_Accounts of Otaheite still imperfect.--The prevailing Winds.--Beauty
of the Country.--Cultivation.--Natural Curiosities.--The Persons
of the Natives.--Diseases.--General Character.--Love of
Pleasure.--Language.--Surgery and Physic.--Articles of Food.--Effects
of drinking Ava.--Times and Manner of Eating.--Connexions with the
Females.--Circumcision.--System of Religion.--Notions about the Soul
and a future Life.--Various Superstitions.--Traditions about
the Creation.--An historical Legend.--Honours paid to the
King.--Distinction of Ranks.--Punishment of Crimes.--Peculiarities of
the neighbouring Islands.--Names of their Gods.--Names of Islands they
visit.--Extent of their Navigation._
To what has been said of Otaheite, in the accounts of the successive
voyages of Captain Wallis, Mons. de Bougainville, and Captain Cook, it
would, at first sight, seem superfluous to add any thing, as it might
be supposed, that little could be now produced but a repetition of
what has been told before. I am, however, far from being of
that opinion; and will venture to affirm, though a very accurate
description of the country, and of the most obvious customs of its
inhabitants, has been already given, especially by Captain Cook, that
much still remains untouched; that, in some instances, mistakes have
been made, which later and repeated observation has been able to
rectify; and that, even now, we are strangers to many of the most
important institutions that prevail amongst these people. The truth
is, our visits, though frequent, have been but transient; many of us
had no inclination to make enquiries; more of us were unable to direct
our enquiries properly; and we all laboured, though not to the same
degree, under the disadvantages attending an imperfect knowledge
of the language of those, from whom alone we could receive any
information. The Spaniards had it more in their power to surmount
this bar to instruction; some of them having resided at Otaheite
much longer than any other European visitors. As, with their superior
advantages, they could not but have had an opportunity of obtaining
the fullest information on most subjects relating to this island,
their account of it would, probably, convey more authentic and
accurate intelligence, than, with our best endeavours, any of us could
possibly obtain. But, as I look upon it to be very uncertain, if not
very unlikely, that we shall ever have any communication from that
quarter, I have here put together what additional intelligence, about
Otaheite, and its neighbouring islands, I was able to procure, either
from, Omai, while on board the ship, or by conversing with the other
natives, while we remained among them.
The wind, for the greatest part of the year, blows from between
E.S.E., and E.N.E. This is the true trade-wind, or what the natives
call _Maaraee_; and it sometimes blows with considerable force. When
this is the case, the weather is often cloudy, with showers of rain;
but, when the wind is more moderate, it is clear, settled, and serene.
If the wind should veer farther to the southward, and become S.E., or
S.S.E., it then blows more gently, with a smooth sea, and is called
_Maooui_. In those months, when the sun is nearly vertical, that is,
in December and January, the winds and weather are both very variable;
but it frequently blows from W.N.W., or N.W. This wind is what they
call _Toerou_; and is generally attended by dark, cloudy weather,
and frequently by rain, it sometimes blows strong, though generally
moderate; but seldom lasts longer than five or six days without
interruption; and is the only wind in which the people of the islands
to leeward come to this in their canoes. If it happens to be still
more northerly, it blows with less strength, and has the different
appellation of _Era-potaia_; which they feign to be the wife of the
_Toerou_; who, according to their mythology, is a male.
The wind from S.W., and W.S.W., is still more frequent than the
former; and, though it is, in general, gentle, and interrupted by
calms, or breezes from the eastward, yet it sometimes blows in brisk
squalls. The weather attending it is commonly dark; cloudy, and
rainy, with a close, hot air; and often accompanied by a great deal
of lightning and thunder. It is called _Etoa_, and often succeeds the
_Toerou_; as does also the _Farooa_, which is still more southerly;
and, from its violence, blows down houses and trees, especially the
cocoa-palms, from their loftiness; but it is only of a short duration.
The natives seem not to have a very accurate knowledge of these
changes, and yet pretend to have drawn some general conclusions from
their effects; for they say, when the sea has a hollow sound, and
dashes slowly on the shore, or rather on the reef without, that it
portends good weather, but, if it has a sharp sound, and the waves
succeed each other fast, that the reverse will happen.
Perhaps there is scarcely a spot in the universe that affords a more
luxuriant prospect than the S.E. part of Otaheite. The hills are high
and steep; and, in many places, craggy. But they are covered to
the very summits with trees and shrubs, in such a manner, that the
spectator can scarcely help thinking, that the very rocks possess the
property of producing and supporting their verdant clothing. The flat
land which bounds those hills toward the sea, and the interjacent
valleys also, teem with various productions that grow with the most
exuberant vigour, and at once fill the mind of the beholder with the
idea, that no place upon earth can out-do this, in the strength and
beauty of vegetation. Nature has been no less liberal in distributing
rivulets, which are found in every valley; and as they approach the
sea, often divide into two or three branches, fertilizing the flat
lands through which they run. The habitations of the natives are
scattered without order upon these flats; and many of them appearing
toward the shore, presented a delightful scene, viewed from our ships;
especially as the sea within the reef, which bounds the coast, is
perfectly still, and affords a safe navigation at all times for the
inhabitants, who are often seen paddling in their canoes indolently
along in passing from place to place, or in going to fish. On viewing
these charming scenes, I have often regretted my inability to
transmit to those who have had no opportunity of seeing them, such a
description as might, in some measure, convey an impression similar
to what must be felt by every one who has been fortunate enough to be
upon the spot.
It is doubtless the natural fertility of the country, combined with
the mildness and serenity of the climate, that renders the natives
so careless in their cultivation, that, in many places, though,
overflowing with the richest productions, the smallest traces of it
cannot be observed. The cloth-plant, which is raised by seeds brought
from the mountains, and the _ava_, or intoxicating pepper, which they
defend from the sun when very young, by covering them with leaves of
the bread-fruit tree, are almost the only things to which they seem to
pay any attention, and these they keep very clean.
I have enquired very carefully into their manner of cultivating the
bread-fruit tree, but was always answered that they never planted it.
This, indeed, must be evident to every one who will examine the places
where the young trees come up. It will be always observed that they
spring from the roots of the old ones, which ran along near the
surface of the ground; so that the bread-fruit trees may be reckoned
those that would naturally cover the plains, even supposing that the
island was not inhabited, in the same manner that the white-barked
trees, found at Van Diemen's Land, constitute the forests there. And
from this we may observe, that the inhabitant of Otaheite, instead of
being obliged to plant his bread, will rather be under a necessity of
preventing its progress; which, I suppose, is sometimes done, to give
room for trees of another sort, to afford him some variety in his
food.
The chief of these are the cocoa-nut and plantain; the first of which
can give no trouble, after it has raised itself a foot or two above
the ground; but the plantain requires a little more care; for, after
it is planted, it shoots up, and, in about three months, begins to
bear fruit; during which time it gives young shoots, which supply a
succession of fruit. For the old stocks are cut down as the fruit is
taken off.
The products of the island, however, are not so remarkable for their
variety, as great abundance; and curiosities of any kind are not
numerous. Amongst these we may reckon a pond or lake of fresh water
at the top of one of the highest mountains, to go to and return from
which takes three or four days; it is remarkable for its depth, and
has eels of an enormous size in it, which are sometimes caught by the
natives, who go upon this water, in little floats of two or three wild
plantain trees fastened together. This is esteemed one of the greatest
natural curiosities of the country; insomuch, that travellers, who
come from the other islands, are commonly asked, amongst the first
things, by their friends, at their return, if they have seen it? There
is also a sort of water, of which there is only one small pond upon
the island, as far distant as the lake, and, to appearance, very good,
with a yellow sediment at the bottom; but it has a bad taste, and
proves fatal to those who drink any quantity, or makes them break out
in blotches if they bathe in it.
Nothing could make a stronger impression, at first sight, on our
arrival here, than the remarkable contrast between the robust make and
dark colour of the people of Tongataboo, and a sort of delicacy and
whiteness which distinguish the inhabitants of Otaheite. It was even
some time before that difference could preponderate in favour of the
Otaheiteans; and then only, perhaps, because we became accustomed
to them, the marks which had recommended the others began to be
forgotten. Their women, however, struck us as superior in every
respect, and as possessing all those delicate characteristics which
distinguish them from, the other sex in many countries. The beard,
which the men here wear long, and the hair, which is not cut so short
as is the fashion at Tongataboo, made also a great difference; and we
could not help thinking that on every occasion they shewed a greater
degree of timidity and fickleness. The muscular appearance, so common
amongst the Friendly Islanders, and which seems a consequence of their
being accustomed to much action, is lost here, where the superior
fertility of their country enables the inhabitants to lead a more
indolent life; and its place is supplied by a plumpness and smoothness
of the skin, which, though perhaps more consonant with our ideas of
beauty, is no real advantage, as it seems attended with a kind of
languor in all their motions, not observable in the others. This
observation is fully verified in their boxing and wrestling, which
may be called little better than the feeble efforts of children, if
compared to the vigour with which these exercises are performed at the
Friendly Islands.
Personal endowments being in great esteem amongst them, they have
recourse to several methods of improving them, according to their
notions of beauty. In particular, it is a practice, especially among
the _Erreoes_, or unmarried men of some consequence, to undergo a kind
of physical operation to render them fair. This is done by remaining
a month or two in the house; during which time they wear a great
quantity of clothes, eat nothing but bread-fruit, to which they
ascribe a remarkable property in whitening them. They also speak, as
if their corpulence and colour, at other times, depended upon
their food; as they are obliged, from the change of seasons, to use
different sorts at different times.
Their common diet is made up of, at least, nine-tenths of vegetable
food, and, I believe, more particularly the _mahee_, or fermented
bread-fruit, which enters almost every meal, has a remarkable effect
upon them, preventing a costive habit, and producing a very sensible
coolness about them, which could not be perceived in us who fed on
animal food. And it is, perhaps, owing to this temperate course of
life that they have so few diseases among them.
They only reckon five or six, which might be called chronic, or
national disorders; amongst which are the dropsy and the _fefai_, or
indolent swellings before mentioned as frequent at Tongataboo. But
this was before the arrival of the Europeans; for we have added to
this short catalogue, a disease which abundantly supplies the place
of all the others; and is now almost universal. For this they seem to
have no effectual remedy. The priests, indeed, sometimes give them a
medley of simples; but they own that it never cures them. And yet
they allow that in a few cases, nature, without the assistance of
a physician, exterminates the poison of this fatal disease, and a
perfect recovery is produced. They say, that if a man is infected
with it, he will often communicate it to others in the same house, by
feeding out of the same utensils or handling them; and that, in this
case, they frequently die, while he recovers; though we see no reason
why this should happen.
Their behaviour on all occasions seems to indicate a great openness
and generosity of disposition. Omai, indeed, who, as their countryman,
should be supposed rather willing to conceal any of their defects, has
often said that they are sometimes cruel in punishing their enemies.
According to his representation, they torment them very deliberately;
at one time tearing out small pieces of flesh from different parts; at
another taking out the eyes; then cutting off the nose; and, lastly,
killing them by opening the belly. But this only happens on particular
occasions. If cheerfulness argues a conscious innocence, one would
suppose that their life is seldom sullied by crimes. This, however, I
rather impute to their feelings, which, though lively, seem in no case
permanent; for I never saw them, in any misfortune, labour under the
appearance of anxiety after the critical moment was past. Neither
does care ever seem to wrinkle their brow. On the contrary, even the
approach of death does not appear to alter their usual vivacity. I
have seen them when brought to the brink of the grave by disease,
and when preparing to go to battle; but in neither case ever observed
their countenances overclouded with melancholy or serious reflection.
Such a disposition leads them to direct all their aims only to what
can give them pleasure and ease. Their amusements all tend to excite
and continue their amorous passions; and their songs, of which they
are immoderately fond, answer the same purpose. But as a constant
succession of sensual enjoyments must cloy, we found, that they
frequently varied them to more refined subjects, and had much pleasure
in chaunting their triumphs in war, and their occupations in peace;
their travels to other islands, and adventures there; and the peculiar
beauties, and superior advantages of their own island over the rest,
or of different parts of it over other less favourite districts. This
marks, that they receive great delight from music; and though they
rather expressed a dislike to our complicated compositions, yet were
they always delighted with the more melodious sounds produced singly
on our instruments, as approaching nearer to the simplicity of their
own.
Neither are they strangers to the soothing effects produced by
particular sorts of motion, which, in some cases, seem to allay any
perturbation of mind, with as much success as music. Of this, I met
with a remarkable instance. For on walking one day about Matavai
Point, where our tents were erected, I saw a man paddling in a small
canoe, so quickly, and looking about with such eagerness, on each
side, as to command all my attention. At first, I imagined that he
had stolen something from one of the ships, and was pursued; but, on
waiting patiently, saw him repeat his amusement. He went out from the
shore, till he was near the place where the swell begins to take its
rise; and, watching its first motion very attentively, paddled before
it, with great quickness, till he found that it overtook him, and
had acquired sufficient force to carry his canoe before it, without
passing underneath. He then sat motionless, and was carried along, at
the same swift rate as the wave, till it landed him upon the beach.
Then he started out, emptied his canoe, and went in search of another
swell. I could not help concluding, that this man felt the most
supreme pleasure, while he was driven on, so fast and so smoothly, by
the sea; especially as, though the tents and ships were so near, he
did not seem, in the least, to envy, or even to take any notice of,
the crowds of his countrymen collected to view them as objects which
were rare and curious. During my stay, two or three of the natives
came up, who seemed to share his felicity, and always called out, when
there was an appearance of a favourable swell, as he sometimes missed
it, by his back being turned, and looking about for it. By them
I understood, that this exercise, which is called _ehorooe_, was
frequent amongst them; and they have probably more amusements of this
sort, which afford them at least as much pleasure as skaiting, which
is the only one of ours, with whose effects I could compare it.
The language of Otaheite, though doubtless radically the same with
that of New Zealand and the Friendly Islands, is destitute of that
guttural pronunciation, and of some consonants, with which those
latter dialects abound. The specimens we have already given are
sufficient to mark wherein the variation chiefly consists, and to
shew, that, like the manners of the inhabitants, it has become soft
and soothing. During the former voyage, I had collected a copious
vocabulary, which enabled me the better to compare this dialect with
that of the other islands; and, during this voyage, I took every
opportunity of improving my acquaintance with it, by conversing with
Omai, before we arrived, and by my daily intercourse with the
natives, while we now remained there.[1] It abounds with beautiful and
figurative expressions, which, were it perfectly known, would, I have
no doubt, put it upon a level with many of the languages that are
most in esteem for their warm and bold images. For instance, the
Otaheiteans express their notions of death very emphatically, by
saying, "That the soul goes into darkness; or rather into night." And,
if you seem to entertain any doubt, in asking the question, "if such a
person is their mother?" they immediately reply, with surprise, "Yes,
the mother that bore me." They have one expression, that corresponds
exactly with the phraseology of the scriptures, where we read of
the "yearning of the bowels." They use it on all occasions, when the
passions give them uneasiness; as they constantly refer pain from
grief, anxious desire, and other affections, to the bowels, as its
seat; where they likewise suppose all operations of the mind are
performed. Their language admits of that inverted arrangement of
words, which so much distinguishes the Latin and Greek from most
of our modern European tongues, whose imperfections require a more
orderly construction, to prevent ambiguities. It is so copious, that
for the bread-fruit alone, in its different states, they have above
twenty names; as many for the _taro_ root; and about ten for the
cocoa-nut. Add to this, that, besides the common dialect, they often
expostulate, in a kind of stanza or recitative, which is answered in
the same manner.
[Footnote 1: See this Vocabulary at the end of Captain Cook's second
voyage. Many corrections and additions to it were now made by this
indefatigable enquirer; but the specimens of the language of Otaheite,
already in the hands of the public, seem sufficient for every useful
purpose.--D.]
Their arts are few and simple; yet, if we may credit them, they
perform cures in surgery, which our extensive knowledge in that branch
has not, as yet, enabled us to imitate. In simple fractures, they
bind them up with splints; but if part of the substance of the bone
be lost, they insert a piece of wood, between the fractured ends, made
hollow like the deficient part. In five or six days, the _rapaoo_, or
surgeon, inspects the wound, and finds the wood partly covered with
growing flesh. In as many more days, it is generally entirely covered;
after which, when the patient has acquired some strength, he bathes
in the water, and recovers. We know that wounds will heal over leaden
bullets; and, sometimes, though rarely, over other extraneous
bodies. But what makes me entertain some doubt of the truth of so
extraordinary skill, as in the above instance, is, that in other
cases which fell under my own observation, they are far from being so
dexterous. I have seen the stump of an arm, which was taken off, after
being shattered by a fall from a tree, that bore no marks of
skilful operation, though some allowance be made for their defective
instruments. And I met with a man going about with a dislocated
shoulder, some months after the accident, from their being ignorant
of a method to reduce it; though this be considered as one of the
simplest operations of our surgery. They know that fractures or
luxations of the spine are mortal, but not fractures of the skull; and
they likewise know, from experience, in what parts of the body wounds
prove fatal. They have sometimes pointed out those inflicted by
spears, which, if made in the direction they mentioned, would
certainly have been pronounced deadly by us, and yet these people have
recovered.
Their physical knowledge seems more confined; and that, probably
because their diseases are fewer than their accidents. The priests,
however, administer the juices of herbs in some cases; and women who
are troubled with after-pains, or other disorders after child-bearing,
use a remedy which one would think needless in a hot country. They
first heat stones, as when they bake their food; then they lay a thick
cloth over them, upon which is put a quantity of a small plant of the
mustard kind; and these are covered with another cloth. Upon this they
seat themselves and sweat plentifully, to obtain a cure. The men
have practised the same method for the venereal _lues_, but find it
ineffectual. They have no emetic medicines.
Notwithstanding the extreme fertility of the island, a famine
frequently happens, in which it is said many perish. Whether this be
owing to the failure of some seasons, to over-population, which must
sometimes almost necessarily happen, or to wars, I have not been able
to determine; though the truth of the fact may fairly be inferred,
from the great economy that they observe with respect to their
food, even when there is plenty. In times of scarcity, after their
bread-fruit and yams are consumed, they have recourse to various
roots, which grow without cultivation upon the mountains. The
_patarra_, which is found in vast quantities, is what they use first.
It is not unlike a very large potatoe or yam, and good when in its
growing state; but when old, is full of hard stringy fibres. They then
eat two other roots, one not unlike _taro_; and lastly, the _eohee_.
This is of two sorts; one of them possessing deleterious qualities,
which obliges them to slice and macerate it in water a night before
they bake and eat it. In this respect, it resembles the _cassava_ root
of the West Indies; but it forms a very insipid moist paste, in the
manner they dress it. However, I have seen them eat it at times when
no such scarcity reigned. Both this and the _patarra_ are creeping
plants: the last with ternate leaves.
Of animal food a very small portion falls at any time to the share of
the lower class of people, and then it is either fish, sea-eggs, or
other marine productions; for they seldom or ever eat pork. The _Eree
de hoi_[2] alone is able to furnish pork every day; and inferior
chiefs, according to their riches, once a week, fortnight, or month.
Sometimes they are not even allowed that; for, when the island is
impoverished by war or other causes, the chief prohibits his subjects
to kill any hogs; and this prohibition, we were told, is in force
sometimes for several months, or even for a year or two. During that
restraint the hogs multiply so fast, that there are instances of their
changing their domestic state, and turning wild. When it is thought
proper to take off the prohibition, all the chiefs assemble at the
king's place of abode, and each brings with him a present of hogs. The
king then orders some of them to be killed, on which they feast;
and, after that, every one returns home with liberty to kill what he
pleases for his own use. Such a prohibition was actually in force on
our last arrival here; at least in all those districts of the island
that are immediately under the direction of Otoo. And, lest it should
have prevented our going to Matavai after leaving Oheitepeha, he sent
a message to assure us, that it should be taken off as soon as the
ships arrived there. With respect to us we found it so; but we made
such a consumption of them, that, I have no doubt, it would be laid
on again as soon as we sailed. A similar prohibition is also sometimes
extended to fowls.
[Footnote 2: Mr Anderson, invariably in his manuscript, writes _Eree
de hoi_. According to Captain Cook's mode, it is _Eree rahie_. This is
one of the numerous instances that perpetually occur, of our people's
representing the same word differently.--D.]
It is also amongst the better sort that the _ava_ is chiefly used. But
this beverage is prepared somewhat differently, from that which we
saw so much of at the Friendly Islands. For they pour a very small
quantity of water upon the root here, and sometimes roast or bake and
bruise the stalks, without chewing it previously to its infusion. They
also use the leaves of the plant here, which are bruised, and water
poured upon them, as upon the root. Large companies do not assemble
to drink it in that sociable way which is practised at Tongataboo.
But its pernicious effects are more obvious here; perhaps owing to the
manner of preparing it, as we often saw instances of its intoxicating,
or rather stupifying powers. Some of us, who had been at these islands
before, were surprised to find many people, who, when we saw them
last, were remarkable for their size and corpulency, now almost
reduced to skeletons; and, upon enquiring into the cause of this
alteration, it was universally allowed to be the use of the _ava_. The
skins of these people were rough, dry, and covered with scales, which,
they say, every now and then fall off, and their skin is, as it were,
renewed. As an excuse for a practice so destructive, they allege,
that it is adopted to prevent their growing too fat; but it evidently
enervates them, and, in all probability, shortens their days. As its
effects had not been so visible during our former visits, it is not
unlikely that this article of luxury had never been so much abused as
at this time. If it continues to be so fashionable, it bids fair to
destroy great numbers.
The times of eating at Otaheite are very frequent. Their first meal,
or (as it may rather be called) their last, as they go to sleep after
it, is about two o'clock in the morning; and the next is at eight.
At eleven, they dine; and again, as Omai expressed it, at two, and at
five; and sup at eight. In this article of domestic life, they have
adopted some customs which are exceedingly whimsical. The women, for
instance, have not only the mortification of being obliged to eat by
themselves, and in a different part of the house from the men, but,
by a strange kind of policy, are excluded from a share of most of
the better sorts of food. They dare not taste turtle, nor fish of the
tunny kind, which is much esteemed; nor some particular sorts of the
best plantains; and it is very seldom that even those of the first
rank are suffered to eat pork. The children of each sex also eat
apart; and the women generally serve up their own victuals; for they
would certainly starve before any grown man would do them such an
office. In this, as well as in some other customs relative to their
eating, there is a mysterious conduct which we could never thoroughly
comprehend. When we enquired into the reasons of it, we could get no
other answer, but that it is right and necessary that it should be so.
In other customs respecting the females, there seems to be no such
obscurity; especially as to their connexions with the men. If a young
man and woman, from mutual choice, cohabit, the man gives the father
of the girl such things as are necessary in common life; as hogs,
cloth, or canoes, in proportion to the time they are together; and, if
he thinks that he has not been sufficiently paid for his daughter, he
makes no scruple of forcing her to leave her friend, and to cohabit
with another person who may be more liberal. The man, on his part, is
always at liberty to make a new choice; but, should his consort become
pregnant, he may kill the child; and, after that, either continue his
connexion with the mother, or leave her. But if he should adopt the
child, and suffer it to live, the parties are then considered as
in the married state, and they commonly live together ever after.
However, it is thought no crime in the man to join a more youthful
partner to his first wife, and to live with both. The custom of
changing their connexions is, however, much more general than this
last; and it is a thing so common, that they speak of it with great
indifference. The _Erreoes_ are only those of the better sort, who,
from their fickleness, and their possessing the means of purchasing
a succession of fresh connexions, are constantly roaming about; and,
from having no particular attachment, seldom adopt the more settled
method mentioned above. And so agreeable is this licentious plan of
life to their disposition, that the most beautiful of both sexes thus
commonly spend their youthful days, habituated to the practice of
enormities which would disgrace the most savage tribes; but are
peculiarly shocking amongst a people whose general character, in other
respects, has evident traces of the prevalence of humane and tender
feelings.[3] When an _Erreoe_ woman is delivered of a child, a piece
of cloth, dipped in water, is applied to the mouth and nose, which
suffocates it.
[Footnote 3: That the Caroline Islands are inhabited by the same tribe
or nation, whom Captain Cook found, it such immense distances,
spread throughout the South Pacific Ocean, has been satisfactorily
established in some preceding notes The situation of the Ladrones, or
Marianne Islands, still farther north than the Carolines, but at
no great distance from them, is favourable, at first sight, to the
conjecture, that the same race also peopled that cluster; and, on
looking into Father Le Gobien's history of them, this conjecture
appears to be actually confirmed by direct evidence. One of the
greatest singularities of the Otaheite manners, is the existence of
the society of young men called _Erreoes_, of whom some account is
given in the preceding paragraph. Now we learn from Father Le Gobien,
that such a society exists also amongst the inhabitants of the
Ladrones. His words are: _Les Urritoes sont parmi eux les jeuns gens
qui vivent avec des maitresses, sans vouloir s'engager dans les liens
du mariage_. That there should be young men in the Ladrones, as well
as in Otaheite, _who live with mistresses, without being inclined to
enter into the married state_, would not, indeed, furnish the shadow
of any peculiar resemblance between them. But that the young men in
the Ladrones, and in Otaheite, whose manners are thus licentious,
should be considered as a distinct confraternity, called by a
particular name; and that this name should be the same in both places:
this singular coincidence of custom, confirmed by that of language,
seems to furnish an irrefragable proof of the inhabitants of both
places being the same nation. We know, that it is the general property
of the Otaheite dialect, to soften the pronunciation of its words.
And, it is observable, that, by the omission of one single letter (the
consonant t), our _Arreoys_ (as spelled in Hawkesworth's collection),
or _Erreoes_ (according to Mr Anderson's orthography), and the
_Urritoes_ of the Ladrones, are brought to such a similitude of sound
(the only rule of comparing two unwritten languages), that we may
pronounce them to be the same word, without exposing ourselves to the
sneers of supercilious criticism.
One or two more such proofs, drawn from similarity of language, in
very significant words, may be assigned. Le Gobien tells us, that the
people of the Ladrones worship their dead, whom they call _Anitis_.
Here, again, by dropping the consonant _n_, we have a word that bears
a strong resemblance to that which so often occurs in Captain Cook's
voyages, when speaking of the divinities of his islands, whom he calls
_Eatooas_. And it may be matter of curiosity to remark, that what
is called an _Aniti_, at the Ladrones, is, as we learn from Cantova
(_Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses_, tom. xv. p. 309, 310.) at the
Caroline Islands, where dead chiefs are also worshipped, called a
_Tahutup_; and that, by softening or sinking the strong sounding
letters, at the beginning and at the end of this latter word, the
_Ahutu_ of the Carolines, the _Aiti_ of the Ladrones, and the
_Eatooa_ of the South Pacific Islands, assume such a similarity in
pronunciation (for we can have no other guide), as strongly marks one
common original. Once more; we learn from Le Gobien, that the Marianne
people call their chiefs _Chamorris_, or _Chamoris_. And by softening
the aspirate _Ch_ into _T_, and the harshness of _r_ into _l_ (of
which the vocabularies of the different islands give us repeated
instances), we have the _Tamole_ of the Caroline Islands, and the
_Tamolao_, or _Tamaha_, of the Friendly ones.
If these specimens of affinity of language should be thought too
scanty, some very remarkable instances of similarity of customs and
institutions will go far to remove every doubt. 1. A division into
three classes, of nobles, of middle rank, and the common people, or
servants, was found, by Captain Cook, to prevail, both at the Friendly
and the Society Islands. Father Le Gobien expressly tells us, that the
same distinction prevails at the Ladrones: _Il y a trois états, parmi
les insulaires, la noblesse, le moyen, et le menu._ 2. Numberless
instances occur in Captain Cook's voyage to prove the great subjection
under which the people of his islands are to their chiefs. We learn
from Le Gobien, that it is so also at the Ladrones: _La noblesse est
d'un fierté incroyable, et tien le peuple dans un abaisement qu'on ne
pourroit imaginer en Europe_, &c. 3. The diversions of the natives
at Wateeo, the Friendly, and the Society Islands, have been copiously
described by Captain Cook. How similar are those which Le Gobien
mentions in the following words, as prevailing at the Ladrones!--_Ils
se divertissent à danser, courir, sautir, lutter, pour s'exercer,
et éprouver leur forces. Ils prennent grand plaisir à raconter les
avantures de leurs ancétres, et à reciter des vers de leurs poëtes._
4. The principal share sustained by the women, in the entertainments
at Captain Cook's islands, appears sufficiently from a variety of
instances in this work; and we cannot read what Le Gobien says of
the practice at the Ladrones, without tracing the strongest
resemblance--_Dans leurs assemblées elles se mettent doux ou trieze
femmes en rond, debout, sans se remuer. Dans cette attitude elles
chantent les vers fabuleux de leurs poëtes avec un agrément, et une
justesse qui plairoit en Europe. L'accord de leur voix est admirable,
et ne cede en rien à la musique concertée. Elles ont dans les mains
de petits coquilles, dont elles se servent avec beaucoup de precision.
Elles soutiennent leur voix, et animent leur chants avec une action
si vive, et des gestes si expressives, qu'elles charment ceux qui
les voient, et qui les entendent._ 5. We read in Captain Cook's first
voyage, that at Otaheite garlands of the fruit of the palm-tree and
cocoa-leaves, with other things particularly consecrated to funeral
solemnities, are deposited about the places where they lay their dead;
and that provisions and water are also left at a little distance. How
conformable to this is the practice at the Ladrones, as described
by Le Gobien!--_Ils font quelques repas autour du tombeau; car on
en eleve toujours un sur le lieu ou le corps est enterré, ou dans
le voisinage; on le charge de fleurs, de branches de palmiers, de
coquillages, et de tout ce qu'ils ont de plus precieux._ 6. It is the
custom at Otaheite not to bury the skulls of the chiefs with the rest
of the bones, but to put them into boxes made for that purpose. Here
again, we find the same strange custom prevailing at the Ladrones;
for Le Gobien expressly tells us, _qui'ls gardent les cranes, en leur
maisons_, that they put these skulls into little baskets (_petites
corbeilles_); and that these dead chiefs are the _Anitis_, to whom
their priests address their invocations. 7. The people at Otaheite, as
we learn from Captain Cook, in his account of Tee's embalmed corpse,
make use of cocoa-nut oil, and other ingredients, in rubbing the
dead bodies. The people of the Ladrones, Father Le Gobien tells
us, sometimes do the same--_D'autres frottent les morts d'huile
odoriferante._ 8. The inhabitants of Otaheite believe the immortality
of the soul; and that there are two situations after death, somewhat
analogous to our heaven and hell; but they do not suppose, that their
actions here in the least influence their future state. And in the
account given in this Voyage of the religious opinions entertained at
the Friendly Islands, we find there exactly the same doctrine. It
is very observable, how conformable to this is the belief of the
inhabitants of the Ladrones--_Ils sont persuadés_ (says Le Gobien) _de
l'immortalité de l'áme. Ils reconnoissent même un Paradis et un Enfer,
dont ils se forment des idées assez bizarres. Ce n'est point, selon
eux, la vertu ni le crime, qui conduit dans ces lieux là; les bonnes
ou les mauvaises actions n'y servent de rien._ 9. One more very
singular instance of agreement shall close this long list. In Captain
Cook's account of the New Zealanders, we find that, according to them,
the soul of the man who is killed, and whose flesh is devoured, is
doomed to a perpetual fire; while the souls of all who die a natural
death, ascend to the habitations of the gods. And, from Le Gobien, we
learn that this very notion is adopted by his islanders--_Si on a le
malkeur de mourir de mort violente, on a l'enfer pour leur portage._
Surely such a concurrence of very characteristic conformities cannot
be the result of mere accident; and, when combined with the specimens
of affinity of language mentioned at the beginning of this note,
it should seem that we are fully warranted, from premises thus
unexceptionable, to draw a certain conclusion, that the inhabitants of
the various islands discovered or visited by Captain Cook in the South
Pacific Ocean, and those whom the Spaniards found settled upon the
Ladrones or Mariannes, in the northern hemisphere, carried the same
language, customs, and opinions from one common centre, from which
they had emigrated; and that, therefore, they may be considered as
scattered members of the same nation.
See Pere Le Gobien's _Histoire des Iles Mariannes_, Book ii. or the
summary of it in _Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes_,
T. ii. p. 492-512, from which the materials for this note have been
extracted.--D.]
As in such a life, their women must contribute a very large share
of its happiness, it is rather surprising, besides the humiliating
restraints they are laid under with regard to food, to find them often
treated with a degree of harshness, or rather brutality, which one
would scarcely suppose a man would bestow on an object for whom he had
the least affection. Nothing, however, is more common, than to see the
men beat them without mercy; and, unless this treatment is the effect
of jealousy, which both sexes, at least, pretend to be sometimes
infected with, it will be difficult to account for it. It will be
less difficult to admit this as the motive, as I have seen several
instances where the women have preferred personal beauty to interest;
though, I must own, that even in these cases, they seem scarcely
susceptible of those delicate sentiments that are the result of
mutual affection; and, I believe, that there is less Platonic love in
Otaheite than in any other country.
Cutting, or inciding the foreskin, should be mentioned here as a
practice adopted amongst them from a notion of cleanliness; and they
have a reproachful epithet in their language for those who do not
observe that custom. When there are five or six lads pretty well grown
up in a neighbourhood, the father of one of them goes to a _Tahoua_,
or man of knowledge, and lets him know. He goes with the lads to
the top of the hills, attended by a servant, and seating one of them
properly, introduces a piece of wood underneath the foreskin, and
desires him to look aside at something he pretends is coming; having
thus engaged the young man's attention to another object, he cuts
through the skin upon the wood with a shark's tooth, generally at one
stroke. He then separates, or rather turns back the divided parts; and
having put on a bandage, proceeds to perform the same operation on the
other lads. At the end of five days they bathe, and the bandages being
taken off, the matter is cleaned away. At the end of five days more
they bathe again, and are well; but a thickness of the prepuce,
where it was cut, remaining, they go again to the mountains with
the _Tahoua_ and servant; and a fire being prepared, and some stones
heated, the _Tahoua_ puts the prepuce between two of them, and
squeezes it gently, which removes the thickness. They then return
home, having their heads, and other parts of their bodies, adorned
with odoriferous flowers; and the _Tahoua_ is rewarded for his
services by their fathers, in proportion to their several abilities,
with presents of hogs and cloth; and if they be poor, their relations
are liberal on the occasion.
Their religious system is extensive, and, in many instances, singular;
but few of the common people have a perfect knowledge of it; that
being confined chiefly to their priests, who are pretty numerous. They
do not seem to pay respect to one god, as possessing pre-eminence; but
believe in a plurality of divinities, who are all very powerful; and
in this case, as different parts of the island, and the other islands
in the neighbourhood, have different ones, the inhabitants of each, no
doubt, think that they have chosen the most eminent, or, at least, one
who is invested with power sufficient to protect them, and to supply
all their wants. If he should not answer their expectations, they
think it no impiety to change; as has very lately happened in
Tiarabooa, where, in the room of the two divinities formerly honoured
there, Oraa,[4] god of Bolabola, had been adopted, I should suppose,
because he is the protector of a people who have been victorious in
war; and as, since they have made this change, they have been very
successful themselves against the inhabitants of _Otaheite-nooe_, they
impute it entirely to _Oraa_, who, as they literally say, fights their
battles.
[Footnote 4: We have another instance of the same word being
differently pronounced by our people. Captain Cook, as appears above,
speaks of _Olla_ as the Bolabola god.--D.]
Their assiduity in serving their gods is remarkably conspicuous. Not
only the _whattas_, or offering-places of the _morais_, are commonly
loaded with fruits and animals, but there are few houses where you do
not meet with a small place of the same sort near them. Many of them
are so rigidly scrupulous, that they will not begin a meal without
first laying aside a morsel for the _Eatooa_; and we had an
opportunity, during this voyage, of seeing their superstitious
zeal carried to a most pernicious height, in the instance of human
sacrifices; the occasions of offering which, I doubt, are too
frequent. Perhaps they have recourse to them when misfortunes occur;
for they asked, if one of our men, who happened to be confined, when
we were detained by a contrary wind, was _taboo_? Their prayers are
also very frequent, which they chaunt, much after the manner of their
songs in their festive entertainments. And the women, as in other
cases, are also obliged to shew their inferiority in religious
observances; for it is required of them, that they should partly
uncover themselves as they pass the _morais_, or take a considerable
circuit to avoid them. Though they have no notion that their god must
always be conferring benefits, without sometimes forgetting them, or
suffering evil to befall them, they seem to regard this less than the
attempts of some more inauspicious being to hurt them. They tell us,
that _Etee_ is an evil spirit, who sometimes does them mischief;
and to whom, as well as to their god, they make offerings. But the
mischiefs they apprehend from any superior invisible beings, are
confined to things merely temporal.
They believe the soul to be both immaterial and immortal. They say
that it keeps fluttering about the lips during the pangs of death; and
that then it ascends and mixes with, or, as they express it, is eaten
by the deity. In this state it remains for some time; after which it
departs to a certain place, destined for the reception of the souls
of men where it exists in eternal night; or, as they sometimes say, in
twilight or dawn. They have no idea of any permanent punishment after
death, for crimes that they have committed on earth; for the souls
of good and of bad men are eat indiscriminately by God. But they
certainly consider this coalition with the deity as a kind of
purification necessary to be undergone before they enter a state of
bliss. For, according to their doctrine, if a man refrain from all
connexion with women some months before death, he passes immediately
into his eternal mansion, without such a previous union; as if
already, by this abstinence, he were pure enough to be exempted from
the general lot.
They are, however, far from entertaining those sublime conceptions
of happiness, which our religion, and indeed reason, gives us room
to expect hereafter. The only great privilege they seem to think
they shall acquire by death is immortality; for they speak of spirits
being, in some measure, not totally divested of those passions which
actuated them when combined with material vehicles. Thus, if souls,
who were formerly enemies, should meet, they have many conflicts;
though, it should seem, to no purpose, as they are accounted
invulnerable in this invisible state. There is a similar reasoning
with regard to the meeting of man and wife. If the husband dies first,
the soul of the wife is known to him on its arrival in the land of
spirits. They resume their former acquaintance, in a spacious house,
called _tourooa_, where the souls of the deceased assemble to recreate
themselves with the gods. She then retires with him, to his separate
habitation, where they remain for ever, and have an offspring; which,
however, is entirely spiritual, as they are neither married, nor are
their embraces supposed to be the same as with corporeal beings.
Some of their notions about the deity are extravagantly absurd: They
believe that he is subject to the power of those very spirits to whom
he has given existence; and that, in their turn, they frequently eat
or devour him, though he possess the power of re-creating himself.
They doubtless use this mode of expression, as they seem incapable of
conversing about immaterial things, without constantly referring to
material objects to convey their meaning. And in this manner they
continue the account, by saying, that, in the _tourooa_, the deity
enquires if they intend, or not, to destroy him? And that he is not
able to alter their determination. This is known to the inhabitants on
earth, as well as to the spirits; for when the moon is in its wane,
it is said that they are then devouring their _Eatooa_; and that as it
increases he is renewing himself. And to this accident, not only the
inferior, but the most eminent gods are liable. They also believe,
that there are other places for the reception of souls at death. Thus,
those who are drowned in the sea remain there; where they think that
there is a fine country, houses, and every thing that can make them
happy. But, what is more singular, they maintain, that not only all
other animals, but trees, fruit, and even stones, have souls, which at
death, or upon being consumed or broken, ascend to the divinity, with
whom they first mix, and afterwards pass into the mansion allotted to
each.
They imagine that their punctual performance of religious offices
procures for them every temporal blessing. And as they believe that
the animating and powerful influence of the divine spirit is
every where diffused, it is no wonder that they join to this many
superstitious opinions about its operations. Accordingly, they believe
that sudden deaths, and all other accidents, are effected by the
immediate action of some divinity. If a man only stumble against a
stone and hurt his toe, they impute it to an _Eatooa_; so that they
may be literally said, agreeably to their system, to tread enchanted
ground. They are startled in the night on approaching a _toopapaoo_,
where the dead are exposed, in the same manner that many of our
ignorant and superstitious people are with the apprehensions of
ghosts, and at the sight of a church-yard; and they have an equal
confidence in dreams, which they suppose to be communications either
from their god, or from the spirits of their departed friends,
enabling those favoured with them to foretell future events; but this
kind of knowledge is confined to particular people. Omai pretended to
have his gift. He told us, that the soul of his father had intimated
to him in a dream, on the 26th of July 1776, that he should go on
shore at some place within three days; but he was unfortunate in this
first attempt to persuade us that he was a prophet; for it was the
1st of August before we got into Teneriffe. Amongst them, however,
the dreamers possess a reputation little inferior to that of their
inspired priests and priestesses, whose predictions they implicitly
believe, and are determined by them in all undertakings of
consequence. The priestess who persuaded Opoony to invade Ulietea,
is much respected by him; and he never goes to war without consulting
her. They also, in some degree, maintain our old doctrine of planetary
influence; at least, they are sometimes regulated in their public
counsels by certain appearances of the moon; particularly when lying
horizontally, or much inclined on the convex part, on its first
appearance after the change, they are encouraged to engage in war with
confidence of success.
They have traditions concerning the creation, which, as might be
expected, are complex and clouded with obscurity. They say, that a
goddess, having a lump or mass of earth suspended in a cord, gave it a
swing, and scattered about pieces of land, thus constituting Otaheite
and the neighbouring islands, which were all peopled by a man and
woman, originally fixed at Otaheite. This, however, only respects
their own immediate creation; for they have notions of an universal
one before this; and of lands, of which they have now no other
knowledge than what is mentioned in the tradition. Their most remote
account reaches to Tatooma and Tapuppa, male and female stones or
rocks, who support the congeries of land and water, or our globe
underneath. These produced Totorro, who was killed, and divided into
land; and after him Otaia and Oroo were begotten, who were afterward
married, and produced, first, land, and then a race of gods. Otaia is
killed, and Oroo marries a god, her son, called Teorrhaha, whom she
orders to create more land, the animals, and all sorts of food found
upon the earth; as also the sky, which is supported by men called
Teeferei. The spots observed in the moon, are supposed to be groves
of a sort of trees which once grew in Otaheite, and being destroyed
by some accident, their seeds were carried up thither by doves, where
they now flourish.
They have also many legends, both religious and historical; one of
which latter, relative to the practice of eating human flesh, I shall
give the substance of, as a specimen of their method. A long time
since there lived in Otaheite two men, called _Taheeai_, the only name
they yet have for cannibals; none knew from whence they came, or in
what manner they arrived at the island. Their habitation was in
the mountains, from whence they used to issue, and kill many of the
natives, whom they afterward devoured, and by that means prevented the
progress of population. Two brothers, determined to rid their country
of such a formidable enemy, used a stratagem for their destruction,
with success. These still lived farther upward than the _Taheeai_, and
in such a situation that they could speak with them without greatly
hazarding their own safety; they invited them to accept of an
entertainment that should be provided for them, to which these readily
consented. The brothers then taking some stones, heated them in a
fire, and thrusting them into pieces of _mahee_, desired one of the
_Taheeai_ to open his mouth; on which one of these pieces was dropped
in, and some water poured down, which made a boiling or hissing noise,
in quenching the stone, and killed him. They entreated the other to
do the same; but he declined it, representing the consequences of
his companion's eating. However, they assured him that the food was
excellent, and its effects only temporary; for that the other would
soon recover. His credulity was such that be swallowed the bait, and
shared the fate of the first. The natives then cut them in pieces,
which they buried; and conferred the government of the island on the
brothers, as a reward for delivering them from such monsters. Their
residence was in the district called Whapaeenoo; and to this day there
remains a bread-fruit tree, once the property of the _Taheeais_.
They had also a woman, who lived with them, and had two teeth of
a prodigious size. After they were killed, she lived at the island
Otaha; and when dead, was ranked amongst their deities. She did not
eat human flesh, as the men; but, from the size of her teeth, the
natives still call any animal that has a fierce appearance, or is
represented with large tusks, _Taheeai_.
Every one must allow that this story is just as natural as that of
Hercules destroying the hydra, or the more modern one of Jack the
giant-killer. But I do not find that there is any moral couched under
it, any more than under most old fables of the same kind, which
have been received as truths only during the prevalence of the same
ignorance that marked the character of the ages in which they were
invented. It, however, has not been improperly introduced, as serving
to express the horror and detestation entertained here against those
who feed upon human flesh. And yet, from some circumstances, I have
been led to think that the natives of these isles were formerly
cannibals. Upon asking Omai, he denied it stoutly; yet mentioned a
fact, within his own knowledge, which almost confirms such an opinion.
When the people of Bolabola, one time, defeated those of Huaheine, a
great number of his kinsmen were slain. But one of his relations had,
afterward, an opportunity of revenging himself, when the Bolabola men
were worsted in their turn, and cutting a piece out of the thigh of
one of his enemies, he broiled, and eat it. I have also frequently
considered the offering of the person's eye, who is sacrificed, to the
chief, as a vestige of a custom which once really existed to a greater
extent, and is still commemorated by this emblematical ceremony.
The being invested with the _maro_, and the presiding at human
sacrifices, seem to be the peculiar characteristics of the sovereign.
To these, perhaps, may be added the blowing a conch-shell, which
produces a very loud sound. On hearing it, all his subjects are
obliged to bring food of every sort to his royal residence, in
proportion to their abilities. On some other occasions, they carry
their veneration for his very name to an extravagant and very
destructive pitch. For if, on his accession to the _maro_, any words
in their language be found to have a resemblance to it in sound, they
are changed for others; and if any man be bold enough not to comply,
and continue to use those words, not only he, but all his relations,
are immediately put to death. The same severity is exercised toward
those who shall presume to apply this sacred name to any animal. And,
agreeably to this custom of his countrymen, Omai used to express
his indignation, that the English should give the names of prince or
princess to their favourite horses or dogs. But while death is the
punishment for making free with the name of their sovereign, if abuse
be only levelled at his government, the offender escapes with the
forfeiture of lands and houses.
The king never enters the house of any of his subjects, but has, in
every district where he visits, houses belonging to himself. And if,
at any time, he should be obliged by accident to deviate from this
rule, the house thus honoured with his presence, and every part of
its furniture, is burnt. His subjects not only uncover to him, when
present, down to the waist; but if he be at any particular place, a
pole, having a piece of cloth tied to it, is set up somewhere near, to
which they pay the same honours. His brothers are also entitled to the
first part of the ceremony; but the women only uncover to the females
of the royal family. In short, they seem even superstitious in their
respect to him, and esteem his person little less than sacred. And it
is, perhaps, to these circumstances, that he owes the quiet possession
of his dominions. For even the people of Tiaraboo allow him the same
honours as his right; though, at the same time, they look upon their
own chief as more powerful; and say, that he would succeed to the
government of the whole island, should the present reigning family
become extinct. This is the more likely, as Waheiadooa not only
possesses Tiaraboo, but many districts of Opooreanoo. His territories,
therefore, are almost equal in extent to those of Otoo; and he has,
besides, the advantage of a more populous and fertile part of the
island. His subjects, also, have given proofs of their superiority,
by frequent victories over those of Otaheite-nooe, whom they affect
to speak of as contemptible warriors, easily to be worsted, if at any
time their chief should wish to put it to the test.
The ranks of people, besides the _Eree de hoi_ and his family, are
the _Erees_, or powerful chiefs; the _Manahoone_, or vassals; and the
_Teou_, or _Toutou_, servants, or rather slaves. The men of each of
these, according to the regular institution, form their connexions
with women of their respective ranks; but if with any inferior one,
which frequently happens, and a child be born, it is preserved, and
has the rank of the father, unless he happens to be an _Eree_, in
which case it is killed. If a woman of condition should choose an
inferior person to officiate as a husband, the children he has by her
are killed. And if a _Teou_ be caught in an intrigue with a woman
of the blood-royal, he is put to death. The son of the _Eree de hoi_
succeeds his father in title and honours as soon as he is born; but if
he should have no children, the brother assumes the government at his
death. In other families, possessions always descend to the eldest
son; but he is obliged to maintain his brothers and sisters, who are
allowed houses on his estates.
The boundaries of the several districts, into which Otaheite is
divided, are, generally, either rivulets, or low hills, which, in many
places, jut out into the sea. But the subdivisions into particular
property, are marked by large stones, which have remained from one
generation to another. The removal of any of these gives rise to
quarrels, which are decided by arms; each party bringing his friends
into the field. But if any one complain to the _Eree de hoi_, he
terminates the difference amicably. This is an offence, however, not
common; and long custom seems to secure property here as effectually
as the most severe laws do in other countries. In conformity also to
ancient practice established amongst them, crimes of a less general
nature are left to be punished by the sufferer, without referring
them to a superior. In this case, they seem to think that the injured
person will judge as equitably as those who are totally unconcerned;
and as long custom has allotted certain punishments for crimes of
different sorts, he is allowed to inflict them, without being amenable
to any other person. Thus, if any one be caught stealing, which is
commonly done in the night, the proprietor of the goods may put the
thief instantly to death; and if any one should enquire of him after
the deceased, it is sufficient to acquit him, if he only informs them
of the provocation he had to kill him. But so severe a punishment is
seldom inflicted, unless the articles that are stolen be reckoned very
valuable; such as breast-plates and plaited hair. If only cloth, or
even hogs, be stolen, and the thief escape, upon his being afterward
discovered, if he promise to return the same number of pieces of
cloth, or of hogs, no farther punishment is inflicted. Sometimes,
after keeping out of the way for a few days, he is forgiven, or, at
most, gets a slight beating. If a person kill another in a quarrel,
the friends of the deceased assemble, and engage the survivor and his
adherents. If they conquer, they take possession of the house, lands,
and goods of the other party; but if conquered, the reverse takes
place. If a _Manahoone_ kill the _Toutou_, or slave of a chief, the
latter sends people to take possession of the lands and house of the
former, who flies either to some other part of the island, or to some
of the neighbouring islands. After some months he returns, and finding
his stock of hogs much increased, he offers a large present of these,
with some red feathers, and other valuable articles, to the _Toutou_'s
master, who generally accepts the compensation, and permits him to
repossess his house and lands. This practice is the height of venality
and injustice; and the slayer of the slave seems to be under no
farther necessity of absconding, than to impose upon the lower class
of people, who are the sufferers. For it does not appear that the
chief has the least power to punish this _Manahoone_; but the whole
management marks a collusion between him and his superior, to gratify
the revenge of the former, and the avarice of the latter. Indeed, we
need not wonder that the killing of a man should be considered as
so venial an offence, amongst a people who do not consider it as any
crime at all to murder their own children. When talking to them, about
such instances of unnatural cruelty, and asking, whether the chiefs or
principal people were not angry, and did not punish them? I was told,
that the chief neither could nor would interfere in such cases; and
that every one had a right to do with his own child what he pleased.
Though the productions, the people, and the customs and manners of
all the islands in the neighbourhood, may, in general, be reckoned
the same as at Otaheite, there are a few differences which should be
mentioned, as this may lead to an enquiry about more material ones
hereafter, if such there be, of which we are now ignorant.
With regard to the little island Mataia, or Osnaburgh Island, which
lies twenty leagues east of Otaheite, and belongs to a chief of that
place, who gets from thence a kind of tribute, a different dialect
from that of Otaheite is there spoken. The men of Mataia also wear
their hair very long; and when they fight, cover their arms with a
substance which is beset with sharks' teeth, and their bodies with
a sort of shagreen, being skin of fishes. At the same time they
are ornamented with polished pearl-shells, which make a prodigious
glittering in the sun; and they have a very large one, that covers
them before, like a shield or breast plate.
The language of Otaheite has many words, and even phrases, quite
unlike those of the islands to the westward of it, which all agree;
and this island is remarkable for producing great quantities of that
delicious fruit we call apples, which are found in none of the others,
except Eimeo. It has also the advantage of producing an odoriferous
wood, called _eahoi_, which is highly valued at the other isles, where
there is none; nor even in the south-east peninsula, or Tiaraboo,
though joining it. Huaheine and Eimeo, again, are remarkable for
producing greater quantities of yams than the other islands. And
at Mourooa there is a particular bird, found upon the hills, much
esteemed for its white feathers; at which place there is also said
to be some of the apples, though it be the most remote of the Society
Islands from Otaheite and Eimeo, where they are produced.
Though the religion of all the islands be the same, each of them has
its particular, or tutelar god; whose names, according to the best
information I could receive, are set down in the following list:
_Gods of the Isles_,
Huaheine, _Tanne._
Ulietea, _Oore._
Otaha, _Tanne._
Bolabola, _Oraa._
Mourooa, _Otoo, ee weiahoo._
Toobaee, _Tamouee._
Tabooymanoo, or Saunders's \
Island, which } _Taroa._
is subject to Huaheine,/
Eimeo, _Oroo hadoo._
Otaheite-nooe,} _Ooroo._
Otaheite, {
Tiaraboo, } {_Opoonooa_ and whom they have
{_Whatooteeree_, { lately changed
for Oraa, god
of Bolabola.
Mataia or Osnaburgh _Tooboo, toobooai, Ry maraiva._
Island
The Low Isles, Eastward _Tammaree._
Besides the cluster of high islands from Mataia to Mourooa inclusive,
the people of Otaheite are acquainted with a low uninhabited island,
which they name Mopeeha, and seems to be Howe's Island, laid down to
the westward of Mourooa in our late charts of this ocean. To this the
inhabitants of the most leeward islands sometimes go. There are also
several low islands, to the north-eastward of Otaheite, which they
have sometimes visited, but not constantly; and are said to be only at
the distance of two days' sail, with a fair wind. They were thus named
to me:
Mataeeva,
Oanaa, called Oannah, in Dalrymple's letter to Hawkesworth
Taboohoe,
Awehee,
Kaoora,
Orootooa,
Otavaoo, where are large pearls.
The inhabitants of these isles come more frequently to Otaheite and
the other neighbouring high islands, from whose natives they differ
in being of a darker colour, with a fiercer aspect, and differently
punctured. I was informed, that at Mataeeva, and others of them, it is
a custom for the men to give their daughters to strangers who arrive
amongst them; but the pairs must be five nights lying near each other,
without presuming to proceed farther. On the sixth evening, the
father of the young woman, treats his guest with food, and informs his
daughter, that she must, that night, receive him as her husband. The
stranger, however, must not offer to express the least dislike, though
the bed-fellow allotted to him should be ever so disagreeable; for
this is considered as an unpardonable affront, and is punished with
death. Forty men of Bolabola, who, incited by curiosity, had roamed as
far as Mataeeva in a canoe, were treated in this manner; one of them
having incautiously mentioned his dislike of the woman who fell to his
lot, in the hearing of a boy, who informed her father. In consequence
of this the Mateevans fell upon them; but these warlike people killed
three times their own number; though with the loss of all their
party, except five. These hid themselves in the woods, and took an
opportunity, when the others were burying their dead, to enter some
houses, where, having provided themselves with victuals and water,
they carried them on board a canoe, in which they made their escape;
and, after passing Mataia, at which they would not touch, at last
arrived safe at Eimeo. The Bolabolans, however, were sensible enough
that their travellers had been to blame; for a canoe from Mateeva,
arriving some time after at Bolabola, so far were they from
retaliating upon them for the death of their countrymen, that they
acknowledged they had deserved their fate, and treated their visitors
kindly.
These low isles are, doubtless, the farthest navigation which those of
Otaheite and the Society Islands perform at present. It seems to be a
groundless supposition, made by Mons. de Bougainville, that they made
voyages of the prodigious extent[5] he mentions; for I found, that it
is reckoned a sort of a prodigy, that a canoe, once driven by a storm
from Otaheite, should have fallen in with Mopeeha, or Howe's Island,
though so near, and directly to leeward. The knowledge they have
of other distant islands is, no doubt, traditional; and has been
communicated to them by the natives of those islands, driven
accidentally upon their coasts, who, besides giving them the names,
could easily inform them of the direction in which the places lie from
whence they came, and of the number of days they had been upon the
sea. In this manner, it may be supposed, that the natives of Wateeoo
have increased their catalogue by the addition of Otaheite and its
neighbouring isles, from the people we met with there, and also of
the other islands these had heard of. We may thus account for that
extensive knowledge attributed by the gentlemen of the Endeavour to
Tupia in such matters. And, with all due deference to his veracity,
I presume that it was, by the same means of information, that he was
able to direct the ship to Oheteroa, without having ever been
there himself, as he pretended; which, on many accounts, is very
improbable.[6]
[Footnote 5: See _Bougainville's Voyage autour du Monde_, p. 228,
where we are told that these people sometimes navigate at the distance
of more than three hundred leagues.--D.]
[Footnote 6: Though much of Mr Anderson's account of Otaheite, &c. be
very similar to what has been given in the preceding relations, yet
it must be allowed to possess too great merit to warrant omission
or alteration. He has been fortunate, certainly, in delineating the
manners and opinions of the people; and perhaps, on the whole,
his information bears more decisive marks of care and intimate
acquaintance than any other we possess on the subject. This, it may
be said, is no very high merit; because, having the benefit of pretty
extensive labours, he had only to compare a picture with its original,
as presented to his notice, and was under no necessity of dividing
his attention among a multiplicity of unconnected objects. Still this
remark is not just, unless it be shewn that he has merely affirmed
the likeness or unlikeness he observed betwixt them, and specified the
peculiarities of resemblance or dissimilarity. In place of doing
so, however, he has executed another picture. But such analogical
reasoning is more fanciful than judicious; and even were it correctly
applicable to the case, it is evident, that no one would be entitled
to decide as to the respective merits of the productions, who was not
familiar with the objects which they represented. Now, the fact is,
that Mr Anderson had no opportunity of availing himself of what others
had done before, unless we except the avowedly imperfect delineations
in Hawkesworth's Narrative, from which we can scarcely believe he
could derive material assistance. The reader will understand this
at once, by considering, that neither Cook's account of his second
voyage, nor the productions of Mr Forster, had been published before
the commencement of this expedition. It may, however, be imagined,
that Cook himself would communicate to Mr Anderson such particulars
of his former journal as were likely to aid him in his present
researches. Even this supposition is exceedingly unnecessary; because,
it appears from the Memoir of Cook, in the Biog. Brit. that that
officer rather received assistance from Mr Anderson during the former
navigation; and we shall afterwards see reason to consider him as
possessed of abilities, and a talent for observation, which rendered
him very independent of others. His description, therefore, is to
be judged an original one, and as such is entitled to the highest
distinction. It may indeed be somewhat chargeable with the
exaggerations of a warm fancy, especially as to what is said of the
religious notions of these islanders, which perhaps assume more of
system and regularity through the medium of Mr A.'s report, than it
is altogether likely would be found to exist in their popular creeds.
This is easily understood, without any aspersion on his veracity. For,
as it will be allowed that he possessed greater compass of mind, and
was more in the habit of exercising thought than the people whose
opinions he described, so it may thence be readily inferred, that,
what to them was confused and unconnected, as is commonly the case
with the superstitions of the illiterate in all countries, his
philosophical genius, working on obvious and remote analogies, wrought
into order, and stamped with the semblance, at least, of theoretical
consistency. We had at one time purposed to offer a few remarks
on certain parts of his description, but, on second thoughts, it
occurred, that, on the whole, the subject had received a very ample
share of attention in the course of these voyages.--E.]