sea; but Oedidee did not leave us till we were almost out of the
harbour. He staid, in order to fire some guns; for it being his majesty's
birthday, we fired the salute at going away.
When I first came to these islands, I had some thought of visiting Tupia's
famous Bolabola. But as I had now got on board a plentiful supply of all
manner of refreshments, and the route I had in view allowing me no time to
spare, I laid this design aside, and directed my course to the west; taking
our final leave of these happy isles, on which benevolent Nature has spread
her luxuriant sweets with a lavish hand. The natives, copying the bounty of
Nature, are equally liberal; contributing plentifully and cheerfully to the
wants of navigators. During the six weeks we had remained at them, we had
fresh pork, and all the fruits which were in season, in the utmost
profusion; besides fish at Otaheite, and fowls at the other isles. All
these articles we got in exchange for axes, hatchets, nails, chissels,
cloth, red feathers, beads, knives, scissars, looking-glasses, &c. articles
which will ever be valuable here. I ought not to omit shirts as a very
capital article in making presents; especially with those who have any
connexion with the fair sex. A shirt here is full as necessary as a piece
of gold in England. The ladies at Otaheite, after they had pretty well
stripped their lovers of shirts, found a method of clothing themselves with
their own cloth. It was their custom to go on shore every morning, and to
return on board in the evening, generally clad in rags. This furnished a
pretence to importune the lover for better clothes; and when he had no more
of his own, he was to dress them in new cloth of the country, which they
always left ashore; and appearing again in rags, they must again be
clothed. So that the same suit might pass through twenty different hands,
and be as often sold, bought, and given away.
Before I finish this account of these islands, it is necessary to mention
all I know concerning the government of Ulietea and Otaha. Oree, so often
mentioned, is a native of Bolabola; but is possessed of _Whenooas_ or
lands at Ulietea; which I suppose he, as well as many of his countrymen,
got at the conquest. He resides here as Opoony's lieutenant; seeming to be
vested with regal authority, and to be the supreme magistrate in the
island. Oo-oo-rou, who is the _Earee_ by hereditary right, seems to
have little more left him than the bare title, and his own _Whenooa_
or district, in which I think he is sovereign. I have always seen Oree pay
him the respect due to his rank; and he was pleased when he saw me
distinguish him from others.
Otaha, so far as I can find, is upon the very same footing. Boba and Ota
are the two chiefs; the latter I have not seen; Boba is a stout, well-made
young man; and we were told is, after Opoony's death, to marry his
daughter, by which marriage he will be vested with the same regal authority
as Opoony has now; so that it should seem, though a woman may be vested
with regal dignity, she cannot have regal power. I cannot find that Opoony
has got any thing to himself by the conquest of these isles, any farther
than providing for his nobles, who have seized on best part of the lands.
He seems to have no demand on them for any of the many articles they have
had from us. Oedidee has several times enumerated to me all the axes,
nails, &c. which Opoony is possessed of, which hardly amount to as many as
he had from me when I saw him in 1769. Old as this famous man is, he seems
not to spend his last days in indolence. When we first arrived here, he was
at Maurana; soon after he returned to Bolabola; and we were now told, he
was gone to Tubi.
I shall conclude this account of these islands, with some observations on
the watch which Mr Wales hath communicated to me. At our arrival in Matavai
Bay in Otaheite, the longitude pointed out by the watch was 2° 8' 38" ½ too
far to the west; that is, it had gained, since our leaving Queen
Charlotte's Sound, of its then rate of going, 8' 34" 1/2. This was in about
five months, or rather more, during which time it had passed through the
extremes of cold and heat. It was judged that half this error arose after
we left Easter Island; by which it appeared that it went better in the cold
than in the hot climates.
END VOLUME I.