_Of the Manufactures, Boats, and Navigations of Otaheite._
If necessity is the mother of invention, it cannot be supposed to have
been much exerted where the liberality of Nature has rendered the
diligence of Art almost superfluous; yet there are many instances both
of ingenuity and labour among these people, which, considering the want
of metal for tools, do honour to both.
Their principal manufacture is their cloth, in the making and dyeing of
which I think there are some particulars which may instruct even the
artificers of Great Britain, and for that reason my description will be
more minute.
Their cloth is of three kinds; and it is made of the bark of three
different trees, the Chinese paper mulberry, the bread-fruit tree, and
the tree which resembles the wild fig-tree of the West Indies.
The finest and whitest is made of the paper mulberry, _Aouta_; this is
worn chiefly by the principal people, and when it is dyed red takes a
better colour. A second sort, inferior in whiteness and softness, is
made of the bread-fruit tree, _Ooroo_, and worn chiefly by the interior
people; and a third of the tree that resembles the fig, which is coarse
and harsh, and of the colour of the darkest brown paper: This, though it
is less pleasing both to the eye and to the touch, is the most valuable,
because it resists water, which the other two sorts will not. Of this,
which is the most rare as well as the most useful, the greater part is
perfumed, and worn by the chiefs as a morning dress.
All these trees are propagated with great care, particularly the
mulberry, which covers the largest part of the cultivated land, and is
not fit for use after two or three years growth, when it is about six or
eight feet high, and somewhat thicker than a man's thumb; its excellence
is to be thin, straight, tall, and without branches: The lower leaves,
therefore, are carefully plucked off, with their germs, as often as
there is any appearance of their producing a branch.
But though the cloth made of these three trees is different, it is all
manufactured in the same manner; I shall, therefore, describe the
process only in the fine sort, that is made of the mulberry.[17] When
the trees are of a proper size, they are drawn up, and stripped of their
branches, after which the roots and tops are cut off; the bark of these
rods being then slit up longitudinally is easily drawn off, and, when a
proper quantity has been procured, it is carried down to some running
water, in which it is deposited to soak, and secured from floating away
by heavy stones: When it is supposed to be sufficiently softened, the
women servants go down to the brook, and stripping themselves, sit down
in the water, to separate the inner bark from the green bark on the
outside; to do this they place the under side upon a flat smooth board,
and with the shell which our dealers call Tyger's tongue, _Tellina
gargadia_, scrape it very carefully, dipping it continually in the water
till nothing remains but the fine fibres of the inner coat. Being thus
prepared in the afternoon, they are spread out upon plantain leaves in
the evening; and in this part of the work there appears to be some
difficulty, as the mistress of the family always superintends the doing
of it: They are placed in lengths of about eleven or twelve yards, one
by the side of another, till they are about a foot broad, and two or
three layers are also laid one upon the other: Care is taken that the
cloth shall be in all parts of an equal thickness, so that if the bark
happens to be thinner in any particular part of one layer than the rest,
a piece that is somewhat thicker is picked out to be laid over it in the
next. In this state it remains till the morning, when great part of the
water which it contained when it was laid out, is either drained off or
evaporated, and the several fibres adhere together, so as that the whole
may be raised from the ground in one piece.
[Footnote 17: The reader will find additional information on this
subject, and on several others here treated, in some of the subsequent
accounts; from which, however, it seemed unadvisable to make quotations
at present. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the curious art of
dyeing, which the Otaheitans seem to practise with no small ingenuity,
has been much vestigated on philosophical principles since the date of
this publication. Modern chemistry has a right to boast of her
acquisitions in so very important a point of domestic science; but it
would be invidious and improper to specify them in this place.--E.]
It is then taken away, and laid upon the smooth side of a long piece of
wood, prepared for the purpose, and beaten, by the women servants, with
instruments about a foot long and three inches thick, made of a hard
wood which they call _Etoa_. The shape of this instrument is not unlike
a square razor strop, only that the handle is longer, and each of its
four sides or faces is marked, lengthways, with small grooves, or
furrows, of different degrees of fineness; those on one side being of a
width and depth sufficient to receive a small packthread, and the others
finer in a regular gradation, so that the last are not more than equal
to sewing silk.
They beat it first with the coarsest side of this mallet, keeping time
like our smiths; it spreads very fast under the strokes, chiefly however
in the breadth, and the grooves in the mallet mark it with the
appearance of threads; it is successively beaten with the other sides,
last with the finest, and is then fit for use. Sometimes, however, it is
made still thinner, by beating it with the finest side of the mallet,
after it has been several times doubled: It is then called _Hoboo_, and
is almost as thin as a muslin; It becomes very white by being bleached
in the air, but is made still whiter and softer by being washed and
beaten again after it has been worn.
Of this cloth there are several sorts, of different degrees of fineness,
in proportion as it is more or less beaten without being doubled: The
other cloth also differs in proportion as it is beaten; but they differ
from each other in consequence of the different materials of which they
are made. The bark of the bread-fruit is not taken till the trees are
considerably longer and thicker than those of the fig; the process
afterwards is the same.
When cloth is to be washed after it has been worn, it is taken down to
the brook, and left to soak, being kept fast to the bottom, as at first,
by a stone; it is then gently wrung or squeezed; and sometimes several
pieces of it are laid one upon another, and beaten together with the
coarsest side of the mallet, and they are then equal in thickness to
broad-cloth, and much more soft and agreeable to the touch, after they
have been a little while in use, though when they come immediately from
the mallet, they feel as if they had been starched. This cloth sometimes
breaks in the beating, but is easily repaired by pasting on a patch with
a gluten that is prepared from the root of the _Pea_, which is done so
nicely that it cannot be discovered. The women also employ themselves in
removing blemishes of every kind, as our ladies do in needle-work or
knotting; sometimes when their work is intended to be very fine, they
will paste an entire covering of hoboo over the whole. The principal
excellencies of this cloth are its coolness and softness; and its
imperfections, its being pervious to water like paper, and almost as
easily torn.[18]
[Footnote 18: The missionary account tells us, that the noble Women are
the principal cloth-makers. Among these people, it seems, that it is far
from being thought disgraceful, for the higher orders to engage in
domestic concerns and useful manufactures, "nor is it the least
disparagement for a chief to be found in the midst of his workmen
labouring with his own hands; but it would be reckoned a great disgrace
not to shew superior skill." Like the patriarchs of old, and the heroes
of Homer, these chiefs assist in the preparation of victuals for the
entertainment of their guests.--E.]
The colours with which they dye this cloth are principally red and
yellow. The red is exceedingly beautiful, and I may venture to say a
brighter and more delicate colour than any we have in Europe; that which
approaches nearest is our full scarlet, and the best imitation which Mr
Banks's natural history painter could produce, was by a mixture of
vermilion and carmine. The yellow is also a bright colour, but we have
many as good.
The red colour is produced by the mixture of the juices of two
vegetables, neither of which separately has the least tendency to that
hue. One is a species of fig called here _Matte_, and the other the
_Cordia Sebestina_, or _Etou_; of the fig the fruit is used, and of the
_Cordia_ the leaves.
The fruit of the fig is about as big as a rounceval pea, or very small
gooseberry; and each of them, upon breaking off the stalk very close,
produces one drop of a milky liquor, resembling the juice of our figs,
of which the tree is indeed a species. This liquor the women collect
into a small quantity of cocoa-nut water: To prepare a gill of cocoa-nut
water will require between three and four quarts of these little figs.
When a sufficient quantity is prepared, the leaves of the Etou are well
wetted in it, and then laid upon a plantain leaf, where they are turned
about till they become more and more flaccid, and then they are gently
squeezed, gradually increasing the pressure, but so as not to break
them; as the flaccidity increases, and they become spungy, they are
supplied with more of the liquor; in about five minutes the colour
begins to appear upon the veins of the leaves, and in about ten or a
little more, they are perfectly saturated with it: They are then
squeezed, with as much force as can be applied, and the liquor strained
at the same time that it is expressed.
For this purpose, the boys prepare a large quantity of the Moo, by
drawing it between their teeth, or two little sticks, till it is freed
from the green bark and the branny substance that lies under it, and a
thin web of the fibres only remains; in this the leaves of the Etou are
enveloped, and through these the juice which they contain is strained as
it is forced out. As the leaves are not succulent, little more juice is
pressed out of them than they have imbibed: When they have been once
emptied, they are filled again, and again pressed, till the quality
which tinctures the liquor as it passes through them is exhausted; they
are then thrown away; but the moo, being deeply stained with the colour,
is preserved, as a brush to lay the dye upon the cloth.
The expressed liquor is always received into small cups made of the
plantain leaf, whether from a notion that it has any quality favourable
to the colour, or from the facility with which it is procured, and the
convenience of small vessels to distribute it among the artificers, I do
not know.
Of the thin cloth they seldom dye more than the edges, but the thick
cloth is coloured through the whole surface; the liquor is indeed used
rather as a pigment than a dye, for a coat of it is laid upon one side
only, with the fibres of the moo; and though I have seen of the thin
cloth that has appeared to have been soaked in the liquor, the colour
has not had the same richness and lustre, as when it has been applied in
the other manner.
Though the leaf of the etou is generally used in this process, and
probably produces the finest colour, yet the juice of the figs will
produce a red by a mixture with the species of tournefortia, which they
call _taheinno_, the _pohuc_, the _eurhe_, or _convolvulus
brasiliensis_, and a species of solanum, called _ebooa_; from the use of
these different plants, or from different proportions of the materials,
many varieties are observable in the colours of their cloth, some of
which are conspicuously superior to others.
The beauty, however, of the best, is not permanent; but it is probable
that some method might be found to fix it, if proper experiments were
made, and perhaps to search for latent qualities, which may be brought
out by the mixture of one vegetable juice with another, would not be an
unprofitable employment: Our present most valuable dyes afford
sufficient encouragement to the attempt; for, by the mere inspection of
indigo, woad, dyer's weed, and most of the leaves which are used for the
like purposes, the colours which they yield could never be discovered.
Of this Indian red I shall only add, that the women who have been
employed in preparing or using it, carefully preserve the colour upon
their fingers and nails, where it appears in its utmost beauty, as a
great ornament.
The yellow is made of the bark of the root of the _morinda citrifolia_,
called _nono_, by scraping and infusing it in water; after standing some
time, the water is strained and used as a dye, the cloth being dipped
into it. The morinda, of which this is a species, seems to be a good
subject for examination with a view to dyeing. Brown, in his History of
Jamaica, mentions three species of it, which he says are used to dye
brown; and Rumphius says of the _bancuda angustifolia_, which is nearly
allied to our nono, that it is used by the inhabitants of the East
Indian islands as a fixing drug for red colours, with which it
particularly agrees.
The inhabitants of this island also dye yellow with the fruit of the
tamanu; but how the colour is extracted, we had no opportunity to
discover. They have also a preparation with which they dye brown and
black; but these colours are so indifferent, that the method of
preparing them did not excite our curiosity.
Another considerable manufacture is matting of various kinds; some of
which is finer, and better, in every respect, than any we have in
Europe; the coarser sort serves them to sleep upon, and the finer to
wear in wet weather. With the fine, of which there are also two sorts,
much pains is taken, especially with that made of the bark of the
poerou, the _hibiscus tiliaceus_ of Linnæus, some of which is as fine as
a coarse cloth: The other sort, which is still more beautiful, they call
vanne; it is white, glossy, and shining, and is made of the leaves of
their _wharrou_, a species of the _pandanus_, of which we had no
opportunity to see either the flowers or fruit: They have other matts,
or, as they call them, _moeas_, to sit or to sleep upon, which are
formed of a great variety of rushes and grass, and which they make, as
they do every thing else that is plaited, with amazing facility and
dispatch.
They are also very dexterous in making basket and wicker-work; their
baskets are of a thousand different patterns, many of them exceedingly
neat; and the making them is an art that every one practises, both men
and women; they make occasional baskets and panniers of the cocoa-nut
leaf in a few minutes, and the women who visited us early in a morning
used to send, as soon as the sun was high, for a few of the leaves, of
which they made little bonnets to shade their faces, at so small an
expence of time and trouble, that, when the sun was again low in the
evening, they used to throw them away. These bonnets, however, did not
cover the head, but consisted only of a band that went round it, and a
shade that projected from the forehead.
Of the bark of the poerou they make ropes and lines, from the thickness
of an inch to the size of a small packthread: With these they make nets
for fishing. Of the fibres of the cocoa-nut they make thread for
fastening together the several parts of their canoes and belts, either
round or flat, twisted or plaited; and of the bark of the _erowa_, a
kind of nettle which grows in the mountains, and is therefore rather
scarce, they make the best fishing lines in the world; with these they
hold the strongest and most active fish, such as bonetas and albicores,
which would snap our strongest silk lines in a minute, though they are
twice as thick.
They make also a kind of seine, of a coarse broad grass, the blades of
which are like flags; these they twist and tie together in a loose
manner, till the net, which is about as wide as a large sack, is from
sixty to eighty fathoms long; this they haul in shoal smooth water, and
its own weight keeps it so close to the ground, that scarcely a single
fish can escape.
In every expedient, indeed, for taking fish, they are exceedingly
ingenious; they make harpoons of cane, and point them with hard wood,
which, in their hands, strike fish more effectually than those which are
headed with iron can do in ours, setting aside the advantage of ours
being fastened to a line, so that the fish is secured if the hook takes
place, though it does not mortally wound him.
Of fish-hooks they have two sorts, admirably adapted in their
construction as well to the purpose they are to answer, as to the
materials of which they are made. One of these, which they call _witlee
witlee_, is used for towing. The shank is made of mother-of-pearl, the
most glossy that can be got; the inside, which is naturally the
brightest, is put behind. To these hooks a tuft of white dog's or hog's
hair is fixed, so as somewhat to resemble the tail of a fish; these
implements, therefore, are both hook and bait, and are used with a rod
of bamboo, and line of _erowa_. The fisher, to secure his success,
watches the flight of the birds which constantly attend the bonetas
when they swim in shoals, by which he directs his canoe, and when he has
the advantage of these guides, he seldom returns without a prize.
The other kind of hook is also made of mother-of-pearl, or some other
hard shell: They cannot make them bearded like our hooks; but, to effect
the same purpose, they make the point turn inwards. These are made of
all sizes, and used to catch various kinds of fish with great success.
The manner of making them is very simple, and every fisherman is his own
artificer: The shell is first cut into square pieces by the edge of
another shell, and wrought into a form corresponding with the outline of
the hook, by pieces of coral, which are sufficiently rough to perform
the office of a file; a hole is then bored in the middle; the drill
being no other than the first stone they pick up that has a sharp
corner; this they fix into the end of a piece of bamboo, and turn it
between the hands like a chocolate-mill; when the shell is perforated,
and the hole sufficiently wide, a small file of coral is introduced, by
the application of which the hook is in a short time completed, few
costing the artificer more time than a quarter of an hour.
Of their masonry, carving, and architecture, the reader has already
formed some idea from the account that has been given of the morais, or
repositories of the dead: The other most important article of building
and carving is their boats; and, perhaps, to fabricate one of their
principal vessels with their tools, is as great a work as to build a
British man-of-war with ours.
They have an adze of stone; a chissel, or gouge, of bone, generally that
of a man's arm between the wrist and elbow; a rasp of coral; and the
skin of a sting-ray, with coral sand, as a file or polisher.
This is a complete catalogue of their tools, and with these they build
houses, construct canoes, hew stone, and fell, cleave, carve, and polish
timber.
The stone which makes the blade of their adzes is a kind of basaltes, of
a blackish or grey colour, not very hard, but of considerable toughness:
They are formed of different sizes; some, that are intended for felling,
weigh from six to eight pounds; others, that are used for carving, not
more than so many ounces; but it is necessary to sharpen both almost
every minute; for which purpose, a stone and a cocoa-nut shell full of
water are always at hand.
Their greatest exploit, to which these tools are less equal than to any
other, is felling a tree: This requires many hands, and the constant
labour of several days. When it is down, they split it, with the grain,
into planks from three to four inches thick, the whole length and
breadth of the tree, many of which are eight feet in the girt, and forty
to the branches, and nearly of the same thickness throughout. The tree
generally used, is, in their language, called _avie_, the stem of which
is tall and straight; though some of the smaller boats are made of the
bread-fruit tree, which is a light spongy wood, and easily wrought. They
smooth the plank very expeditiously and dexterously with their adzes,
and can take off a thin coat from a whole plank without missing a
stroke. As they have not the art of warping a plank, every part of the
canoe, whether hollow or flat, is shaped by hand.[19]
[Footnote 19: One likes to see the exercise of human ingenuity even on
trifles. It flatters the consciousness of one's own powers, and affords,
too, the ground-work of a comparison nowise disadvantageous to what one
believes of his own capabilities. Man has been defined by a certain
writer, an animal that uses instruments for the accomplishment of his
purposes. But the definition is faulty in one important point; it does
not exclude some beings which are not of the species. It is perhaps
impossible to furnish an adequate definition of his nature within the
compass of a single logical proposition. And what matter? Every man in
his senses knows what man is, and can hardly ever be necessitated to
clothe his conception of him, in language metaphysically
unexceptionable. But if any trait be more characteristic than another,
that of invention may safely be asserted to have the pre-eminence. Man,
in effect, evinces the superiority of his nature over all other animals,
by a faculty which he seems exclusively to enjoy, in common with his
Maker, of creating systems, plans, and objects, by the exercise of an
understanding and will adapted to certain ends fore-seen and
predetermined. No tribes of mankind are totally destitute of this
intellectual agency, which is proof, that none are without the merciful
visitations of that great beneficent Being from whom the universe has
its existence. A canoe, a house, a basket, indicates mind. Mind, by the
very constitution of our nature, indicates power and authority. Reason,
indeed, may dispute the necessity or the propriety of such connections
in our thoughts and feelings, but reason cannot possibly set them aside,
or eradicate them from the human breast, though aided by all that
dislike and fear of the solemn truth which the conviction of guilt or
demerit never fails to produce. These Otaheitans, then, are evidences to
themselves of the existence of a power and wisdom superior to their own,
to which they are consciously accountable; and they are without excuse,
if, knowing this, they do not worship God as they ought. It may amuse,
and perhaps instruct the reader, which is the reason for introducing
this note, to enquire how far the inventions of the Otaheitans, as of
all other people, made any way necessary or desirable by the
circumstance of their climate and situation, influence them in their
notions on the subject of their national religions. He will find that
amongst them, as amongst others, the popular religion is founded, not on
the exercise of reason contemplating the works of nature and the
dispensations of Providence, but on principles intimately connected with
man's physical wants, and modified by the peculiarities of ingenuity,
which the artificial supply of those wants occasions; and perhaps he
will make out one remarkable conclusion from the survey of them compared
with others--that where these arts of ingenuity are frequent, and at the
same time applied to very perishable subjects, there the objects of
worship and the kind of religious service, are of a refined nature,
allowing little or nothing of the grossness of _material_ idolatry; and
that, on the contrary, when they are few, but at the same time exercised
on very durable substances, then the greatest tendency exists to the
worship of the mere works of man's hands. Sagacious and clever people,
in other words, have cunningly devised fables for their creeds; the
clumsy-headed and the idle fall down before stocks and stones, as if
there were no such things as memory or imagination or understanding in
the world. It follows, that to extirpate gross idolatry, you must
multiply inventions, and encourage ingenuity--the first operation, it
may be confidently said, to which missionaries among the heathens should
direct their exertions. It is no less certain, that to destroy spiritual
idolatry, nothing short of the mighty power of God himself, implanting a
new principle allied to his own nature, is available. When missionaries
obtain the management and dispensation of this new principle, then, and
only then, they will succeed in making men _worshippers in spirit and in
truth_. But the propriety of their labours is to be evinced on other
grounds, than the success attending them.--E.]
The canoes, or boats, which are used by the inhabitants of this and the
neighbouring islands, may be divided into two general classes; one of
which they call _Ivahahs_, the other _Pahies_.
The Ivahah is used for short excursions to sea, and is wall-sided and
flat-bottomed; the Pahie for longer voyages, and is bow-sided and
sharp-bottomed. The Ivahahs are all of the same figure, but of different
sizes, and used for different purposes: Their length is from seventy-two
feet to ten, but the breadth is by no means in proportion; for those of
ten feet are about a foot wide, and those of more than seventy are
scarcely two. There is the fighting Ivahah; the fishing Ivahah, and the
travelling Ivahah; for some of these go from one island to another. The
fighting Ivahah is by far the longest, and the head and stern are
considerably raised above the body, in a semicircular form; particularly
the stern, which is sometimes seventeen or eighteen feet high, though
the boat itself is scarcely three. These never go to sea single; but are
fastened together, side by side, at the distance of about three feet, by
strong poles of wood, which are laid across them and lashed to the
gunwales. Upon these, in the fore-part, a stage or platform is raised,
about ten or twelve feet long, and somewhat wider than the boats, which
is supported by pillars about six feet high: Upon this stage stand the
fighting men, whose missile weapons are slings and spears; for, among
other singularities in the manners of these people, their bows and
arrows are used only for diversion, as we throw quoits: Below these
stages sit the rowers, who receive from them those that are wounded, and
furnish fresh men to ascend in their room. Some of these have a platform
of bamboos or other light wood, through their whole length, and
considerably broader, by means of which they will carry a great number
of men; but we saw only one fitted in this manner.
The fishing Ivahahs vary in length from about forty feet to the smallest
size, which is about ten; all that are of the length of twenty-five feet
and upwards, of whatever sort, occasionally carry sail. The travelling
Ivahah is always double, and furnished with a small neat house about
five or six feet broad, and six or seven feet long, which is fastened
upon the fore-part for the convenience of the principal people, who sit
in them by day, and sleep in them at night. The fishing Ivahahs are
sometimes joined together, and have a house on board; but this is not
common.
Those which are shorter than five-and-twenty feet, seldom or never carry
sail; and, though the stern rises about four or five feet, have a flat
head, and a board that projects forward about four feet.
The Pahie is also of different sizes, from sixty to thirty feet long;
but, like the Ivahah, is very narrow. One that I measured was fifty-one
feet long, and only one foot and a half wide at the top. In the widest
part, it was about three feet; and this is the general proportion. It
does not, however, widen by a gradual swell; but the sides being
straight, and parallel, for a little way below the gunwale, it swells
abruptly, and draws to a ridge at the bottom; so that a transverse
section of it has somewhat the appearance of the mark upon cards called
a Spade, the whole being much wider in proportion to its length. These,
like the largest Ivahahs, are used for fighting; but principally for
long voyages. The fighting Pahie, which is the largest, is fitted with
the stage or platform, which is proportionably larger than those of the
Ivahah, as their form enables them to sustain a much greater weight.
Those that are used for sailing are generally double; and the middle
size are said to be the best sea-boats. They are sometimes out a month
together, going from island to island; and sometimes, as we were
credibly informed, they are a fortnight or twenty days at sea, and could
keep it longer if they had more stowage for provisions, and conveniences
to hold fresh water.
When any of these boats carry sail single, they make use of a log of
wood which is fastened to the end of two poles that lie cross the
vessel, and project from six to ten feet, according to the size of the
vessel, beyond its side, somewhat like what is used by the flying proa
of the Ladrone Islands, and called in the account of Lord Anson's
Voyage, an Outrigger. To this outrigger the shrouds are fastened, and it
is essentially necessary in trimming the boat when it blows fresh.[20]
[Footnote 20: For a short but sufficient notice of what is called an
Outrigger, see our account of Anson's Voyage, in vol. xi. p. 464. The
reader will find a drawing representing it in the translation of the
Account of Bougainville's Voyage.--E.]
Some of them have one mast, and some two; they are made of a single
stick, and when the length of the canoe is thirty feet, that of the mast
is somewhat less than five-and-twenty; it is fixed to a frame that is
above the canoe, and receives a sail of matting about one-third longer
than itself: The sail is pointed at the top, square at the bottom, and
curved at the side; somewhat resembling what we call a
shoulder-of-mutton sail, and used for boats belonging to men-of-war: It
is placed in a frame of wood, which surrounds it on every side, and has
no contrivance either for reefing or furling; so that, if either should
become necessary, it must be cut away, which, however, in these equal
climates, can seldom happen. At the top of the mast are fastened
ornaments of feathers, which are placed inclining obliquely forwards.
The oars or paddles that are used with these boats, have a long handle
and a flat blade, not unlike a baker's peel. Of these every person in
the boat has one, except those that sit under the awning; and they push
her forward with them at a good rate. These boats, however, admit so
much water at the seams, that one person at least is continually
employed in throwing it out. The only thing in which, they excel is
landing, and putting off from the shore in a surf: By their great length
and high sterns they land dry, when our boats could scarcely land at
all; and have the same advantages in putting off by the height of the
head. The Ivahahs are the only boats that are used by the inhabitants of
Otaheite; but we saw several Pahies that came from other islands. Of one
of these I shall give the exact dimensions from a careful admeasurement,
and then particularly describe the manner in which they are built.
Feet. Inches.
Extreme length from stem to stern, not reckoning
the bending up of either 51 0
Breadth in the clear of the top forward 1 3
Breadth in the midships 1 6
Breadth aft 1 3
In the bilge forward 2 8
In the midships 2 11
Aft 2 9
Depth in the midships 8 4
Height from the ground on which she stood 3 6
Height of her head from the ground, without the
figure 4 4
Height of the figure 0 11
Height of the stern from the ground 8 9
Height of the figure 2 0
The first stage, or keel, is made of a tree hollowed out like a trough;
for which the longest trees are chosen that can be got, so that there
are never more than three in the whole length: The next stage is formed
of straight plank, about four feet long, fifteen inches broad, and two
inches thick: The third stage, is, like the bottom, made of trunks,
hollowed into its bilging form; the last is also cut out of trunks, so
that the moulding is of one piece with the upright. To form these parts
separately, without saw, plane, chissel, or any other iron tool, may
well be thought no easy task; but the great difficulty is to join them
together.
When all the parts are prepared, the keel is laid upon blocks, and the
planks being supported by stanchions, are sewed or clamped together with
strong thongs of plaiting, which are passed several times through holes
that are bored with a gouge or auger of bone, that has been described
already; and the nicety with which this is done, may be inferred from
their being sufficiently water-tight for use without caulking. As the
platting soon rots in the water, it is renewed at least once a-year; in
order to which, the vessel is taken entirely to pieces. The head and
stern are rude with respect to the design; but very neatly finished, and
polished to the highest degree.
These Pahies are kept with great care, in a kind of house built on
purpose for their reception; the houses are formed of poles set upright
in the ground, the tops of which are drawn towards each other, and
fastened together with their strongest cord, so as to form a kind of
Gothic arch, which is completely thatched quite to the ground, being
open only at the ends; they are sometimes fifty or sixty paces long.
As connected with the navigation of these people, I shall mention their
wonderful sagacity in foretelling the weather, at least the quarter from
which the wind shall blow at a future time; they have several ways of
doing this, of which however I know but one. "They say, that the
Milky-way, is always curved laterally; but sometimes, in one direction,
and sometimes in another: And that this curvature is the effect of its
being already acted upon by the wind, and its hollow part therefore
towards it; so that, if the same curvature continues a night, a
corresponding wind certainly blows the next day. Of their rules, I shall
not pretend to judge; but I know that, by whatever means, they can
predict the weather, at least the wind, with much greater certainty than
we can. [21]
[Footnote 21: It is injudicious and unphilosophical to slight the
observations of the vulgar on subjects level to their capacities and
habits of thought. But, on the other hand, it is almost always necessary
to distrust their reasonings and theories about them. This is one of the
cases in which both cautions are to be practised. The common people in
all countries are more accustomed to make remarks upon the weather, than
those who are given to literary or scientific pursuits. It would be
worth some person's while to make a collection of their observations on
the subject. For a man of science, learning, and ingenuity, no one
perhaps has paid more attention to the signs of the weather than Mr
Jones,--_See his Physiological Disquisitions, published at London_
1781.--E.]
In their longer voyages, they steer by the sun in the day, and in the
night by the stars; all of which they distinguish separately by names,
and know in what part of the heavens they will appear in any of the
months during which they are visible in their horizon; they also know
the time of their annual appearing and disappearing with more precision
than will easily be believed by an European astronomer.[22]
[Footnote 22: Mr Bryan Edwards has been at pains to compare together the
Otaheitans and the original inhabitants of some of the West India
islands. On the whole, he gives the preference to the latter. But he is
far indeed from being unjust to the former, in the description he has
given of them. A few quotations may be made from his work, to the
edification of the reader, and it is conceived, that though some of them
seem to respect subjects discussed in the next chapter, this is the best
place for giving them. "Having mentioned the natives of the South-Sea
Islands, I cannot but advert to the wonderful similarity observable, in
many respects, between our ill-fated West Indians and that placid
people. The same frank and affectionate temper, the same cheerful
simplicity, gentleness, and candour;--a behaviour, devoid of meanness
and treachery, of cruelty and revenge, are apparent in the character of
both; and although placed at so great a distance from each other, and
divided by the intervention of the American continent, we may trace a
resemblance even in many of their customs and institutions; their
national songs and dances, their domestic economy, their system of
government, and their funeral ceremonies. I pretend not, however, to
affirm that this resemblance is so exact as to create the presumption of
common origin. The affinity perceivable in the dispositions and virtues
of these widely-separated tribes, arose probably from a similarity in
their circumstances and situation, operating on the general principles
of human nature. Placed alike in a happy medium; between savage life,
properly so called, and the refinements of polished society, they are
found equally exempt from the sordid corporeal distresses and sanguinary
passions of the former state, and from the artificial necessities, the
restraints, and solicitudes of the latter."--"In those inventions and
arts, which, varying the enjoyments, add considerably to the value of
life, I believe the Otaheitans were in general somewhat behind our
islanders; in agriculture they were particularly so. The great support
of the inferior territories of the South-sea consists of the bread-fruit
and the plantain; both which flourish there spontaneously; and although
the inhabitants have likewise plantations of yams, and other excellent
roots, yet the cultivation of none of them appears to be as extensive as
was that of the maize in the West Indies, or to display equal skill with
the preparation of the Cassavi-bread from the maniock. The West Indians,
notwithstanding that they possessed almost every variety of vegetable
nature which grew in the countries I have mentioned, the bread-fruit
excepted, raised also both the maize and the maniock in great abundance;
and they had acquired the skill of watering their lands from distant
rivers, in time of drought. It may likewise be observed, that although
the Otaheitans possess the shrub which produces cotton, they neither
improve it by culture, nor have the knowledge of converting its wool
into cloth, but content themselves with a far meaner production as a
substitute. Our islanders had not only the skill of making excellent
cloth from their cotton, but they practised also the arts of dying it,
with a variety of colours, some of them of the utmost brilliancy and
beauty. In the science of shipbuilding (if the construction of such
vessels as either people used may be distinguished with that
appellation) the superiority is on the side of the Otaheitans; yet the
_piraguas_ of the West Indians were fully sufficient for the navigation
they were employed in, and indeed were by no means contemptible
sea-boats."--"On the other hand, our islanders far surpassed the people
of Otaheite, in the elegance and variety of their domestic utensils and
furniture; their earthen-ware, curiously woven beds, and implements of
husbandry." For the particulars of the comparison here entered into, the
reader who is interested will have recourse to the work itself, in
which, besides, he will find several circumstances related of another
people, the Charaibes, which much resemble what he has now read in the
account of the Otaheitans. This note is already too large to admit of
their being specified in any satisfactory manner, and it was thought
improper to be continually calling off the attention of the reader,
from the text, to smaller notes at the individual instances.--E.]