luxuriant prospect than the southeast part of Otaheite [Tahiti.] 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 outdo 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.
Tahiti is the same to-day as when Captain Cook visited it for the first
time. The only decided changes which have taken place since are the
building up of the capital city Papeete, and the construction of the
ninety-mile drive. The beauty of the island has been maintained because
the natives have preserved the magnificent primeval forests. Strip
Tahiti of its forests and it will be made a desert in a few years.
Nature relies on the forests to attract the clouds which bring the
moisture, and assist in the formation and preservation of the soil.
Remove the trees, and drouth and floods will destroy vegetation, and the
latter will wash the existing soil into the hungry abyss of the ocean.
Fertile and beautiful as Captain Cook found Tahiti, he deprecated the
idea of settling it with whites.
Our occasional visits may, in some respects, have benefited its
inhabitants; but a permanent establishment amongst them, conducted as
most European establishments amongst Indian nations have unfortunately
been, would, I fear, give them just cause to lament that our ships had
ever found them out. Indeed, it is very unlikely that any measure of
this kind should ever be seriously thought of, as it can neither serve
the purposes of public ambition, nor of private avarice; and, without
such inducements, I may pronounce, that it will never be undertaken.
The island has been invaded and taken by the whites and the results to
the natives have been in many respects disastrous, which goes to prove
the correctness of Captain Cook's prophecy.
THE CLIMATE
The climate of Tahiti, although tropical, is favorably influenced by the
trade-winds and frequent showers. The breezes from ocean and land keep
the heated atmosphere in motion, and the frequent rains throughout the
year have a direct effect in lowering the temperature. The entire island
from the shore to the highest mountain-peaks, is covered by forests and
a vigorous vegetation. These retain the moisture and attract the
pregnant clouds, securing, throughout the year, a sufficient rainfall to
feed the many mountain streams and water the rich soil of the
mountain-sides, valleys, ravines and lowlands along the coast. The
temperature seldom exceeds 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and during the coldest
months, March and April, it occasionally falls as low as 65 degrees
Fahrenheit. The atmosphere is charged with humidity, and when this
condition reaches the maximum degree, the heat is oppressive, more
especially when there is no land or ocean breeze. If a hotel could be
built at an elevation of three to four thousand feet above the level of
the sea, the guests would find a climate which could not be surpassed in
any other part of the world. A prolonged residence in Papeete or any
other part of the island near the sea-level is debilitating for the
whites. Those of the white inhabitants who can afford it, leave the
island every three or five years and seek recuperation and a renewal of
energy in a cooler climate, usually in California or Europe. Papeete,
partially enclosed by mountains, and only a few feet above the level of
the sea, and on the leeward side of the island, is said to be one of the
warmest places in the island. The village of Papara gets the full
benefit of the trade-winds and the land-breeze, and is one of the
coolest spots in Tahiti. Tahiti's summer-time is our winter. I was
fortunate in visiting the island during the latter part of January. It
is the time when Nature makes a special effort here to produce the
luxuriant vegetation after the drenching rains of December. It is the
time when the evergreen trees cast off, here and there, a faded leaf, to
be replaced by a new one from the vigorous unfolding buds. It is the
season of flowers and the greatest variety of fruits. It may interest
the reader to know that one day seven different kinds of fruits were
served at the breakfast-table, a luxury out of reach of our millionaires
at their homes in the North at that time of the year. For a winter
vacation, the months of January and February offer the greatest
inducements. Those who are in need of an ideal mental rest, and are fond
of a long ocean voyage, and enjoy tropic scenery and the marvelous
products of the fertile soil of the tropics, should not fail to visit
Tahiti, the little paradise in the midst of the vast expanse of the
Pacific Ocean.
HISTORY OF THE ISLAND
History is the witness of the times, the torch of truth, the life of
memory, the teacher of life, the messenger of antiquity.
CICERO.
It was my privilege during my brief stay in Tahiti to meet Tati Salmon,
chief of the Papara district. He is a direct descendant of one of the
two noble families of the island, the Tevas, and one of the most
prominent and influential citizens of the island. I asked him to what
race the Tahitians belonged. To this question he had a ready reply. He
said: "We belong to no race; man was created here; this is the lost
Garden of Eden." There is much force, if not truth, in this assertion
when we take into consideration the charming beauty of the island and
the bounteous provisions which Nature has made here for the existence of
man. Then, too, the Tahitian is a good specimen of manhood,
intellectually and physically, far superior to the Negro race and the
Mongolian. Ariitaimai (Arii Taimai E), the mother of the chief just
referred to and the authoress of the book mentioned in the preface,
believes that the Tahitians belong to the great Aryan race, the race of
Arii, and that their chiefs were Arii, not kings, and the head chiefs,
Ariirahi—Great Chiefs. It was only the latter who were entitled to wear
the girdle of red feathers, as much the symbol of their preeminence as
the crown and sceptre of European royalty. The Tahitians are
Polynesians, like the inhabitants of most of the South Seas and of
Hawaii, and there can be but little doubt that the Polynesians belong to
the Malay race, having migrated from island to island, from west to
east, by way of Java, Samoa and the Hawaiian Islands. As these voyages
had to be made by means of frail canoes, we can readily conceive the
hardships endured by the bold navigators of centuries ago. A story
current in Tahiti relates that it was thus that the great chief Olopaua
of Hawaii, driven from home by disastrous floods, bore his wife Lu'ukia
in the twelfth century, to find a new dwelling place in Tahiti,
twenty-three hundred miles away. It is said that the chiefess was a
poetess, a dancer famed for grace, and the inventor of a style of dress
which is still made by the Hawaiians. Many of the primitive peoples
trace their origin to a legend which is handed down from generation to
generation.
In all ages of the world there is nothing with which mankind hath been
so much delighted as with those little fictitious stories which go
under the name of fables or apologues among the ancient heathens, and
of parables in the sacred writings.
BISHOP PORTEUS.
The Tevas of Tahiti have their legend and it is related by Ariitaimai,
as it has been told for many generations. They take pride in the story
that they are the direct descendants from the Shark God. The legend
tells how many centuries ago a chief of Punaauia, by the name of Te
manutu-ruu, married a chiefess of Vaiari, named Hototu, and had a son,
Terii te moanarau. At the birth of the child, the father set out in his
canoe for the Paumotu Islands to obtain red feathers (Ura) to make the
royal belt for the young prince. The legend begins by assuming that
Vaiari was the oldest family, with its Maraes, and that Punaauia was
later in seniority and rank. While Te manutu-ruu was absent on his long
voyage to the Paumotus, a visitor appeared at Vaiari, and was
entertained by the chiefess. This visitor was the first ancestor of the
Tevas. He was only half human, the other half fish, or Shark God; and he
swam from the ocean, through the reef, into the Vaihiria River, where he
came ashore, and introduced himself as Vari mataauhoe, and, after having
partaken of the hospitalities of the chiefess, took up his residence
with her. But after their intimacy had lasted some time, one day, when
they were together, Hototu's dog came into the house and showed his
affection for his mistress by licking her face, or, as we should say
now, kissed her, although in those days this mark of affection was
unknown, as the Polynesians instead only touched noses as an
affectionate greeting. At this the man-shark was so displeased that he
abandoned the chiefess. He walked into the river, turned fish again and
swam out to sea. On his way he met the canoe of the Chief Te manutu-ruu
returning from the Paumotus, and stopped to speak to him. The chief
invited Vari mataauhoe to return with him, but the man-shark declined,
giving as his reason that the chiefess was too fond of dogs.
The legend proves that the natives regarded Vaiari as the source of
their aristocracy. Papara makes the same claim, for when Vari mataauhoe
left Hototu he said to her: "You will bear me a child; if a girl, she
will belong to you and take your name; but if a boy, you are to call him
Teva; rain and wind will accompany his birth, and to whatever spot he
goes, rain and wind will always foretell his coming. He is of the race
of Ariirahi, and you are to build him a Marae which you are to call
Matava (the two eyes of Tahiti), and there he is to wear the Marotea,
and he must be known as the child of Ahurei (the wind that blows from
Taiarapu)." A boy was born, and, as foretold, in rain and wind. The name
of Teva was given to him; and Matoa was built; and there Teva ruled.
From this boy came the name Teva; but when and how it was applied to the
clan no one knows. The members of the tribe or clan believe it must have
been given by the Arii of Papara or Vaiari. To this day, the Tevas
seldom travel without rain and wind, so that they use the word Teva
rarivari—Teva wet always and everywhere. The Vaiari people still point
out the place where the first ancestor of the clan lived as a child, his
first bathing place, and the different waters in which he fished as he
came on his way toward Papara. This legend is to-day as fresh in the
district of Papara as it was centuries ago. It is but natural that the
Tevas, one of the two most influential and powerful of the tribes of
Tahiti, should be anxious to trace their ancestry to a royal origin even
if the first ancestor should be a man-shark, little remembering that
It is not wealth nor ancestry, but honorable conduct and a noble
disposition that make men great.
OVIDIUS.
As the Tahitians had no written language before the missionaries visited
the island, little is known of its earlier history. The history of the
island since its discovery has been accurately written up by Ariitaimai,
an eye-witness of many of the most stirring events and on that account
most to be relied upon, for
The only good histories are those that have been written by the
persons themselves who commanded in the affairs whereof they write.
MONTAIGNE.
Let us follow her account of the history of the island since its
discovery by Captain Samuel Wallis, June 18, 1767. The captain made a
voyage around the world in Her Majesty's ship _Dolphin_, and on his way
found the island, and called it Otaheite. At that time, Amo was head
chief of Papara and of the Tevas, or rather his son Teriirere, born
about 1762, was head chief, and Amo exercised power as his guardian,
according to native custom, which made the eldest child immediately on
birth, the head of the family. At that time the power of calling the
Tevas to conference or war was peculiar to the Papara head chief; the
military strength of the Tevas was unconquerable, if it could be united;
but perhaps the most decisive part of every head chief's influence was
his family connection. Nowhere in the world was marriage a matter of
more political and social consequence than in Tahiti. Women occupied an
important position in society and political affairs. The chiefesses held
the reins of government with as much firmness as the chiefs, and
commanded the same influence and respect. She was as independent of her
husband as of any other chief; she had her seat or throne, in the Marae
even to the exclusion of her husband; and if she were ambitious she
might win or lose crowns for her children as happened with Captain
Wallis' friend Oberea, the great-aunt of Ariitaimai Purea, and with her
niece, Tetuauni reiaiteatea, the mother of the first King Pomare. At the
time of Wallis' and Cook's visits, Papara was the principal city in
Tahiti, and Papeete, the present capital city of the French possessions
in Oceanica, a mere village. The Papara head chief was never the head
chief of the whole island, but his power and influence were predominant
throughout the whole island. The kingship which Europeans insisted on
conferring on him, or on any other head chief who happened for the time
to rival him, was never accepted by the natives until forced upon them
by foreign influence and arms. From this it will be seen that before
European influence made itself felt, the Tahitians were divided into
tribes ruled by so many chiefs, with a head chief whose influence
extended over the entire island. The form of native government was very
simple and had many very commendable features. Wars between the tribes
and between Tahiti and the neighboring island, Moorea, were, however, of
frequent occurrence.
All exact knowledge concerning dates in the history of the island begins
with June 24, 1767, when Wallis warped his ship into the bay of Matavai,
the most northerly point of the island. The appearance of the
foreigners, the first time the natives had ever seen a white man and
such a great ship, created consternation. Excitement ran high on the
landing of the crew. The natives attacked them, but their rude
implements of warfare could not cope with firearms, and they were
defeated. Two days later, June 26th, the battle was renewed and again
terminated in the defeat of the natives, promptly followed by sudden
friendship for their first European visitors. The natives, extremely
superstitious, were at first suspicious, and it required some time to
establish free relations between them and the commander and crew of the
_Dolphin_. Strangely enough, the first native to board the ship was a
woman. The incident is related by Wallis himself:
On Saturday, the 11th, in the afternoon, the gunner came on board with
a tall woman, who seemed to be about five and forty years of age, of a
pleasing countenance and majestic deportment. He told me that she was
but just come into that part of the country, and that seeing great
respect paid her by the rest of the natives, he had made her some
presents; in return for which she had invited him to her home, which
was about two miles up the valley, and given him some large hogs;
after which she returned with him to the watering-place and expressed
a desire to go on board the ship, in which wish he had thought it
proper, on all accounts, that she should be gratified. She seemed to
be under no restraint, either from diffidence or fear, when she came
into the ship, and she behaved all the while she was on board with an
easy freedom that always distinguishes conscious superiority and
habitual command. I gave her a large blue mantle that reached from her
shoulders to her feet, which I drew over her, and tied on with
ribbons; I gave her also a looking-glass, beads of several sorts, and
many other things, which she accepted with good grace and much
pleasure. She took notice that I had been ill, and pointed to the
shore. I understood that she meant I should go thither to perfect my
recovery, and I made signs that I would go thither the next morning.
When she intimated an inclination to return, I ordered the gunner to
go with her, who, having set her on shore, attended her to her
habitation, which he described as being very large and well built. He
said that in this house she had many guards and domestics, and that
she had another at a little distance which was enclosed in lattice
work.
This visit opened the island to the Englishmen. Wallis repeatedly refers
to his first visitor as "my princess, or rather queen." When he came on
shore the next day he was met by the princess, who ordered that he and
the first lieutenant and purser, who were also ill, should be carried by
the people to her home, where they were treated in a most hospitable
manner. Here is a beautiful instance of natural hospitality, charity and
gratitude combined; a kindly deed dictated by unselfish motives, an
exhibition of virtues so rarely met with in the common walks of life.
Hospitality to the better sort and charity to the poor; two virtues
that are never exercised so well as when they accompany each other.
ATTERBURY.
The princess had full control over the curious, motley crowd, which gave
way to the strangers by a sign of her hand. The house proved to be the
Fare-hau, or Council-house, of Haapape, and the princess, as Wallis
called her, who did not belong to Haapape, but to quite another part of
the island, was herself a guest whose presence there was due to her
relationship with the chief.
Wallis left the Island July 27th. His "queen" and her attendants came on
board and bade him and his crew a most affectionate farewell. Neither
Wallis, nor Bougainville, who visited Tahiti in April, 1768, eight
months later, ever learned what her true rank was, or from what part of
the island she came. According to Ariitaimai, she was her
great-great-grandaunt Purea, or rather, the wife of her
great-great-granduncle.
Bougainville named the island New Cytherea, and Commerson, the
naturalist, charmed by its beauty and astonished at its resources,
called it Utopia. The latter gave the following romantic description of
the island and its people in a letter published in the _Mercure de
France_:
Je puis vous dire que c'est le seul coin de la terre ou habitent des
hommes sans vices, sans préjugés, sans besoins, sans dissensions. Nés
sous le plus beau ciel, nourris des fruits d'une terre féconde sans
culture, régis par des pères de famille plutôt que par des rois, ils
ne connaissent d'autre dieu que l'Amour. Tous les jours lai sont
consacrés, toute l'isle son temple, toutes les femmes—me
demandez-vous? Les rivales des Geôrgiennes en beauté et les sœurs des
grâces toutes unes.
Such was the simple, innocent, happy island life when Tahiti was
discovered by the white man, whose pretended object was to bring to the
natives the benefits of modern civilization. As to the immediate effects
of European civilization on the morals of the natives, Ariitaimai has
the following to say in reply to the alleged laxity of Tahitian morals:
No one knows how much of the laxity of morals was due to the French
and English themselves, whose appearance certainly caused a sudden and
shocking overthrow of such moral rules as had existed before in the
island society: and the "supposed" means that when the island society
as a whole is taken into account. Marriage was real as far as it went,
and the standard rather higher than that of Paris; in some ways
extremely lax, and in others strict and stern to a degree that would
have astonished even the most conventional English nobleman, had he
understood it
The third European to visit Tahiti was that intrepid explorer, Captain
Cook, who entered Matavai Bay on the 13th of April, 1769, in Her
Majesty's bark, the _Endeavor_, on his first voyage around the world. He
met chief Tootahah, under whose protection he settled on Point Venus. He
was accompanied by a staff of scientists, among them Joseph Banks and
Dr. Solander, a Swedish naturalist. Captain Wallis' "queen" was again on
the shore to meet the strangers. Captain Cook gives a detailed account
of her visit:
She first went to Mr. Banks' tent at the fort, where she was not
known, till the master, who knew her, happening to go ashore, brought
her on board with two men and several women, who seemed to be all of
her family. I made them all some presents or other, but to Obariea
(for that was the woman's name) I gave several things, in return for
which, as soon as I went on shore with her, she gave me a hog and
several bunches of plantains. These she caused to be carried from her
canoes up to the fort in a kind of procession, she and I bringing up
the rear. This woman is about forty years of age, and, like most of
the other women, very masculine. She is head or chief of her own
family or tribe, but to all appearance hath no authority over the rest
of the inhabitants, whatever she might have when the _Dolphin_ was here.
Cook ascertained at this time, that Obariea was the wife of the most
influential chief of the island, Oamo, but did not live with him. She
had two children, a daughter eighteen years old, and a boy of seven, the
heir to the throne. He says in his Journal:
The young boy above mentioned is son to Oamo and Obariea, but Oamo and
Obariea do not at this time live together as man and wife, he not
being able to endure with her troublesome disposition. I mention this
because it shows that separation in the marriage state is not unknown
to these people.
When Cook made his second visit to the island, in 1774, he learned that
Oamo and Obariea, or, as they are called in the genealogy of the Tevas,
Amo and Purea, had been driven from Papara into the mountains. Vehiatu,
the victor, made Amo resign, and the regency of that part of the island
was entrusted to Tootuhah, the youngest brother of the deposed chief.
POMARE, THE ROYAL FAMILY OF TAHITI