alliance, and sometimes at war with Taiti. Enoua-motou, and Toupai, are
two little uninhabited isles, abounding with fruits, hogs, fowls, fish,
and turtle; but the people believe, that they are the habitation of the
genii; they are their domains; and unhappy are the boats which chance or
curiosity has conducted to these sacred isles. Almost all those, who
endeavour to land there, must lose their lives in the attempt. These
isles ly at different distances from Taiti. The greatest distance, which
Aotourou mentioned to me, was fifteen days sail. It was, doubtless,
about the same distance that he supposed our country was at, when he
resolved to go with us.
[Sidenote: Inequality of ranks.]
I have mentioned above, that the inhabitants of Taiti seemed to live in
an enviable happiness. We took them to be almost equal in rank amongst
themselves; or at least enjoying a liberty, which was only subject to
the laws established for their common happiness. I was mistaken; the
distinction of ranks is very great at Taiti, and the disproportion very
tyrannical. The kings and grandees have power of life and death over
their servants and slaves, and I am inclined to believe, they have the
same barbarous prerogative with regard to the common people, whom they
call _Tata-einou_, vile men; so much is certain, that the victims for
human sacrifices are taken from this class of people. Flesh and fish are
reserved for the tables of the great; the commonalty live upon mere
fruits and pulse. Even the very manner of being lighted at night, shews
the difference in the ranks; for the kind of wood, which is burnt for
people of distinction, is not the same with that which the common people
are allowed to make use of. Their kings, alone, are allowed to plant
before their houses, the tree which we call the _Weeping-willow_, or
_Babylonian-willow_[106]. It is known, that by bending the branches of
this tree, and planting them in the ground, you can extend its shadow as
far as you will, and in what direction you please; at Taiti, their shade
affords the dining-hall of their kings.
The grandees have liveries for their servants. In proportion as the
master’s rank is more or less elevated, their servants wear their sashes
more or less high. This sash is fastened close under the arms, in the
servants of the chiefs, and only covers the loins in those belonging to
the lowest class of nobility. The ordinary hours of repast, are when the
sun passes the meridian, and when he is set. The men do not eat with the
women; the latter serving up the dishes, which the servants have
prepared.
[Sidenote: Custom of going into mourning.]
At Taiti they wear mourning regularly, and call it _ceva_. The whole
nation wear mourning for their kings. The mourning for the fathers is
very long. The women mourn for their husbands; but the latter do not do
the same for them. The marks of mourning, are a head-dress of feathers;
the colour of which is consecrated to death, and a veil over the face.
When the people in mourning go out of their houses, they are preceded by
several slaves, who beat the castanets in a certain cadence; their
doleful sound gives everybody notice to clear the way, whether out of
respect for the grief of the persons in mourning, or because meeting
them is feared as an unlucky and ominous accident. However at Taiti, as
in every other part of the world, the most respectable customs are
abused; Aotourou told me, that this practice of mourning was favourable
to the private meetings; doubtless, as I believe, of lovers with wives,
whose husbands are not very complaisant. The instrument, whose sound
disperses every body, and the veil which covers the face, secure to the
lovers both secrecy and impunity.
[Sidenote: Reciprocal assistance in their diseases.]
In all diseases, which are any way dangerous, all the near relations
assemble in the sick person’s house. They eat and sleep there as long as
the danger lasts; every one nurses him, and watches by him in his turn.
They have likewise the custom of letting blood; but this operation is
never performed at the foot or arm. A _Taoua_, i. e. a doctor, or
inferior priest, strikes with a sharp piece of wood on the cranium of
the patient; by this means he opens the _sagittal_ vein; and when a
sufficient quantity of blood is run out, he surrounds the head with a
bandage, which shuts up the opening; the next day he washes the wound
with water.
This is all that I have learnt concerning the customs of this
interesting country, both upon the spot, and from my conversations with
Aotourou. At the end of this work I shall add a Vocabulary of as many
Taiti words as I could collect. When we arrived at this island, we
observed that some of the words pronounced by the islanders stood in the
vocabulary at the end of Le Maire’s Voyage, under the name of Vocabulary
of Cocos island. Indeed those islands, according to Le Maire and
Schouten’s reckoning, cannot be far from Taiti, and perhaps may be some
of those which Aotourou named to me. The language of Taiti is soft,
harmonious, and easy to be pronounced; its words are composed of almost
mere vowels, without aspirates[107]. You meet with no nasal, nor no mute
and half sounded syllables, nor that quantity of consonants, and of
articulations which render some languages so difficult. Therefore our
Taiti-man could never learn to pronounce the French. The same reasons
for which our language is accused of not being very musical, rendered it
inaccessible to his organs. It would have been easier to make him
pronounce Spanish or Italian.
M. Pereire, celebrated for his art of teaching people, who are born deaf
and dumb, to speak and articulate words, has examined Aotourou several
times, and has found that he could not naturally pronounce most of our
consonants, nor any of our nasal vowels. M. Pereire has been so obliging
as to communicate to me a memoir on this subject. Upon the whole, the
language of this island is abundant enough; I think so, because
Aotourou, during the course of the voyage, pronounced every thing that
struck him in rhythmic stanzas. It was a kind of blank verse, which he
spoke extempore. These were his annals; and it seems as if his language
furnished him with expressions sufficient to describe a number of
objects unknown to him. We further heard him pronounce every day such
words as we were not yet acquainted with; and he likewise spoke a long
prayer, which he calls the prayer of the kings, and of all the words
that compose it, I do not understand ten.
I learnt from Aotourou, that about eight months before our arrival at
his island, an English ship had touched there. It is the same which was
commanded by Mr. Wallace. The same chance by which we have discovered
this isle, has likewise conducted the English thither, whilst we lay in
Rio de la Plata. They stayed there a month; and, excepting one attack of
the islanders, who had conceived hopes of taking the ship, every thing
has passed very friendly between them. From hence, doubtless, proceeds
the knowledge of iron, which we found among the natives of Taiti, and
the name of _aouri_, by which they call it, and which sounds pretty like
the English word _iron_. I am yet ignorant, whether the people of Taiti,
as they owe the first knowledge of iron to the English, may not likewise
be indebted to them for the venereal disease, which we found had been
naturalized amongst them, as will appear in the sequel.
-----
Footnote 99:
The cocoa-nuts, or the fruit of the _cocos nucifera_, Linn. is too
well known to want any description. The plantains, or fruit of the
_musa paradisiaca_, Linn. is likewise well known to all navigators, as
the produce of hot countries. The bread-fruit is a production of a
tree not yet described by Dr. Linnæus; Lord Anson found it upon the
isle of Tinian; Dampier and the great Ray take notice of this very
useful and curious tree. Yams are the roots of a plant known under the
name of _dioscorea alata_. The okra is the fruit of the _hibiscus
esculentus_, Linn. The curassol is one of the _annonas_ or
custard-apples. In general it must be observed that the botanical
knowledge of our author is very superficial, and though he enumerates
these fruits as the growth of the isle of Otahitee, it cannot be
ascertained with any degree of precision, whether our author is right
or wrong; and the new light in which, by the indefatigable industry of
our philosophers, the natural history of these countries will be
placed, makes us the more ardently wish for the publication of their
great discoveries. F.
Footnote 100:
This assertion of Mr. de B. proves him to be little acquainted with
mining; since our best writers on that subject give a gently sloping
ridge of mountains, with a fine turf, covered with groves of trees,
and well supplied with water, amongst many more, as the
characteristics of a place where it is probable to find minerals in:
See _Lehman’s Art des Mines Metalliques_, vol. i. p. 17. But the whole
isle of Otahitee seems to be produced by a Volcano, and the rocks on
it are chiefly lava, consequently there are very little hopes of
finding any regular veins with minerals on it, except some iron-stone,
which has been liberally scattered by the benevolent hand of nature
all over the various parts of the globe. F.
Footnote 101:
Supposed to be the marquis de Pau. F.
Footnote 102:
_Lune en état de Guerre._
Footnote 103:
The stone employed by the inhabitants of Otahitee for chissels and
other tools, and even for ornaments to be hung in the ears, is by all
appearances a kind of _lapis nephriticus_, which when transparent is
pale-green, very soft, and employed for the latter purpose; but when
opaque, it is of a deeper hue and harder. In South America the same
kind of stone is employed by the natives for ornaments; and is much
valued among the _Topayos_, or Tapuyas, a nation in the interior parts
of Brasil, living along the river of that name, which falls into the
river of Amazons. This stone is called _tapuravas_ by the Galibis, a
nation in Guiana; the Europeans settled in these parts of the world,
call it the _Amazon’s-stone_; the European jewellers think it to be
_jade_, a kind of precious stone of the same colour brought from the
east. It is said that stones of this kind are found near the river St.
Jago, forty miles from Quito, in the province of las Esmeraldas, in
Peru. They grow more and more scarce, being much coveted by the
nations of Guiana, the Tapuyas, and some other Indian nations, and
likewise frequently bought up by the Europeans. BARRERE _Nouvelle
Relation de la France equinoxiale_, Paris 1743, and CONDAMINE
_Relation abregée d’un Voyage fait en descendant la Riviere des
Amazones_, Paris 1746. F.
Footnote 104:
Though our author has strongly pleaded in this paragraph in behalf of
Aotourou, it cannot, however, be denied that he was one of the most
stupid fellows; which not only has been found by Englishmen who saw
him at Paris, during his stay there, and whose testimony would be
decisive with the public, were I at liberty to name them; but the very
countrymen of Aotourou were, without exception, all of the same
opinion, that he had very moderate parts, if any at all. F.
Footnote 105:
In the French theatre there is, in the door of each box, a small
window or hole, where people may peep through, which made it possible
to Aotourou to enjoy even in the galleries the sight of the dancers.
F.
Footnote 106:
_Arbre du Grand Seigneur._
Footnote 107:
The contrary, of the last mentioned circumstance, has been observed by
our English navigators; and it is therefore highly probable Mr. de B.
picked up his vocabulary of words from Aotourou, who had an impediment
in his speech. F.
-----
_CHAP. IV._
_Departure from Taiti; discovery of other islands; navigation to our
clearing the great Cyclades._
Our touching at Taiti has been productive of good, and of disagreeable
consequences; danger and alarms followed all our steps to the very last
moments of our stay; yet we considered this country as a friend, whom we
must love with all his faults. [Sidenote: 1768. April.] On the 16th of
April, at eight o’clock in the morning, we were about ten leagues N. E.
by N. of the north point of the island, and from hence I took my
departure. [Sidenote: Sight of Oumaitia.] At ten o’clock we perceived
land to leeward, seeming to form three isles, and we were still in sight
of Taiti. At noon we plainly saw, that what we had taken for three
isles, was no more than a single one, whose eminences had appeared as
separate isles at a distance. Beyond this new land, we thought we saw
another at a greater distance. This isle is of a middling height, and
covered with trees; it may be seen at sea, about eight or ten leagues
distant. Aotourou called it Oumaitia. He gave us to understand, in a
manner which admitted of no doubt, that it was inhabited by a nation
allied to his, that he had been there several times, that he had a
mistress there, and that we should meet with the same reception and
refreshments there as at Taiti.
[Sidenote: Direction of the course.]
We lost sight of Oumaitia this day, and I directed my course so as to
avoid the Pernicious Isles, which we were taught to shun, by the
disasters of admiral Roggewein. Two days afterwards, we had an
incontestable proof, that the inhabitants of the isles in the Pacific
Ocean communicate with each other, even at considerable distances. The
night was very fair, without a single cloud, and all the stars shone
very bright. Aotourou, after attentively observing them, pointed at the
bright star in Orion’s shoulder, saying, we should direct our course
upon it; and that in two days time we should find an abundant country,
which he well knew, and where he had friends: we even believed his
gestures meant that he had a child there. As I did not alter my course,
he repeated several times, that there were cocoa-nuts, plantains, fowls,
hogs, and above all, women, whom by many expressive gestures he
described as very complaisant. Being vexed that these reasons did not
make any impression upon me, he ran to get hold of the wheel of the
helm, the use of which he had already found out, and endeavoured in
spite of the helm’s-man to change it, and steer directly upon the star,
which he pointed at. We had much ado to quiet him and he was greatly
vexed at our refusal. The next morning by break of day, he climbed up to
the top of the mast, and stayed there all the morning, always looking
towards that part where the land lay, whither he intended to conduct us,
as if he had any hopes of getting sight of it. He had likewise told us
that night, without any hesitation, all the names which the bright stars
that we pointed at, bear in his language. We have since been assured
with certainty, that he knows the phases of the moon perfectly well, and
is well acquainted with different prognosticks, which often give notice
to navigators of the changes of weather that are to happen at sea some
time after. One of the opinions of these people, which Aotourou made
very intelligible to us is, that they positively believe that the sun
and moon are inhabited. What Fontenelle taught them the plurality of
worlds?
During the latter end of April we had very fine weather, but not much
wind, and the easterly winds kept more to the northward than southward.
On the night between the 26th and 27th, our pilot of the coast of France
died suddenly of an apoplexy. These pilots generally are called coasting
pilots[108], and all the king’s ships have a pilot of the coast of
France[109]. They differ from those of the crew who are called pilots,
and under-pilots, or pilot’s boys[110]. The world has a very inaccurate
idea of the functions which these pilots exercise on board our ships.
They are generally thought to be the persons who direct the course, and
who serve as a staff and support to the blind. I know not whether there
is still any nation where they leave the art of piloting, that essential
part of navigation, to those subaltern people. In our ships, the
business of the pilot is to take care that the helmsman exactly follows
the course, for which the captain alone gives the orders, to mark down
all the alterations of the course that happen, either in consequence of
the changes of winds, or of the orders of the commander, and likewise to
observe the signals; nor have they the care of all these particulars,
but under the direction of the officer of the watch. The superior
officers of the king’s navy certainly know more of geometry, even at
leaving school, than is necessary to have a perfect knowledge of all the
laws of pilotage. The class of pilots, properly so called, are moreover
charged with the care of the common and azimuth compasses, of the log
and sounding lines, of the lanthorns, the colours, &c. and it is plain,
that these particulars require nothing more than exactness. Nor was my
master-pilot above twenty years old, the second pilot was of the same
age, and the pilots boys[111] were making their first voyage.
[Sidenote: Astronomical observations.]
My reckoning compared, twice during this month, with M. Verron’s
astronomical observations, differed, the first time, and that was at
Taiti, only 13′ 10″, which I was more to the westward. The second time,
which was the 27th at noon, 1° 13′ 37″, which I was to the eastward of
the observation. [Sidenote: Second division of isles.] The different
isles discovered during this month, form the second division of isles in
this vast ocean; I named them Archipelago of Bourbon.
[Sidenote: May.]
The third of May, almost at day-break, we discovered more land to the
north west, about ten or twelve leagues off. The wind was north
easterly, and I gave orders to stand to windward of the north point of
the land, which was very high, intending to reconnoitre it. [Sidenote:
Sight of new islands.] The nautical knowledge of Aotourou did not extend
to these places, for his first idea when he saw this land, was, that it
was our country. During the day we had some squalls, followed by calms,
rain, and westerly breezes, such as are observed in this ocean at the
approach of the least land. Before sun-set we distinguished three isles,
one of which was much more considerable than the others. During the
night, which happened to be moon-light, we kept sight of the land; we
stood in for it the next day, and ranged the eastern shore of the
greater isle, from its south to its north point; that was its longest
side, being about three leagues long. The isle extends two leagues east
and west. Its shores are every where steep, and the whole isle is as it
were nothing more than a high mountain, covered with trees up to its
summit, without either vallies or plains. The sea broke very violently
upon the shore. We saw fires on the island, some huts covered with
reeds, and terminating in a point, built under the shadow of
cocoa-trees, and about thirty men running along the sea shore. The two
little isles bear W. N. W. corrected, and one league distant from the
great one, and have likewise the same situation among themselves. A
narrow arm of the sea separates them, and at the W. point of the
westermost isle, there is a small isle or key. Each of the above two is
not more than half a league long, and their shores are equally high and
steep.
[Sidenote: Exchanges made with the islanders.]
At noon I made sail to pass between the little isles and the great one,
when the sight of a periagua coming towards us, made me bring-to. She
approached within pistol shot of the ship, but none of her people would
come on board, notwithstanding all the signs of friendship which we
could possibly invent and give to five men who conducted her. They were
naked, excepting their natural parts, and shewed us cocoa-nuts and
roots. Our Taiti-man stripped naked as they were, and spoke his language
to them, but they did not understand him: they are no more of the same
nation here. Being tired to see that they did not venture to come
nearer, notwithstanding the desire they expressed of having several
trifles which were displayed to them, I hoisted out the pinnace. As soon
as they saw her, they made all the haste they could to get off, and I
would not pursue them. Soon after we saw several other periaguas arrive,
some of them under sail. They seemed less mistrustful than the former
one, and came near enough to make exchanges, though none of them would
come on board. We got from them yams, cocoa-nuts, a water hen of a
superb plumage, and some pieces of a very fine shell. One of them had a
cock which he would never exchange. They likewise brought stuffs of the
same make as those of Taiti, but much coarser, and died with ugly red,
brown, and black colours; bad fish hooks, made of the bones of fish,
some mats, and some lances, six feet long, made of a kind of wood which
was hardened in the fire. They did not choose to have any iron: they
preferred little bits of red stuffs to nails, knives, and ear-rings,
which had had so great a success at Taiti. I do not believe that these
men are so gentle as those of Taiti; their features were more savage,
and we were always obliged to be upon our guard against their cunning
tricks to cheat us by their barter.
[Sidenote: Description of these islanders.]
These islanders appeared to be of a middle size, but active and nimble.
They paint their breast and their thighs, almost down to the knee, of a
dark blue; their colour is bronzed; but we observed one man among them
who was much whiter than the rest. They shave or tear out their beards,
and only one of them wore a pretty long one. They all had black hair,
which stood upright on the head. [Sidenote: Description of their
periaguas.] Their periaguas are made with a good deal of skill, and have
an out-rigger. Neither the head nor the stern is raised, but there is a
kind of deck over each of them, and in the middle of these decks is a
row of wooden pegs, ending in form of large nails, but their heads are
covered with a fine shell, which is of a clear white. The sail of their
periaguas is of a triangular shape, composed of several mats. Two of its
sides are bent to two sticks, one of which supported it up along the
mast; and the other, which is fixed in the outer clew, answers the
purpose of a boom. These periaguas followed us pretty far out to sea,
when we filled the sails; some came likewise from the two little isles,
and in one of them was an ugly old woman. Aotourou expressed the
greatest contempt for these islanders.
We met with some calms, being to leeward of the larger island, which
made me give up the scheme of passing between it and the little ones.
The channel between them is a league and a half in breadth, and it seems
as if there was some anchorage to be found. At six in the evening we
discovered from the masts more land to W. S. W. appearing as three
detached hummocks. We steered S. W. and two hours after mid-night we saw
the same land again, in W. 2° S. The first islands which by the help of
the moon-shine we still could perceive, then bore N. E. of us.
[Sidenote: Continuation of islands.]
On the 5th in the morning we saw that this new land was a very fine
isle, of which we had only seen the summits the day before. It was
interspersed with mountains and vast plains, covered with cocoa-nut and
many other trees. We ranged its southern coast, at one or two leagues
distance, without seeing any appearances of anchorage, the sea breaking
upon the shore very violently. There are even breakers to the westward
of its westermost point, which runs about two leagues into the sea. We
have from several bearings got the exact position of this coast. A great
number of periaguas sailing, and similar to those of the last isles,
came around the ships, without however venturing to come close to us; a
single one came alongside of the Etoile. The Indians seemed to invite us
by signs to come on shore: but the breakers prevented it. Though we ran
seven or eight knots at this time, yet the periaguas sailed round us
with the same ease as if we had been at anchor. Several of them were
seen from the masts sailing to the southward.
At six o’clock in the morning we had got sight of another land to
westward; some clouds then intercepted it from our sight, and it
appeared again at ten. Its shore ran S. W. and appeared to be at least
as high, and of as great extent as the former ones, with which it lies
nearly E. and W. about twelve leagues asunder. A thick fog which rose in
the afternoon, and continued all the next night and ensuing day,
prevented our viewing it more particularly. We only distinguished at its
N. E. extremity two little isles, of unequal sizes.