A GENERAL HISTORY AND COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS.
ARRANGED IN SYSTEMATIC ORDER: FORMING A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN
AND PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION, DISCOVERY, AND COMMERCE, BY SEA AND LAND,
FROM THE EARLIEST AGES TO THE PRESENT TIME.
BY ROBERT KERR; F.R.S. & F.A.S. EDIN.
ILLUSTRATED BY MAPS AND CHARTS.
VOL. XIII.
WILLIAM BLACKWOOD, EDINBURGH: AND T. CADELL, LONDON. MDCCCXXIV.
CONTENTS OF VOL. XIII.
* * * * *
PART III.--BOOK I.
CHAP. IV.
SECT. XVII.
A particular Description of the Island of Otaheite; its Produce and
Inhabitants; their Dress, Habitation, Food, Domestic Life and
Amusements.
SECT. XVIII.
Of the Manufactures, Boats, and Navigation of Otaheite.
XIX.
Of the Division of Time at Otaheite; Numeration, Computation of
Distance, Language, Diseases, Disposal of the Dead, Religion, War,
Weapons, and Government; with some general Observations for the Use of
future Navigators.
XX.
Description of the several Islands in the Neighbourhood of Otaheite,
with various Incidents; a Dramatic Entertainment; and many Particulars
relative to the Customs and Manners of the Inhabitants.
XXI.
The Passage from Oteroah to New Zealand; Incidents which happened in
going ashore there, and while the Ship lay in Poverty Bay.
SECT. XXII.
A Description of Poverty Bay, and the Face of the adjacent Country. The
Range from thence to Cape Turnagain, and back to Tolaga, with some
Account of the People and the Country and several Incidents that
happened on that Part of the Coast.
XIII.
The Range from Tolaga to Mercury Bay, with an Account of many Incidents
that happened both on board and ashore: A Description of several Views
exhibited by the Country, and of the Hippahs, or fortified Villages of
the Inhabitants.
XXIV.
The Range from Mercury Bay to the Bay of Islands: An Expedition up the
River Thames: Some Account of the Indians who inhabit its Banks, and the
fine Timber that grows there: Several Interviews with the Natives on
different Parts of the Coast, and a Skirmish with them upon an Island.
XXV.
Range from the Bay of Islands round North Cape to Queen Charlotte's
Island; and a Description of that Part of the Coast.
XXVI.
Transactions in Queen Charlotte's Sound; Passage through the Streight
which divides the two Islands, and back to Cape Turnagain: Horrid Custom
of the Inhabitants: Remarkable Melody of Birds: A Visit to a Hippah, and
many other Particulars.
XXVII.
Range from Cape Turnagain along the eastern Coast of Poenammoo, round
Cape South, and back to the Entrance of Cook's Streight, which completed
the Circumnavigation of the Country; with a Description of the Coast,
and of Admiralty Bay: The Departure from New Zealand, and various
Particulars.
XXVIII.
The Run from New Zealand to Botany Bay, on the East Coast of New
Holland, now called New South Wales; various Incidents that happened
there; with some Account of the Country end its Inhabitants.
SECT. XXIX.
The Range from Botany Bay; with a farther Account of the Country, and
its Inhabitants and Productions.
XXX.
Dangerous Situation of the Ship in her Course from Trinity Bay to
Endeavour River.
XXXI.
Transactions while the Ship was refitting in Endeavour River: A
Description of the adjacent Country, its Inhabitants and Productions.
XXXII.
Departure from Endeavour River; a particular Description of the Harbour
there, in which the Ship was refitted, the adjacent Country, and several
Islands near the Coast; the Range from Endeavour River to the Northern
Extremity of the Country, and the Dangers of that Navigation.
XXXIII.
Departure from New South Wales; a particular Description of the Country,
its Products, and People: A Specimen of the Language, and some
Observations on the Currents and Tides.
XXXIV.
The Passage from New South Wales to New Guinea, with an Account of what
happened upon landing there.
XXXV.
The Passage from New Guinea to the Island of Semau, and the Transactions
there.
XXXVI.
A particular Description of the Island of Savu, its Produce, and
Inhabitants, with a Specimen of their Language.
XXXVII.
The Run from the Island of Savu to Batavia, and an Account of the
Transactions there while the Ship was refitting.
XXVIII.
Some Account of Batavia, and the adjacent Country; with the Fruits,
flowers, and other Productions.
XXXIX.
Some Account of the Inhabitants of Batavia, and the adjacent Country,
their Manners, Customs, and Manner of Life.
XL.
The Passage from Batavia to the Cape of Good Hope, Some Account of
Prince's Island and its Inhabitants. Our Arrival at the Cape of Good
Hope. Some Remarks on the Run from Java Head to that Place, and to Saint
Helena. The Return of the Ship to England.
APPENDIX
An Abstract of the Voyage round the World, performed by Lewis de
Bougainville, Colonel of Foot, and Commander of the Expedition, in the
Frigate La Boudeuse, and the Storeship L'Etoile, in the Years 1766-7-8,
and 9, drawn up expressly for this Work.
A GENERAL HISTORY AND COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS.
* * * * *
PART III--BOOK I.
* * * * *
CHAP, IV.
SECTION XVII.
_A particular Description of the Island of Otaheite; its Produce and
Inhabitants; their Dress, Habitations, Food, Domestic Life and
Amusements._
We found the longitude of Port Royal bay, in this island, as settled by
Captain Wallis, who discovered it on the 9th of June, 1767, to be within
half a degree of the truth. We found Point Venus, the northern extremity
of the island, and the eastern point of the bay, to lie in the longitude
of 149°13', this being the mean result of a great number of observations
made upon the spot. The island is surrounded by a reef of coral rock,
which forms several excellent bays and harbours, some of which have been
particularly described, where there is room and depth of water far any
number of the largest ships. Port Royal bay, called by the natives
Matavai which is not inferior to any in Otaheite, may easily be known,
by a very high mountain in the middle of the island, which bears due
south from Point Venus. To sail into it; either keep the west point of
the reef that lies before Point Venus, close on board, or give it a
birth of near half a mile, in order to avoid a small shoal of coral
rocks, on which there is but two fathoms and a half of water. The best
anchoring is on the eastern side of the bay, where there is sixteen and
fourteen fathom upon an oosy bottom. The shore of the bay is a fine
sandy beach, behind which runs a river of fresh water, so that any
number of ships may water here without incommoding each other; but the
only wood for firing, upon the whole island, is that of fruit-trees,
which must be purchased of the natives, or all hope of living upon good
terms with them given up.
The face of the country, except that part of it which borders upon the
sea, is very uneven; it rises in ridges that run up into the middle of
the island, and there form mountains, which may be seen at the distance
of sixty miles: Between the foot of these ridges and the sea, is a
border of low land, surrounding the whole island, except in a few places
where the ridges rise directly from the sea: The border of low land is
in different parts of different breadths, but no where more than a mile
and a half. The soil, except upon the very tops of the ridges, is
extremely rich and fertile, watered by a great number of rivulets of
excellent water, and covered with fruit-trees of various kinds, some of
which are of a stately growth and thick foliage, so as to form, one
continued wood; and even the tops of the ridges, though in general they
are bare, and burnt up by the sun, are, in some parts, not without their
produce.
The low land that lies between the foot of the ridges and the sea, and
some of the vallies, are the only parts of the island that are
inhabited, and here it is populous; the houses do not form villages or
towns, but are ranged along the whole border at the distance of about
fifty yards from each other, with little plantations of plantains, the
tree which furnishes them with cloth. The whole island, according to
Tupia's account, who certainly knew, could furnish six thousand seven
hundred and eighty fighting men, from which the number of inhabitants
may easily, be computed.[1]
[Footnote 1: It is questionable if the whole existing population of the
island amount to the number now mentioned. Such has been the decrease of
its interesting but licentious inhabitants since the time of Cook, to
which, it is melancholy to be obliged to say, their intercourse with
Europeans has most rapidly contributed. The reader is referred, for some
information on this point, to the account of Turnbull's voyage,
published in 1805. A few particulars as to the appearance of Otaheite,
on the authority of subsequent accounts, may be given with satisfaction
to the reader. The island, which consists of two peninsulas connected by
a low neck or isthmus covered with trees and shrubs but quite
uninhabited, presents a mountainous aspect, rising high in the centre,
with narrow valleys of romantic but luxuriantly pleasing scenery, and
well watered, studding its verdant surface. The lofty and clustering
hills of which the greater part of the island is formed, and which,
however steep of ascent, or abrupt in termination, are clothed to the
very summit with trees of very various colours and sizes, are encircled
with a rich border of low land, the proper seat of the inhabitants, who
seem to realize, in its fertility and beauty, all that human imagination
can conceive requisite for animal enjoyment. The soil of this border,
and of the valleys, is a blackish mould; that of the hills is different,
changing as you ascend them into variously coloured earth and marl. The
beds of the streams and rivers, which swell into torrents during the
rainy season, consist of stones and gravel, often of a flinty nature,
and often also containing particles of iron. Some basaltic appearances
in one of the districts into which the island is divided, and several
precipices among the mountains, evidently produced by sudden violence,
indicate the volcanic origin of this highly favoured country. There is
plenty of good water to be had over all the island. The weather from
March till August is usually mild and pleasant. During the rough season,
which lasts from December till March, the wind often blows very hard
from the west, and is attended with rain.--E.]
The produce of this island is bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, bananas of
thirteen sorts, the best we had ever eaten; plantains; a fruit not
unlike an apple, which, when ripe, is very pleasant; sweet potatoes,
yams, cocoas, a kind of _Arum_ fruit known here by the name of
_Jambu_, and reckoned most delicious; sugar-cane, which the inhabitants
eat raw; a root of the salop kind, called by the inhabitants _Pea_; a
plant called _Ethee_, of which the root only is eaten; a fruit that
grows in a pod, like that of a large kidney-bean, which, when it is
roasted, eats very much like a chesnut, by the natives called _Ahee_; a
tree called _Wharra_, called in the East Indies _Pandanes_, which
produces fruit, something like the pine-apple; a shrub called _Nono_;
the _Morinda_, which also produces fruit; a species of fern, of which
the root is eaten, and sometimes the leaves; and a plant called _Theve_,
of which the root also is eaten: But the fruits of the _Nono_, the fern,
and the _Theve_, are eaten only by the inferior people, and in times of
scarcity. All these, which serve the inhabitants for food, the earth
produces spontaneously, or with so little culture, that they seem to be
exempted from the first general curse, that "man should eat his bread in
the sweat of his brow." They have also the Chinese paper mulberry,
_morus papyrifera_, which they call _Aouto_; a tree resembling the wild
fig-tree of the West Indies; another species of fig, which they call
_Mattè_; the _cordia sebestina orientalis_, which they call _Etou_; a
kind of Cyprus grass, which they call _Moo_; a species of
_tournefortia_, which they call _Taheinoo_; another of the _convolvulus
poluce_, which they call _Eurhe_; the _solanum centifolium_, which they
call _Ebooa_; the _calophyllum mophylum_, which they call _Tamannu_; the
_hibiscus tiliaceus_, called _Poerou_, a frutescent nettle; the _urtica
argentea_, called _Erowa_; with many other plants which cannot here be
particularly mentioned: Those that have been named already will be
referred to in the subsequent part of this work.
They have no European fruit, garden stuff, pulse, or legumes, nor grain
of any kind.
Of tame animals they have only hogs, dogs, and poultry; neither is there
a wild animal in the island, except ducks, pigeons, paroquets, with a
few other birds, and rats, there being no other quadruped, nor any
serpent. But the sea supplies them with great variety of most excellent
fish, to eat which is their chief luxury, and to catch it their
principal labour.[2]
[Footnote 2: It was no doubt a work of supererogation in the
missionaries, to attempt to augment the stock of animal provision in
this island, to which nature had been so bountiful in dispensing her
favours. This however they did, but with little success. The natives
were too amply furnished with pleasant and wholesome aliment, to
undertake the care of cattle, which accordingly either perished from
neglect, or were suffered to turn wild in their mountains. The
imperfection too of their cookery operations not a little tended to
bring beef and mutton into contempt. Instead of dressing them in some of
the European methods, they treated them, as they did their dogs and
hogs, by the process of burning. The consequence was, the skin became as
tough as leather, and the taste very offensive. These were formidable
difficulties, to people of such nice sense as the Otaheitans, who were
therefore readily induced to revert to their own stock. See account of
the missionary voyage, for a good deal of information on the subjects
alluded to in this note.--E.]
As to the people, they are of the largest size of Europeans. The men are
tall, strong, well-limbed, and finely shaped. The tallest that we saw
was a man upon a neighbouring island, called _Huaheine_, who measured
six feet three inches and a half. The women of the superior rank are
also in general above our middle stature, but those of the inferior
class are rather below it, and some of them are very small. This defect
in size probably proceeds from their early commerce with men, the only
thing in which they differ from their superiors, that could possibly
affect their growth.
Their natural complexion is that kind of clear olive, or _brunette_,
which many people in Europe prefer to the finest white and red. In those
that are exposed to the wind and sun, it is considerably deepened, but
in others that live under shelter, especially the superior class of
women, it continues of its native hue, and the skin is most delicately
smooth and soft; they have no tint in their cheeks, which we distinguish
by the name of colour. The shape of the face is comely, the cheek-bones
are not high, neither are the eyes hollow, nor the brow prominent; The
only feature that does not correspond with our ideas of beauty is the
nose, which, in general, is somewhat flat; but their eyes, especially
those of the women, are full of expression, sometimes sparkling with
fire, and sometimes melting with softness; their teeth also are, almost
without exception, most beautifully even and white, and their breath
perfectly without taint.[3]
[Footnote 3: The missionary account speaks less favourably of the
comeliness of these islanders. But this being a matter of taste, will of
course be very variously considered. The reader may amuse himself by
comparing the following quotation with the text, and forming his own
opinion. He will at all events readily admit, that nature has done more
for these people than art, and that the predominance of fashion is
amongst them, as it is sometimes elsewhere, accomplished at the expence
of beauty. "The natural colour of the inhabitants is olive, inclining to
copper. Some are very dark, as the fishermen, who are most exposed to
the sun and sea; but the women, who carefully clothe themselves, and
avoid the sun-beams, are but a shade or two darker than a European
brunette. Their eyes are black and sparkling; their teeth white and
even; their skin soft and delicate; their limbs finely turned; their
hair jetty, perfumed and ornamented with flowers; but we did not think
their features beautiful, as by continual pressure from infancy, which
they call _tourooma_, they widen the face with their hands, distend
their mouth, and flatten the nose and forehead, which gives them a too
masculine look; and they are in general large, and wide over the
shoulders; we were therefore disappointed in the judgment, we had formed
from the report of preceding visitors; and though here and there was to
be seen a living person who might be esteemed comely, we saw few who in
fact could be called beauties; yet they possess eminent feminine graces:
Their faces are never darkened with a scowl, or covered with a cloud of
sullenness or suspicion." This account fully concurs in what follows as
to the manners and behaviour of the Otaheitans.--E.]
The hair is almost universally black, and rather coarse; the men have
beards, which they wear in many fashions, always, however, plucking out
great part of them, and keeping the rest perfectly clean and neat. Both
sexes also eradicate every hair from under their arms, and accused us of
great uncleanness for not doing the same. In their motions there is at
once vigour and ease; their walk is graceful, their deportment liberal,
and their behaviour to strangers and to each other affable and
courteous. In their dispositions also, they seemed to be brave, open,
and candid, without either suspicion or treachery, cruelty, or revenge;
so that we placed the same confidence in them as in our best friends,
many of us, particularly Mr Banks, sleeping frequently in their houses
in the woods, without a companion, and consequently wholly in their
power. They were, however, all thieves; and when that is allowed, they
need not much fear a competition with the people of any other nation
upon earth. During our stay in this island we saw about five or six
persons like one that was met by Mr Banks and Dr Solander on the 24th of
April, in their walk to the eastward, whose skins were of a dead white,
like the nose of a white horse; with white hair, beard, brows, and
eyelashes; red, tender eyes; a short sight, and scurfy skins, covered
with a kind of white down; but we found that no two of these belonged to
the same family, and therefore concluded, that they were not a species,
but unhappy individuals, rendered anomalous by disease.[4]
[Footnote 4: In the opinion here expressed the Editor has already
acquiesced. He would remark by the bye, that although two or more
persons had been of the same family, no sufficient argument could have
been adduced, as to the peculiar affection depending on circumstances
adequate to constitute a species; for it is very clear that hereditary
diseases do not necessarily imply essential distinctions, and there
seems no reason to alter the laws of logic in favour of the
Albinos.--E.]
It is a custom in most countries where the inhabitants have long hair,
for the men to cut it short, and the women to pride themselves in its
length. Here, however, the contrary custom prevails; the women always
cut it short round their ears, and the men, except the fishers, who are
almost continually in the water, suffer it to flow in large waves over
their shoulders, or tie it up in a bunch on the top of their heads.
They have a custom also of anointing their heads with what they call
_monoe, an oil expressed from the cocoa-nut, in which some sweet herbs
or flowers have been infused: As the oil is generally rancid, the smell
is at first very disagreeable to a European; and as they live in a hot
country, and have no such thing as a comb, they are not able to keep
their heads free from lice, which the children and common people
sometimes pick out and eat; a hateful custom, wholly different from
their manners in every other particular; for they are delicate and
cleanly almost without example, and those to whom we distributed combs,
soon delivered themselves from vermin, with a diligence which showed
that they were not more odious to us than to them.[5]
[Footnote 5: This remark is scarcely consistent with what is related in
the missionary account, by which it appears that these vermin are
considered by the Otaheitans much in the same light as certain animals
were once in our own land, viz. royal property. The passage is too
curious to be omitted. It displays a very remarkable instance of that
ease and elegance, with which crowned heads can occasionally employ
themselves for the good of their subjects. "The mode of carrying the
king and queen is with their legs hanging down before, seated on the
shoulders and leaning on the head of their carriers, and very frequently
amusing themselves with picking out the vermin which there abound. It is
the singular privilege of the queen, that of all women, she alone may
eat them; which privilege she never fails to make use of." Such hunting
excursions are surely much more commendable, because much more innocent
in their own nature and more beneficial in their results, than those
practised amongst ourselves, at the risque of neck and limbs, and to the
still more important detriment of the farmer's gates and fences. The
point of privilege, perhaps, is less capable of defence--admitting,
however, for a moment, that pre-eminence of station and office entitles
the holder to singularity of inclination and conduct, as it is certainly
allowed to do in the case of some other sovereigns, the question then
becomes a mere matter of taste, and it is ungenerous to deny the
Otaheitan queen the benefit of the old maxim, _de gustibus non est
disputandum_.--E.]
They have a custom of staining their bodies, nearly in the same manner
as is practised in many other parts of the world, which they call
_tattowing_. They prick the skin, so as just not to fetch blood, with a
small instrument, something in the form of a hoe; that part which
answers to the blade is made of a bone or shell, scraped very thin, and
is from a quarter of an inch to an inch and a half wide; the edge is cut
into sharp teeth or points, from the number of three to twenty,
according to its size: When this is to be used, they dip the teeth into
a mixture of a kind of lamp-black, formed of the smoke that rises from
an oily nut which they burn instead of candles, and water; the teeth,
thus prepared, are placed upon the skin, and the handle to which they
are fastened being struck, by quick smart blows, with a stick fitted to
the purpose, they pierce it, and at the same time carry into the
puncture the black composition, which leaves an indelible stain. The
operation is painful, and it is some days before the wounds are healed.
It is performed upon the youth of both sexes when they are about twelve
or fourteen years of age, on several parts of the body, and in various
figures, according to the fancy of the parent, or perhaps the rank of
the party. The women are generally marked with this stain, in the form
of a Z, on every joint of their fingers and toes, and frequently round
the outside of their feet: The men are also marked with the same figure,
and both men and women have squares, circles, crescents, and
ill-designed representations of men, birds, or dogs, and various other
devices impressed upon their legs and arms, some of which we were told
had significations, though we could never learn what they were. But the
part on which these ornaments are lavished with the greatest profusion,
is the breech: This, in both sexes, is covered with a deep black; above
which, arches are drawn one over another as high as the short ribs. They
are often a quarter of an inch broad, and the edges are not straight
lines, but indented. These arches are their pride, and are shewn both by
men and women with a mixture of ostentation and pleasure; whether as an
ornament, or a proof of their fortitude and resolution in bearing pain,
we could not determine. The face in general is left unmarked; for we saw
but one instance to the contrary. Some old men had the greatest part of
their bodies covered with large patches of black, deeply indented at the
edges, like a rude imitation of flame; but we were told, that they came
from a low island, called _Noouoora_, and were not natives of Otaheite.
Mr Banks saw the operation of _tattowing_ performed upon the backside of
a girl about thirteen years old. The instrument used upon this occasion
had thirty teeth, and every stroke, of which at least a hundred were
made in a minute, drew an ichor or serum a little tinged with blood. The
girl bore it with most Stoical resolution for about a quarter of an
hour; but the pain of so many hundred punctures as she had received in
that time then became intolerable: She first complained in murmurs, then
wept, and at last burst into loud lamentations, earnestly imploring the
operator to desist. He was, however, inexorable; and when she began to
struggle, she was held down by two women, who sometimes soothed and
sometimes chid her, and now and then, when she was most unruly, gave her
a smart blow. Mr Banks staid in a neighbouring house an hour, and the
operation was not over when he went away; yet it was performed but upon
one side, the other having been done some time before; and the arches
upon the loins, in which they most pride themselves, and which give more
pain than all the rest, were still to be done.
It is strange that these people should value themselves upon what is no
distinction; for I never saw a native of this island, either man or
woman, in a state of maturity, in whom these marks were wanting:
Possibly they may have their rise in superstition, especially as they
produce no visible advantage, and are not made without great pain; but
though we enquired of many hundreds, we could never get any account of
the matter.[6]
[Footnote 6: It is very remarkable that something like this tattowing
was practised among the Thracians of old, and was actually considered as
an indication of nobility. So says Herodotus in Terps. 6. The notion is
no way irrational, that early and semi-civilized people had no other way
of distinguishing ranks, than by making visible differences on the skin.
The original inhabitants of Britain, it is probable, meant the same
thing by their use of colouring substances. Though it is probable enough
too, that another purpose was also accomplished thereby, viz.
preservation in some degree from the inclemency of the climate. By some
authors, it has been imagined, that such painting rendered them more
terrible to their enemies, which was the reason for the practice. The
Indians of North Carolina, according to the curious account of them by
Surveyor-General Lawson, Lond. 1714, had still another reason for
something similar. Speaking of their use of varnish, pipe-clay,
lamp-black, &c. &c. for colouring their bodies before going out to war,
he says, "when these creatures are thus painted, they make the most
frightful figures that can be imitated by man, and seem more like devils
than human creatures. You may be sure that they are about some mischief
when you see them thus painted; for in all the hostilities which have
ever been acted against the English at any time, in several of the
plantations of America, the savages always appeared in this disguise,
whereby they might never after be discovered, or known by any of the
Christians that should happen to see them after they had made their
escape; for it is impossible even to know an Indian under these colours,
although he has been at your house a thousand times, and you know him at
other times as well as you do any person living."--Mr Bryan Edwards
mentions something of the Charaibes like this. "Not satisfied with the
workmanship of nature, they called in the assistance of art, to make
themselves more formidable. They painted their faces and bodies with
arnotto so extravagantly, that their natural complexion, which was
really that of a Spanish olive, was not easily to be distinguished under
the surface of crimson. However, as this mode of painting themselves was
practised by both sexes, perhaps it was at first introduced as a defence
against the venomous insects, so common in tropical climates, or
possibly they considered the brilliancy of the colour as highly
ornamental." These Charaibes had other ways of deforming themselves,
some of which resembled what we shall find described in the course of
this work. They made deep cuts on their cheeks, and stained them black;
and painted white and black circles round their eyes. The tatooing which
Mr Barrow speaks of, as practised in part of Africa where he travelled,
one should incline to imagine very different from what is in fashion at
Otaheite, which, according to our text, affords any other than
pleasurable sensations to the person undergoing this operation. The
reader may judge for himself, at least so far as idea goes. "A greater
degree of amusement (than what their music and dancing yield) seems to
be derived by the women from the practice of _tatooing_, or, marking the
body, by raising the epidermis from the cuticle; a custom that has been
found to exist among most of the uncivilized nations inhibiting warm
countries, and which probably owes its origin to a total want of mental
resources, and of the employment of time. By slightly irritating, it
conveys to the body pleasurable sensations. In Kafferland it has passed
into a general fashion. No woman is without a tatooed skin; and their
ingenuity is chiefly exercised between the breast and on the arms." Such
a description corresponds with the notion of some frequently renewed
beautfyings of the toilet, rather than that of the infliction of deep
and indelible marks, as are prescribed in the Otaheitan ritual. Thus we
may see here, as in other instances, that different motives give rise to
similar practices.--E.]
Their clothing consists of cloth or matting of different kinds, which
will be described among their other manufactures. The cloth, which will
not bear wetting, they wear in dry weather, and the matting when it
rains; they are put on in many different ways, just as their fancy leads
them; for in their garments nothing is cut into shape, nor are any two
pieces sewed together. The dress of the better sort of women consists of
three or four pieces: One piece, about two yards wide, and eleven yards
long, they wrap several times round their waist, so as 'to hang down
like a petticoat as low as the middle of the leg, and this they call
_Parou_: Two or three other pieces, about two yards and a half long, and
one wide, each having a hole cut in the middle, they place one upon
another, and then putting the head through the holes, they bring the
long ends down before and behind; the others remain open at the sides,
and give liberty to the arms: This, which they call the _Tebuta_, is
gathered round the waist, and confined with a girdle or sash of thinner
cloth, which is long enough, to go many times round them, and exactly
resembles the garment worn by the inhabitants of Peru and Chili, which
the Spaniards call _Poncho_. The dress of the men is the same, except
that, instead of suffering the cloth that is wound about the hips to
hang down like a petticoat, they bring it between their legs so as to
have some resemblance to breeches, and it is then called _Maro_. This is
the dress of all ranks of people, and being universally the same as to
form, the gentlemen and ladies distinguish themselves from the lower
people by the quantity; some of them will wrap round them several pieces
of cloth, eight or ten yards long, and two or three broad; and some
throw a large piece loosely over their shoulders, in the manner of a
cloke, or perhaps two pieces, if they are very great personages, and are
desirous to appear in state. The inferior sort, who have only a small
allowance of cloth from the tribes or families to which they belong, are
obliged to be more thinly clad. In the heat of the day they appear
almost naked, the women having only a scanty petticoat, and the men
nothing but the sash that is passed between their legs and fastened
round the waist. As finery is always troublesome, and particularly in a
hot country, where it consists in putting one covering upon another, the
women of rank always uncover themselves as low as the waist in the
evening, throwing off all that they wear on the upper part of the body,
with the same negligence and ease as our ladies would lay by a cardinal
or double handkerchief. And the chiefs, even when they visited us,
though they had as much cloth round their middle as would clothe a dozen
people, had frequently the rest of the body quite naked.
Upon their legs and feet they wear no covering; but they shade their
faces from the sun with little bonnets, either of matting or of
cocoa-nut leaves, which they make occasionally in a few minutes. This,
however, is not all their head-dress; the women sometimes wear little
turbans, and sometimes a dress which they value much more, and which,
indeed, is much more becoming, called _Tomou_; the _Tomou_ consists of
human hair, plaited in threads, scarcely thicker than sewing silk. Mr
Banks got pieces of it above a mile in length, without a knot. These
they wind round the head in such a manner as produces a very pretty
effect, and in a very great quantity; for I have seen five or six such
pieces wound about the head of one woman: Among these threads they stick
flowers of various kinds, particularly the cape-jessamine, of which they
have great plenty, as it is always planted near their houses. The men
sometimes stick the tail-feather of the Tropic-bird upright in their
hair, which, as I have observed before, is often tied in a bunch upon
the top of their heads: Sometimes they wear a kind of whimsical garland,
made of flowers of various kinds, stuck into a piece of the rind of a
plantain; or of scarlet peas, stuck with gum upon a piece of wood: And
sometimes they wear a kind of wig, made of the hair of men or dogs, or
perhaps of cocoa-nut strings, woven upon one thread, which is tied under
their hair, so that these artificial honours of their head may hang down
behind. Their personal ornaments, besides flowers, are few; both sexes
wear ear-rings, but they are placed only on one side: When we came they
consisted of small pieces of shell, stone, berries, red peas, or some
small pearls, three in a string; but our beads very soon supplanted them
all.
The children go quite naked; the girls till they are three or four years
old, and the boys till they are six or seven.
The houses, or rather dwellings of these people, have been occasionally
mentioned before: They are all built in the wood, between the sea and
the mountains, and no more ground is cleared for each house, than just
sufficient to prevent the dropping of the branches from rotting the
thatch with which they are covered; from the house, therefore, the
inhabitant steps immediately under the shade, which is the most
delightful that can be imagined. It consists of groves of bread-fruit
and cocoa-nuts, without underwood, which are intersected, in all
directions, by the paths that lead from one house to the other. Nothing
can be more grateful than this shade in so warm a climate, nor any thing
more beautiful than these walks. As there is no underwood, the shade
cools without impeding the air; and the houses, having no walls, receive
the gale from whatever point it blows. I shall now give a particular
description of a house of a middling size, from which, as the structure
is universally the same, a perfect idea may be formed both of those that
are bigger, and those that are less.
The ground winch it covers is an oblong square, four and twenty feet
long, and eleven wide; over this a roof is raised, upon three rows of
pillars or posts, parallel to each other, one on each side, and the
other in the middle. This roof consists of two flat sides inclining to
each other, and terminating in a ridge, exactly like the roofs of our
thatched houses in England. The utmost height within is about nine feet,
and the eaves on each side reach to within about three feet and a half
of the ground: Below this, and through the whole height at each end, it
is open, no part of it being enclosed with a wall. The roof is thatched
with palm-leaves, and the floor is covered, some inches deep, with soft
hay; over this are laid mats, so that the whole is one cushion, upon
which they sit in the day, and sleep in the night. In some houses,
however, there is one stool, which is wholly appropriated to the master
of the family; besides this, they have no furniture, except a few little
blocks of wood, the upper side of which is hollowed into a curve, and
which serve them for pillows.
The house is indeed principally used as a dormitory; for, except it
rains, they eat in the open air, under the shade of the next tree. The
clothes that they wear in the day serve them for covering in the night;
the floor is the common bed of the whole household, and is not divided
by any partition. The master of the house and his wife sleep in the
middle, next to them the married people, next to them the unmarried
women, and next to them, at a little distance, the unmarried men; the
servants, or _toutous_, as they are called, sleep in the open air,
except it rains, and in that case they come just within the shed.[7]
[Footnote 7: If the Otaheitans were little benefited by the attempts of
Europeans to rear cattle among them, as we have seen, they were
certainly indebted for the introduction of another race of animals, not
at all likely to degenerate or die out in a climate so much more
congenial to their nature, than the comparatively inclement regions of
our hemisphere, where, notwithstanding the activity of hostile hands,
they are known to propagate with most vexatious activity. "Their
houses," says the missionary account, "are full of fleas, which harbour
in the floor, and are very troublesome, though the natives are much less
affected by them than we are; they say they were brought to them by the
Europeans. One of our missionaries writes, he has been obliged to get up
at midnight, and to run into the sea to cool himself, and to get rid of
the swarm of disagreeable companions." The poor missionary was worse off
among the fleas, than even Mr Barrow in the midst of the musquitoes,
from which, it does not seem, that he ever had occasion to seek refuge,
in any such untimely ablution.--E.]
There are, however, houses of another kind, belonging to the chiefs, in
which there is some degree of privacy. These are much smaller, and so
constructed as to be carried about in their canoes from place to place,
and set up occasionally, like a tent; they are enclosed on the sides
with cocoa-nut leaves, but not so close as to exclude the air, and the
chief and his wife sleep in them alone.
There are houses also of a much larger size, not built either for the
accommodation of a single chief, or a single family; but as common
receptacles for all the people of a district. Some of them are two
hundred feet long, thirty broad, and, under the ridge, twenty feet high;
these are built and maintained at the common expence of the district,
for the accommodation of which they are intended; and have on one side
of them a large area, inclosed with low pallisadoes.
These houses, like those of separate families, have no walls. Privacy,
indeed, is little wanted among people who have not the idea of
indecency, and who gratify every appetite and passion before witnesses,
with no more sense of impropriety than we feel when we satisfy our
hunger at a social board with our family or friends. Those who have no
idea of indecency with respect to actions, can have none with respect to
words; it is, therefore, scarcely necessary to observe, that, in the
conversation of these people, that which is the principal source of
their pleasure, is always the principal topic; and that every thing is
mentioned without any restraint or emotion, and in the most direct
terms, by both sexes.[8]
[Footnote 8: Let us for once hear the missionary account, in palliation
at least, of such clamant enormities. "They have no partitions in their
houses; but it may be affirmed, they have in many instances more refined
ideas of decency than ourselves; and one long a resident, scruples not
to declare, that he never saw any appetite, hunger and thirst excepted,
gratified in public. It is too true, that for the sake of gaining our
extraordinary curiosities, and to please our brutes, they have appeared
immodest in the extreme. Yet they lay the charge wholly at our door, and
say, that Englishmen are ashamed of nothing, and that we have led them
to public acts of indecency never before practised among themselves.
Iron here, more precious than gold, bears down every barrier of
restraint. Honesty and modesty yield to the force of temptation." A
remark may be made here of some consequence. In estimating the momentum
of temptations, we ought to consider not only their direct strength, but
also what is known or believed of the extent of their influence on the
society to which people belong. A man, it is certain, will much more
readily acquiesce in those which he has reason to think common to his
fellow creatures, than in others exclusively directed to himself. In the
one case he anticipates sympathy, should he transgress; in the other, he
is deterred by the apprehension of being singular in guilt. The
Otaheitans were in the former predicament, and accordingly were perhaps
universally accessible to the charms of nails and hatchets and beads.
Whereas, it is probable, that had even similar solicitations been
attempted in any instances unknown to each other, they would perhaps
have been resisted. But vice once known to be established in society,
becomes daily more prolific of its kind, and, like the Fama of Virgil,
_vires acquirit eundo_. It is but fair to give these islanders the full
benefit of this principle, when we sit in assize on them. Pray who can
tell what would be the consequence of a visit from some of the
inhabitants of Saturn, or the Georgium Sidus, should they open up their
ultramundane treasures in sight of the British court? Is it conceivable,
that the lovers of embroidery, and lace and diamonds would resist the
witcheries of the strangers?--or that the marvellous effects of their
liberality in distribution, should be confined within the walls of St
James's? He that can wisely answer these questions, is at liberty to
return a verdict in the trial of the Otaheitans.--E.]
Of the food eaten here the greater part is vegetable. Here are no tame
animals except hogs, dogs, and poultry, as I have observed before, and
these are by no means plenty. When a chief kills a hog, if is almost
equally divided among his dependants; and as they are very numerous, the
share of each individual at these feasts, which are not frequent, must
necessarily be small. Dogs and fowls fall somewhat more frequently to
the share of the common people. I cannot much commend the flavour of
their fowls; but we all agreed, that a South Sea dog was little inferior
to an English lamb; their excellence is probably owing to their being
kept up, and fed wholly upon vegetables. The sea affords them a great
variety of fish. The smaller fish, when they catch any, are generally
eaten raw, as we eat oysters; and nothing that the sea produces comes
amiss to them: They are fond of lobsters, crabs, and other shell-fish,
which are found upon the coast; and they will eat not only sea-insects,
but what the seamen call _blubbers_, though some of them are so tough,
that they are obliged, to suffer them to become putrid before they can
be chewed. Of the many vegetables that have been mentioned already as
serving them for food, the principal is the bread-fruit, to procure
which costs them no trouble or labour but climbing a tree: The tree
which produces it, does not indeed shoot up spontaneously; but if a man
plants ten of them in his lifetime, which he may do in about an hour, he
will as completely fulfil his duty to his own and future generations, as
the natives of our less temperate climate can do by ploughing in the
cold of winter, and reaping in the summer's heat, as often as these
seasons return; even if, after he has procured bread for his present
household, he should convert a surplus into money, and lay it up for his
children.
It is true, indeed, that the bread-fruit is not always in season; but
cocoa-nuts, bananas, plantains, and a great variety of other fruits,
supply the deficiency.
It may well be supposed, that cookery is but little studied by these
people as an art; and, indeed, they have but two ways of applying fire
to dress their food, broiling and baking; the operation of broiling is
so simple that it requires no description, and their baking has been
described already, in the account of an entertainment prepared for us by
Tupia. Hogs and large fish are extremely well dressed in the same
manner; and, in our opinion, were more juicy, and more equally done,
than by any art of cookery now practised in Europe. Bread-fruit is also
cooked in an oven of the same kind, which renders it soft, and something
like a boiled potatoe; not quite so farinaceous as a good one, but more
so than those of the middling sort.
Of the-bread-fruit they also make three dishes, by putting either water
or the milk of the cocoa-nut to it, then beating it to a paste with a
stone pestle, and afterwards mixing it with ripe plantains, bananas, or
the sour paste which they call _mahie_.
The mahie, which has been mentioned as a succedaneum for ripe
bread-fruit, before the season for gathering a fresh crop comes on, is
thus made:
The fruit is gathered just before it is perfectly ripe, and being laid
in heaps, is closely covered with leaves; in this state it undergoes a
fermentation, and becomes disagreeably sweet: The core is then taken out
entire, which is done by gently pulling the stalk, and the rest of the
fruit is thrown into a hole which is dug for that purpose, generally in
the houses, and neatly lined in the bottom and sides with grass; the
whole is then covered with leaves, and heavy stones laid upon them: In
this state it undergoes a second fermentation, and becomes sour, after
which it will suffer no change for many months: It is taken out of the
hole as it is wanted for use, and being made into balls, it is wrapped
up in leaves and baked; after it is dressed, it will keep five or
six-weeks. It is eaten both cold and hot, and the natives seldom make a
meal without it, though to us the taste was as disagreeable as that of a
pickled olive generally is the first time it is eaten.
As the making of this mahie depends, like brewing, upon fermentation,
so, like brewing, it sometimes fails, without their being able to
ascertain the cause; it is very natural, therefore, that the making it
should be connected with superstitious notions and ceremonies: It
generally falls to the lot of the old women, who will suffer no creature
to touch any thing belonging to it, but those whom they employ as
assistants, nor even to go into that part of the house where the
operation is carrying on. Mr Banks happened to spoil a large quantity of
it only by inadvertently touching a leaf which lay upon it. The old
woman, who then presided over these mysteries, told him, that the
process would fail; and immediately uncovered the hole in a fit of
vexation and despair. Mr Banks regretted the mischief he had done, but
was somewhat consoled by the opportunity which it gave him of examining
the preparation, which perhaps, but for such an accident, would never
have offered.[9]
[Footnote 9: "This paste," we are told in the missionary account, "makes
a most nutritious and sweet pudding, and all the children of the family
and their relations feast on it eagerly. During this festive season they
seldom quit the house, and continue wrapped up in cloth: And it is
surprising to see them in a month become so fair and fat, that they can
scarcely breathe. The children afterwards grow amazingly. The baked
bread-fruit in this state very much in taste resembles gingerbread."
This delicate and wholesome provision, it is said, is not confined to
the chiefs and wealthier people, as all who will be at the pains to
provide an oven, may readily be supplied with bread-fruit from their
neighbours. Such is the generosity of these interesting people, that
all of a man's own rank are at all times ready to contribute largely to
his support, on his making known his need. In how many respects are
these islanders worthy of being held up as examples for us!--E.]
Such is their food, to which salt-water is the universal sauce, no meal
being eaten without it: Those who live near the sea have it fetched as
it is wanted; those who live at some distance keep it in large bamboos,
which are set up in their houses for use. Salt-water, however, is not
their only sauce; they make another of the kernels of cocoa-nuts, which
being fermented till they dissolve into a paste somewhat resembling
butter, are beaten up with salt-water. The flavour of this is very
strong, and was, when we first tasted it, exceedingly nauseous; a little
use, however, reconciled some of our people to it so much, that they
preferred it to our own sauces, especially with fish. The natives seemed
to consider it as a dainty, and do not use it at their common meals;
possibly because they think it ill management to use cocoa-nuts so
lavishly, or perhaps when we were at the island, they were scarcely ripe
enough for the purpose.
For drink, they have in general nothing but water, or the juice of the
cocoa-nut; the art of producing liquors that intoxicate, by
fermentation, being happily unknown among them; neither have they any
narcotic which they chew, as the natives of some other countries do
opium, beetle-root, and tobacco. Some of them drank freely of our
liquors, and in a few instances became very drunk; but the persons to
whom this happened were so far from desiring to repeat the debauch, that
they would never touch any of our liquors afterwards. We were, however,
informed, that they became drunk by drinking a juice that is expressed
from the leaves of a plant which they call _ava ava_. This plant was not
in season when we were there, so that we saw no instances of its
effects; and as they considered drunkenness as a disgrace, they probably
would have concealed from us any instances which might have happened
during our stay. This vice is almost peculiar to the chiefs, and
considerable persons, who vie with each other in drinking the greatest
number of draughts, each draught being about a pint. They keep this
intoxicating juice with great care from their women.[10]
[Footnote 10: Turnbull speaks of intoxication being quite common and
excessive at the feasts of the Otaheitans. And the reader will often
hear of the intemperate use and had effects of the ava or yava. The love
of this liquor, or its effects rather, must indeed be strong, to
reconcile them to the disgusting manner in which it is prepared.
"Several women," says the missionary account, "have each a portion
given them to chew of the stem and root (of the yava shrub) together,
which, when masticated, they spit into a bowl into which some of the
leaves of the plant are finely broken; they add water, or cocoa-nut
liquor: The whole is then well stirred, and begins quickly to ferment;
when it is strained or wrung out in the moo gross, or cocoa-nut fibres,
and drank in cups of folded leaves. It is highly intoxicating, and seems
for a while to deprive them of the use of their limbs: They lie down and
sleep till the effects are passed, and during the time have their limbs
chafed with their women's hands. A gill of the yava is a sufficient dose
for a man. When they drink it, they always eat something afterwards; and
frequently fall asleep with the provisions in their mouths: When drank
after a hearty meal, it produces but little effect." The writer forgets
his authority, but he remembers to have read of a practice somewhat more
economical, though not more delicate, than what is adopted at Otaheite.
The people are all passionately fond of the intoxicating beverage
prepared from mushrooms; as the common sort cannot procure it at first
hand, owing to its price, they are in the habit of attending at the
houses of the grandees, where entertainments are going on, provided with
vessels for the purpose of collecting the urine of the favoured few who
have drunk of it, which they eagerly swallow. The peculiar smell and
flavour, it seems, are preserved notwithstanding this percolation, and
are considered amply remunerative of the pains and importunity used to
obtain it. Such things are strikingly expressive of that worse than
brutish perversity which actuates man, when once his lusts have acquired
the dominion. It is lamentable to think, that after that conquest over
his reason and interest, his degradation in sensuality is in proportion
to his ingenuity of invention; and that no dignity of situation, or
splendour of office, or brilliancy of talent, can possibly redeem him
from the contempt and detestation of those whose good opinion it ought
to be his ambition to covet.--E.]
Table they have none; but their apparatus for eating is set out with
great neatness, though the articles are too simple and too few to allow
any thing for show: And they commonly eat alone; but when a stranger
happens to visit them, he sometimes makes a second in their mess. Of the
meal of one of their principal people I shall give a particular
description.
He sits down under the shade of the next tree, or on the shady side of
his house, and a large quantity of leaves, either of the bread-fruit or
banana, is neatly spread before him upon the ground as a table-cloth; a
basket is then set by him that contains his provision, which, if fish or
flesh, is ready dressed, and wrapped up in leaves, and two cocoa-nut
shells, one full of salt water, and the other of fresh: His attendants,
which are not few, seat themselves round him, and when all is ready, he
begins by washing his hands and his mouth thoroughly with the fresh
water, and this he repeats almost continually throughout the whole meal;
he then takes part of his provision out of the basket, which generally
consists of a small fish or two, two or three breadfruits, fourteen or
fifteen ripe bananas, or six or seven apples: He first takes half a
bread-fruit, peels off the rind, and takes out the core with his nails;
of this he puts as much into his mouth as it can hold, and while he
chews it, takes the fish out of the leaves, and breaks one of them into
the salt water, placing the other, and what remains of the bread-fruit,
upon the leaves that have been spread before him. When this is done, he
takes up a small piece of the fish that has been broken into the salt
water, with all the fingers of one hand, and sucks it into his mouth, so
as to get with it as much of the salt water as possible: In the same
manner he takes the rest by different morsels, and between each, at
least very frequently, takes a small sup of the salt water, either out
of the cocoa-nut shell or the palm of his hand: In the mean time one of
his attendants has prepared a young cocoa-nut, by peeling off the outer
rind with his teeth, an operation which to an European appears very
surprising; but it depends so much upon sleight, that many or us were
able to do it before we left the island, and some that could scarcely
crack a filbert: The master, when he chuses to drink, takes the
cocoa-nut thus prepared, and boring a hole through the shell with his
finger, or breaking it with a stone, he sucks out the liquor. When he
has eaten his bread-fruit and fish, he begins with his plantains, one of
which makes but a mouthful, though it be as big as a black-pudding; if
instead of plantains he has apples, he never tastes them till they have
been pared; to do this a shell is picked up from the ground, where they
are always in plenty, and tossed to him by an attendant: He immediately
begins to cut or scrape off the rind, but so awkwardly that great part
of the fruit is wasted. If, instead of fish, he has flesh, he must have
some succedaneum for a knife to divide it; and for this purpose a piece
of bamboo is tossed to him, of which he makes the necessary implement by
splitting it transversely with his nail. While all this has been doing,
some of his attendants have been employed in beating bread-fruit with a
stone-pestle upon a block of wood; by being beaten in this manner, and
sprinkled from time to time with water, it is reduced to the consistence
of a soft paste, and is then put into a vessel somewhat like a butcher's
tray, and either made up alone, or mixed with banana or mahie, according
to the taste of the master, by pouring water upon it by degrees and
squeezing it often through the hand: Under this operation it acquires
the consistence of a thick custard, and a large cocoa-nut shell full of
it being set before him, he sips it as we should do a jelly if we had
no spoon to take it from the glass: The meal is then finished by again
washing his hands and his mouth. After which the cocoa-nut shells are
cleaned, and every thing that is left is replaced in the basket.
The quantity of food which these people eat at a meal is prodigious: I
have seen one man devour two or three fishes as big as a perch; three
bread-fruits, each bigger than two fists; fourteen or fifteen plantains
or bananas, each of them six or seven inches long, and four or five
round; and near a quart of the pounded bread-fruit, which is as
substantial as the thickest unbaked custard. This is so extraordinary
that I scarcely expect to be believed; and I would not have related it
upon my own single testimony, but Mr Banks, Dr Solander, and most of the
other gentlemen, have had ocular demonstration of its truth, and know
that I mention them upon the occasion.
It is very wonderful, that these people, who are remarkably fond of
society, and particularly that of their women, should exclude its
pleasures from the table, where among all other nations, whether civil
or savage, they have been principally enjoyed.[11] How a meal, which
every where else brings families and friends together, came to separate
them here, we often enquired, but could never learn. They eat alone,
they said, because it was right; but why it was right to eat alone, they
never attempted to tell us: Such, however, was the force of habit, that
they expressed the strongest dislike, and even disgust, at our eating in
society, especially with our women, and of the same victuals. At first,
we thought this strange singularity arose from some superstitious
opinion; but they constantly affirmed the contrary. We observed also
some caprices in the custom, for which we could as little account as for
the custom itself. We could never prevail with any of the women to
partake of the victuals at our table when we were dining, in company;
yet they would go, five or six together, into the servants' apartments,
and there eat very heartily of whatever they could find, of which I have
before given a particular instance; nor were they in the least
disconcerted if we came in while they were doing it. When any of us have
been alone with a woman, she has sometimes eaten in our company; but
then she has expressed the greatest unwillingness that it should be
known, and always extorted the strongest promises of secrecy.
[Footnote 11: This is not true, as the reader will find, if he knows it
not already, when he comes to the next note. Dr H. does not seem to have
read extensively on the customs of different nations. It is indeed
wonderful, that he did not advert to what had long been known of the
practices of the East. A single quotation from one author, may be
sufficient to prepare the reader for any additional information, on the
subject of the public separation of the sexes. "The regulations of the
haram," says Dr Russel, speaking of the Moosulmauns, "oppose a strong
barrier to curiosity; inveterate custom excludes females from mingling
in assemblies of the other sex, and even with their nearest
male-relations they appear to be under a restraint from which, perhaps,
they are never emancipated, except in familiar society among
themselves."--E.]
Among themselves, even two brothers and two sisters have each their
separate baskets, with provision and the apparatus of their meal. When
they first visited us at our tents, each brought his basket with him;
and when we sat down to table, they would go out, sit down upon the
ground, at two or three yards distance from each other, and turning
their faces different ways, take their repast without interchanging a
single word.
The women not only abstain from eating with the men, and of the same
victuals, but even have their victuals separately prepared by boys kept
for that purpose, who deposit it in a separate shed, and attend them
with it at their meals.
But though they would not eat with us or with each other, they have
often asked us to eat with them, when we have visited those with whom we
were particularly acquainted at their houses; and we have often upon
such occasions eaten out of the same basket, and drunk out of the same
cup. The elder women, however, always appeared to be offended at this
liberty; and if we happened to touch their victuals, or even the basket
that contained it, would throw it away.[12]
[Footnote 12: Nothing can be more difficult in the way of philosophical
investigation, than to ascertain the origin and reasons of the customs,
opinions, and prejudices established among different people. Their
variety is quite destructive of any theory which might be built on the
well-known general principles of human nature; and their insignificance
often derides every process of formal enquiry, which attempts by any
thing more recondite than the supposition of whim or caprice, to account
for them. The peculiarities of all nations are, perhaps, on a par in
this respect, and only escape scrutiny and wonder, because unnoticed by
those to whom they are not familiar. But certainly, to the inhabitants
of Otaheite, our eating parties, where the sexes at times vie with each
other in the management of knife and fork, and where it usually happens
that a woman presides, would seem as unaccountable and as indelicate, as
a certain social exhibition, already mentioned as occurring amongst
them, appeared to be to those who witnessed it. And perhaps it is less
easy, than at first sight may be imagined, to justify one more than the
other. Of actions equally natural, necessary, and proper, and at the
same time equally inoffensive to others, it is exceedingly perplexing to
discover good reasons for saying, that some are fitted for public notice
more than others. In the cases alluded to, a skilful controversialist
might be able to argue, why the Otaheitan practice ought to be esteemed
the more rational one. The writer has heard of a person, whose
refinement of taste and feeling was such, as made him quite disgusted
with any woman who eat in his presence; and perhaps the ladies in
general are somewhat apprehensive of their running the risk of being
depreciated by the appearance of a good appetite in public, and hence
their common practice of taking what is called a luncheon before going
to a feast, or social eating-party, and their being pleased with the
compliment given in the form of complaint, that they have very poor
stomachs! The Otaheitans, however, are by no means singular in dividing
the sexes during their repasts. On the contrary, there is ground to
think, that in Persia, and indeed throughout almost all the East, it is
usual for the women to eat apart from the men. See Harmer's Observations
on Scripture, 4th ed. vol. ii. p. 109. Capt. Carver, speaking of the
Naudowesses, a tribe of Americans, says, "The men and women feast apart;
and each sex invites by turns their companions to partake with them of
the food they happen to have." He tells us, however, that in their
domestic way of living, the sexes usually associate. Of the female
Charaibes, Mr Edwards, quoting Labat, says, that they were not allowed
the privilege of eating in presence of their husbands. And Rochon, in
his account of Madagascar, tells us something to the same purport of the
women of that island. It would be easy to multiply instances of the
custom which Hawkesworth thinks to be peculiar to the Otaheitans.--E.]
After meals, and in the heat of the day, the middle-aged people of the
better sort generally sleep; they are indeed extremely indolent, and
sleeping and eating is almost all that they do. Those that are older are
less drowsy, and the boys and girls are kept awake by the natural
activity and sprightliness of their age.
Their amusements have occasionally been mentioned in my account of the
incidents that happened during our residence in this island,
particularly music, dancing, wrestling, and shooting with the bow; they
also sometimes vie with each other in throwing a lance. As shooting is
not at a mark, but for distance; throwing the lance is not for distance,
but at a mark: The weapon is about nine feet long, the mark is the hole
of a plantain, and the distance about twenty yards.
Their only musical instruments are flutes and drums; the flutes are
made of a hollow bamboo about a foot long, and, as has been observed
before, have only two stops, and consequently but four notes, out of
which they seem hitherto to have formed but one tune; to these stops
they apply the fore-finger of the left hand and the middle-finger of the
right.
The drum is made of a hollow block of wood, of a Cylindrical form, solid
at one end, and covered at the other with shark's skin: These they beat
not with sticks, but their hands; and they know how to tune two drums of
different notes into concord. They have also an expedient to bring the
flutes that play together into unison, which is to roll up a leaf so as
to slip over the end of the shortest, like our sliding tubes for
telescopes, which they move up or down till the purpose is answered, of
which they seem to judge by their ear with great nicety.
To these instruments they sing; and, as I have observed before, their
songs are often extempore: They call every two verses or couplet a song,
_Pehay_; they are generally, though not always, in rhyme; and when
pronounced by the natives, we could discover that they were metre. Mr
Banks took great pains to write down some of them which were made upon
our arrival, as nearly as he could express their sounds by combinations
of our letters; but when we read them, not having their accent, we could
scarcely make them either metre or rhyme. The reader will easily
perceive that they are of very different structure.
Tede pahai de parow-a
Ha maru no mina.
E pahah Tayo malama tai ya
No Tabane tonatou whannomi ya.
E Turai eattu terara patee whannua toai
Ino o maio Pretane to whennuaia no Tute.
Of these verses our knowledge of the language is too imperfect to
attempt a translation. They frequently amuse themselves by singing such
couplets as these when they are alone, or with their families,
especially after it is dark; for though they need no fires, they are not
without the comfort of artificial light between sunset and bed-time.
Their candles are made of the kernels of a kind of oily nut, which they
stick one over another upon a skewer that is thrust through the middle
of them; the upper one being lighted, burns down to the second, at the
same time consuming that part of the skewer which goes through it; the
second taking fire burns in the same manner down to the third, and so of
the rest: Some of these candles will burn a considerable time, and they
give a very tolerable light. They do not often sit up above an hour
after it is dark; but when they have strangers who sleep in the house,
they generally keep a light burning all night, possibly as a check upon
such of the women as they wish not to honour them with their
favours.[13]
[Footnote 13: The reader, in perusing the above account of the Otaheitan
evening-recreation, will readily recollect what Mr Park has so
affectingly told of the song of the African woman, of which he was made
the subject. Harmony, that "sovereign of the willing mind," as Mr Gray
denominates it, was both known and worshipped at this island, and that
too, by the very same rites which are so generally practised throughout
the world--regularity of measures, and the frequent recurrence of
similar sounds--
She deigns to hear the savage youth repeat,
In loose numbers wildly sweet,
Their feather-cinctured chiefs and dusky loves.
Her track, where'er the Goddess roves,
Glory pursue, and generous shame,
The unconquerable mind, and freedom's holy flame.--E.]
Of their itinerary concerts I need add nothing to what has been said
already; especially as I shall have occasion, more particularly, to
mention them when I relate our adventures upon another island.
In other countries, the girls and unmarried women are supposed to be
wholly ignorant of what others upon some occasions may appear to know;
and their conduct and conversation are consequently restrained within
narrower bounds, and kept at a more remote distance from whatever
relates to a connection with the other sex: But here, it is just
contrary. Among other diversions, there is a dance, called _Timorodee_,
which is performed by young girls, whenever eight or ten of them can be
collected together, consisting of motions and gestures beyond
imagination wanton, in the practice of which they are brought up from
their earliest childhood, accompanied by words, which, if it were
possible, would more explicitly convey the same ideas. In these dances
they keep time with an exactness which is scarcely excelled by the best
performers upon the stages of Europe. But the practice which is allowed
to the virgin, is prohibited to the woman from the moment that she has
put these hopeful lessons in practice, and realized the symbols of the
dance.[14]
[Footnote 14: If it be considered that in Otaheite women are very early
marriageable, and that families are easily reared, one will not find
cause for censuring the impolicy, whatever is thought of the immodesty,
according to our notions, of the kind of dances here mentioned. It seems
reasonable enough, that the girls should be instructed in the only arts
requisite to obtain the affections of the other sex. Can it be said,
that the system of female education established in our own country, is
half so judicious, which prescribes a series of instructions in drawing
and music, velvet-painting, &c. to girls who, it is morally certain,
will never have the least occasion for them, and who, whatever
excellence they attain, totally abandon them on the day they happen to
change their names? Or shall we say, these things are like the gestures
of the Otaheitan damsels, merely symbols used as snares for the careless
beaux, who pretend to taste and fashion, and indicative of the indolence
and extravagance which are to succeed the marriage ceremony? The fact
is, and it is foolish to attempt concealing it, that women in general
have a nature so ductile as to be quite readily fashioned to any model
which is conceived agreeable to the other sex, and that they all have
sufficient sagacity to practise the arts in demand, till they have
accomplished the destiny of their constitution. On the supposition that
these arts are equally commensurate to their object, it may well be
asked, why some should be condemned and not others--or what authority
any people have to reproach the current allurements of another? In the
eyes of an impartial spectator, if we can suppose there really is one,
all of them must appear alike as to nature and origin, and to differ
only in respect of adaptation to the ends in view. He would consider
them all as signs, merely more or less expressive, and might be induced
to censure most strongly, if he censured at all, the people who, in
using them, affected the closest concealment of the purposes intended by
them. A philosopher ought never to lose sight of this maxim, that human
nature is essentially the same throughout the world, and that all the
desires and passions belonging to it have the same origin, and are
equally good or bad as to morality; from which it follows, that customs
and manners are to be judged of not so much by what is known or imagined
of the sources of them, as by what is evident or may be discovered of
their effects on society. On this principle, it is strictly
demonstrable, that in such a state of things as exists in our own
country at present, certain appearances and modes of dress adopted by
our women, are actually more injurious, and of course more criminal,
than the dancing gestures mentioned in the text. Any lady that can
expose her breasts to the gaze of _one_ and _all_ of our public
companies, has an undoubted right to be considered as possessing the
same feelings and propensities as the lewd girls of Otaheite; but then
she is not entitled to censure, however she may envy, their happier
exertions and success. She ought to know, that unless our taxes are
removed, and the bread-fruit is naturalized among us, it is impossible
for her to have so speedy a redemption from the estate of "solitary
blessedness;" and that as many of her elder sisters still feel the
necessity of practising patience in the same condition, it is very
incumbent on her to learn by times a little self-controul. Besides, she
ought, in charity to the other sex, to remember, that even the
"concealed magic" of her _manner_, as Mr Hume expresses it, and which he
says is easily explained, is abundantly efficacious without further
disclosure than common necessity requires.--E.]
It cannot be supposed that, among these people, chastity is held in much
estimation. It might be expected that sisters and daughters would be
offered to strangers, either as a courtesy, or for reward; and that
breaches of conjugal fidelity, even in the wife, should not be otherwise
punished than by a few hard words, or perhaps a slight beating, as
indeed is the case: But there is a scale in dissolute sensuality, which
these people have ascended, wholly unknown to every other nation whose
manners have been recorded from the beginning of the world to the
present hour, and which no imagination could possibly conceive.
A very considerable number of the principal people of Otaheite, of both
sexes, have formed themselves into a society, in which every woman is
common to every man; thus securing a perpetual variety as often as their
inclination prompts them to seek it, which is so frequent, that the same
man and woman seldom cohabit together more than two or three days.
These societies are distinguished by the name of _Arreoy_; and the
members have meetings, at which no other is present, where the men amuse
themselves by wrestling, and the women, notwithstanding their occasional
connection with different men, dance the Timorodee in all its latitude,
as an incitement to desires, which, it is said, are frequently gratified
upon the spot. This, however, is comparatively nothing. If any of the
women happen to be with child, which in this manner of life happens less
frequently than if they were to cohabit only with one man, the poor
infant is smothered the moment it is born, that it may be no incumbrance
to the father, nor interrupt the mother in the pleasures of her
diabolical prostitution. It sometimes indeed happens, that the passion
which prompts a woman to enter into this society, is surmounted when she
becomes a mother, by that instinctive affection which Nature has given
to all creatures for the preservation of their offspring; but even in
this case, she is not permitted to spare the life of her infant, except
she can find a man who will patronise it as his child: If this can be
done, the murder is prevented; but both the man and woman, being deemed
by this act to have appropriated each other, are ejected from the
community, and forfeit all claim to the privileges and pleasures of the
Arreoy for the future; the woman from that time being distinguished by
the term _Whannownow_, "bearer of children," which is here a term of
reproach; though none can be more honourable in the estimation of wisdom
and humanity, of right reason, and every passion that distinguishes the
man from the brute.
It is not fit that a practice so horrid and so strange should be
imputed to human beings upon slight evidence, but I have such as
abundantly justifies me in the account I have given. The people
themselves are so far from concealing their connection with such a
society as a disgrace, that they boast of it as a privilege; and both
myself and Mr Banks, when particular persons have been pointed out to us
as members of the Arreoy, have questioned them about it, and received
the account that has been here given from their own lips. They have
acknowledged, that they had long been of this accursed society, that
they belonged to it at that time, and that several of their children had
been put to death.[15]
[Footnote 15: It seems, from Mr Turnbull's account, that these accursed
arreoys were rather on the increase,--a circumstance, which, considering
that infanticide formed a part, an essential part indeed, of their
policy, may well explain the rapidity in the diminution of the people
before noticed.--E.]
But I must not conclude my account of the domestic life of these people
without mentioning their personal cleanliness. If that which lessens the
good of life and increases the evil is vice, surely cleanliness is a
virtue: The want of it tends to destroy both beauty and health, and
mingles disgust, with our best pleasures. The natives of Otaheite, both
men and women, constantly wash their whole bodies in running water three
times every day; once as soon as they rise in the morning, once at noon,
and again before they sleep at night, whether the sea or river is near
them or at a distance. I have already observed, that they wash not only
the mouth, but the hands at their meals, almost between every morsel;
and their clothes, as well as their persons, are kept without spot or
stain; so that in a large company of these people, nothing is suffered
but heat, which, perhaps, is more than can be said of the politest
assembly in Europe.[16]
[Footnote 16: Here Dr H. seems to have forgotten altogether the
substitutes which modern Europeans employ for cleanliness, to render
polite assemblies tolerable--musk, bergamot, lavender, &c. &c. articles,
which, besides their value in saving the precious time of our fine
ladies, who could not easily spare a quarter of an hour a day from their
important occupations, for the Otaheitan practice of bathing, are of
vast utility to the state, by affording suitable exercise to the talents
of the vast tribe of perfumers and beautifiers of every description,
who, it is probable, would otherwise become mere drones in the
community. But what would these Otaheitans conceive of the health and
comfort and appearance and odour of the great mass of British ladies,
who, unless banished to a watering place, no more think of being
_generally_ washed, than of being curried with a currying-comb, or
undergoing the operation of tattowing? The powers of nature are
marvellous indeed, which can support their lives for years, under all
the fifth and exuviæ, accumulated with such idolatrous fondness.--E.]