" II. THE BREAD-FRUIT
" III. THE MUTINY
" IV. THE OPEN-BOAT NAVIGATION
" V. THE 'PANDORA'
" VI. THE COURT-MARTIAL
" VII. THE KING'S WARRANT
" VIII. THE LAST OF THE MUTINEERS
CONCLUSION
ADDITIONAL NOTE
ENDNOTES
PREFACE
The Editor of this little volume (for he presumes not to write _Author_)
has been induced to bring into one connected view what has hitherto
appeared only as detached fragments (and some of these not generally
accessible)--the historical narrative of an event which deeply
interested the public at the time of its occurrence, and from which the
naval service in particular, in all its ranks, may still draw
instructive and useful lessons.
The story in itself is replete with interest. We are taught by _The
Book_ of sacred history that the disobedience of our first parents
entailed on our globe of earth a sinful and a suffering race: in our
time there has sprung up from the most abandoned of this sinful
family--from pirates, mutineers, and murderers--a little society which,
under the precepts of that sacred volume, is characterized by religion,
morality, and innocence. The discovery of this happy people, as
unexpected as it was accidental, and all that regards their condition
and history, partake so much of the romantic as to render the story not
ill adapted for an epic poem. Lord Byron, indeed, has partially treated
the subject; but by blending two incongruous stories, and leaving both
of them imperfect, and by mixing up fact with fiction, has been less
felicitous than usual; for, beautiful as many passages in his _Island_
are, in a region where every tree, and flower, and fountain breathe
poetry, yet as a whole the poem is feeble and deficient in dramatic
effect.
There still remains to us at least one poet, who, if he could be
prevailed on to undertake it, would do justice to the story. To his
suggestion the publication of the present narrative owes its appearance.
But a higher object at present is engaging his attention, which, when
completed, judging from that portion already before the public, will
have raised a splendid and lasting monument to the name of William
Sotheby, in his translation of the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_.
To the kindness of Mrs. Heywood, the relict of the late Captain Peter
Heywood, the Editor is indebted for those beautiful and affectionate
letters, written by a beloved sister to her unfortunate brother, while a
prisoner and under sentence of death; as well as for some occasional
poetry, which displays an intensity of feeling, a tenderness of
expression, and a high tone of sentiment that do honour to the head and
heart of this amiable and accomplished lady. Those letters also from the
brother to his deeply afflicted family will be read with peculiar
interest.
CHAPTER I
OTAHEITE
The gentle island, and the genial soil,
The friendly hearts, the feasts without a toil,
The courteous manners but from nature caught,
The wealth unhoarded, and the love unbought,
* * * * *
The bread-tree, which, without the ploughshare, yields
The unreap'd harvest of unfurrow'd fields,
And bakes its unadulterated loaves
Without a furnace in unpurchased groves,
And flings off famine from its fertile breast,
A priceless market for the gathering guest;--
These, etc.-- BYRON.
The reign of George III will be distinguished in history by the great
extension and improvement which geographical knowledge received under
the immediate auspices of this sovereign. At a very early period, after
his accession to the throne of these realms, expeditions of discovery
were undertaken, 'not (as Dr. Hawkesworth observes) with a view to the
acquisition of treasure, or the extent of dominion, but for the
improvement of commerce, and the increase and diffusion of knowledge.'
This excellent monarch was himself no mean proficient in the science of
geography; and it may be doubted if any one of his subjects, at the
period alluded to, was in possession of so extensive or so well-arranged
a cabinet of maps and charts as his was, or who understood their merits
or their defects so well as he did.
The first expeditions that were sent forth, after the conclusion of the
war, were those of Byron, Wallis, and Carteret. In the instructions to
the first of these commanders it is said, 'there is reason to believe
that lands and islands of great extent, hitherto unvisited by any
European power, may be found in the Atlantic Ocean, between the Cape of
Good Hope and the Magellanic Strait, within the latitudes convenient for
navigation, and in climates adapted to the produce of commodities useful
in commerce.' It could not require much knowledge or consideration to be
assured that, between the Cape and the Strait, climates producing
commodities useful in commerce, with the exception of whales and seals,
were likely to be found. The fact was that, among the real objects of
this and other subsequent voyages, there was one which had engaged the
attention of certain philosophers, from the time of the Spanish
navigator, Quiros: this able navigator had maintained that a _Terra
Australis incognita_ must necessarily exist, somewhere in the high
latitudes of the southern hemisphere, to counterbalance the great
masses of land in those of the northern one, and thus maintain a just
equipoise of the globe.
While these expeditions were in progress, the Royal Society, in 1768,
addressed an application to the king, praying him to appoint a ship of
war to convey to the South Seas Mr. Alexander Dalrymple (who had adopted
the opinion of Quiros), and certain others, for the main purpose,
however, of observing the transit of Venus over the sun's disc, which
was to happen in the year 1769. By the king's command, a bark of three
hundred and seventy tons was taken up by the Admiralty to perform this
service, but, as Mr. Dalrymple was a civilian, he could not be entrusted
with the command of the ship, and on that account declined going in her.
The command was therefore conferred on Lieutenant James Cook, an officer
of undoubted ability, and well versed in astronomy and the theory and
practice of navigation, with whom the Royal Society associated Mr.
Charles Green, who had long been assistant to Dr. Bradley, the
astronomer royal, to aid him in the observation of the transit. Mr.
Banks, a private gentleman of good fortune, who afterwards became the
valuable and distinguished President of the Royal Society, and Dr.
Solander, a Swedish gentleman of great acquirements, particularly in
natural history, accompanied Lieutenant Cook on this interesting voyage.
The islands of Marquesas de Mendoza, or those of Rotterdam or Amsterdam,
were proposed by the Royal Society as proper places for making the
observation. While fitting out, however, Captain Wallis returned from
his expedition, and strongly recommended as most suitable for the
purpose, Port Royal Harbour, on an island he had discovered, to which he
had given the name of 'King George's Island,' and which has since been
known by its native name, _Otaheite_ or _Tahite_.[1]
This lovely island is most intimately connected with the mutiny which
took place on board the _Bounty_, and with the fate of the mutineers and
their innocent offspring. Its many seducing temptations have been urged
as one, if not the main, cause of the mutiny, which was supposed, at
least by the commander of that ship, to have been excited by--
Young hearts which languish'd for some sunny isle,
Where summer years, and summer women smile,
Men without country, who, too long estranged,
Had found no native home, or found it changed,
And, half uncivilized, preferr'd the cave
Of some soft savage to the uncertain wave.
It may be proper, therefore, as introductory to the present narrative,
to give a general description of the rich and spontaneous gifts which
Nature has lavished on this once 'happy island;'--of the simple and
ingenuous manners of its natives,--and of those allurements which were
supposed, erroneously however, to have occasioned the unfortunate
catastrophe alluded to;--to glance at
The nymphs' seducements and the magic bower,
as they existed at the period of the first intercourse between the
Otaheitans and the crews of those ships, which carried to their shores,
in succession, Wallis, Bougainville, and Cook.
The first communication which Wallis had with these people was
unfortunately of a hostile nature. Having approached with his ship close
to the shore, the usual symbol of peace and friendship, a branch of the
plantain tree, was held up by a native in one of the numerous canoes
that surrounded the ship. Great numbers, on being invited, crowded on
board the stranger ship, but one of them, being butted on the haunches
by a goat, and turning hastily round, perceived it rearing on its hind
legs, ready to repeat the blow, was so terrified at the appearance of
this strange animal, so different from any he had ever seen, that, in
the moment of terror, he jumped overboard, and all the rest followed his
example with the utmost precipitation.
This little incident, however, produced no mischief; but as the boats
were sounding in the bay, and several canoes crowding round them, Wallis
suspected the islanders had a design to attack them, and, on this mere
suspicion, ordered the boats by signal to come on board, 'and at the
same time,' he says, 'to intimidate the Indians, I fired a nine-pounder
over their heads.' This, as might have been imagined, startled the
islanders, but did not prevent them from attempting immediately to cut
off the cutter, as she was standing towards the ship. Several stones
were thrown into this boat, on which the commanding officer fired a
musket, loaded with buck-shot, at the man who threw the first stone, and
wounded him in the shoulder.
Finding no good anchorage at this place, the ship proceeded to another
part of the island, where, on one of the boats being assailed by the
Indians in two or three canoes, with their clubs and paddles in their
hands, 'Our people,' says the commander, 'being much pressed, were
obliged to fire, by which one of the assailants was killed, and another
much wounded.' This unlucky rencontre did not, however, prevent, as soon
as the ship was moored, a great number of canoes from coming off the
next morning, with hogs, fowls, and fruit. A brisk traffic soon
commenced, our people exchanging knives, nails, and trinkets, for more
substantial articles of food, of which they were in want. Among the
canoes that came out last were some double ones of very large size, with
twelve or fifteen stout men in each, and it was observed that they had
little on board except a quantity of round pebble stones. Other canoes
came off along with them, having only women on board; and while these
females were assiduously practising their allurements, by attitudes that
could not be misunderstood, with the view, as it would seem, to distract
the attention of the crew, the large double canoes closed round the
ship; and as these advanced, some of the men began singing, some blowing
conchs, and others playing on flutes. One of them, with a person sitting
under a canopy, approached the ship so close, as to allow this person to
hand up a bunch of red and yellow feathers, making signs it was for the
captain. He then put off to a little distance, and, on holding up the
branch of a cocoa-nut tree, there was an universal shout from all the
canoes, which at the same moment moved towards the ship, and a shower of
stones was poured into her on every side. The guard was now ordered to
fire, and two of the quarter-deck guns, loaded with small shot, were
fired among them at the same time, which created great terror and
confusion, and caused them to retreat to a short distance. In a few
minutes, however, they renewed the attack. The great guns were now
ordered to be discharged among them, and also into a mass of canoes that
were putting off from the shore. It is stated that, at this time, there
could not be less than three hundred canoes about the ship, having on
board at least two thousand men. Again they dispersed, but having soon
collected into something like order, they hoisted white streamers, and
pulled towards the ship's stern, when they again began to throw stones
with great force and dexterity, by the help of slings, each of the
stones weighing about two pounds, and many of them wounded the people on
board. At length a shot hit the canoe that apparently had the chief on
board, and cut it asunder. This was no sooner observed by the rest, than
they all dispersed in such haste, that in half an hour there was not a
single canoe to be seen; and all the people who had crowded the shore
fled over the hills with the utmost precipitation. What was to happen on
the following day was matter of conjecture, but this point was soon
decided.
The white man landed;--need the rest be told?
The new world stretch'd its dusk hand to the old.
Lieutenant Furneaux, on the next morning, landed, without opposition,
close to a fine river that fell into the bay--stuck up a staff on which
was hoisted a pendant,--turned a turf,--and by this process took
possession of the island in the name of his Majesty, and called it _King
George the Third's Island_. Just as he was embarking, an old man, to
whom the Lieutenant had given a few trifles, brought some green boughs,
which he threw down at the foot of the staff, then retiring, brought
about a dozen of his countrymen, who approached the staff in a
supplicating posture, then retired and brought two live hogs, which they
laid down at the foot of the staff, and then began to dance. After this
ceremony the hogs were put into a canoe and the old man carried them on
board, handing up several green plantain leaves, and uttering a sentence
on the delivery of each. Some presents were offered him in return, but
he would accept of none.
Concluding that peace was now established, and that no further attack
would be made, the boats were sent on shore the following day to get
water. While the casks were filling, several natives were perceived
coming from behind the hills and through the woods, and at the same time
a multitude of canoes from behind a projecting point of the bay. As
these were discovered to be laden with stones, and were making towards
the ship, it was concluded their intention was to try their fortune in a
second grand attack. 'As to shorten the contest would certainly lessen
the mischief, I determined,' says Captain Wallis, 'to make this action
decisive, and put an end to hostilities at once.' Accordingly a
tremendous fire was opened at once on all the groups of canoes, which
had the effect of immediately dispersing them. The fire was then
directed into the wood, to drive out the islanders, who had assembled in
large numbers, on which they all fled to the hill, where the women and
children had seated themselves. Here they collected to the amount of
several thousands, imagining themselves at that distance to be perfectly
safe. The captain, however, ordered four shot to be fired over them, but
two of the balls, having fallen close to a tree where a number of them
were sitting, they were so struck with terror and consternation, that,
in less than two minutes, not a creature was to be seen. The coast being
cleared, the boats were manned and armed, and all the carpenters with
their axes were sent on shore, with directions to destroy every canoe
they could find; and we are told this service was effectually performed,
and that more than fifty canoes, many of which were sixty feet long, and
three broad, and lashed together, were cut to pieces.
This act of severity must have been cruelly felt by these poor people,
who, without iron or any kind of tools, but such as stones, shells,
teeth, and bones supplied them with, must have spent months and probably
years in the construction of one of these extraordinary double boats.
Such was the inauspicious commencement of our acquaintance with the
natives of Otaheite. Their determined hostility and perseverance in an
unequal combat could only have arisen from one of two motives--either
from an opinion that a ship of such magnitude, as they had never before
beheld, could only be come to their coast to take their country from
them; or an irresistible temptation to endeavour, at all hazards, to
possess themselves of so valuable a prize. Be that as it may, the dread
inspired by the effects of the cannon, and perhaps a conviction of the
truth of what had been explained to them, that the 'strangers wanted
only provisions and water,' had the effect of allaying all jealousy; for
from the day of the last action, the most friendly and uninterrupted
intercourse was established, and continued to the day of the _Dolphin's_
departure; and provisions of all kinds, hogs, dogs, fruit, and
vegetables, were supplied in the greatest abundance, in exchange for
pieces of iron, nails, and trinkets.
As a proof of the readiness of these simple people to forgive injuries,
a poor woman, accompanied by a young man bearing a branch of the
plantain tree, and another man with two hogs, approached the gunner,
whom Captain Wallis had appointed to regulate the market, and looking
round on the strangers with great attention, fixing her eyes sometimes
on one and sometimes on another, at length burst into tears. It appeared
that her husband and three of her sons had been killed in the attack on
the ship. While this was under explanation, the poor creature was so
affected as to require the support of the two young men, who from their
weeping were probably two more of her sons. When somewhat composed, she
ordered the two hogs to be delivered to the gunner, and gave him her
hand in token of friendship, but would accept nothing in return.
Captain Wallis was now so well satisfied that there was nothing further
to apprehend from the hostility of the natives, that he sent a party up
the country to cut wood, who were treated with great kindness and
hospitality by all they met, and the ship was visited by persons of both
sexes, who by their dress and behaviour appeared to be of a superior
rank. Among others was a tall lady about five and forty years of age, of
a pleasing countenance and majestic deportment. She was under no
restraint, either from diffidence or fear, and conducted herself with
that easy freedom which generally distinguishes conscious superiority
and habitual command. She accepted some small present which the captain
gave her, with a good grace and much pleasure; and having observed that
he was weak and suffering from ill health, she pointed to the shore,
which he understood to be an invitation, and made signs that he would go
thither the next morning. His visit to this lady displays so much
character and good feeling, that it will best be described in the
captain's own words.
'The next morning I went on shore for the first time, and my princess or
rather queen, for such by her authority she appeared to be, soon after
came to me, followed by many of her attendants. As she perceived that my
disorder had left me very weak, she ordered her people to take me in
their arms, and carry me not only over the river, but all the way to her
house; and observing that some of the people who were with me,
particularly the first lieutenant and purser, had also been sick, she
caused them also to be carried in the same manner, and a guard, which I
had ordered out upon the occasion, followed. In our way, a vast
multitude crowded about us, but upon her waving her hand, without
speaking a word, they withdrew, and left us a free passage. When we
approached near her house, a great number of both sexes came out to meet
her; these she presented to me, after having intimated by signs that
they were her relations, and taking hold of my hand she made them kiss
it.
'We then entered the house, which covered a piece of ground three
hundred and twenty-seven feet long, and forty-two feet broad. It
consisted of a roof thatched with palm leaves, and raised upon
thirty-nine pillars on each side, and fourteen in the middle. The ridge
of the thatch, on the inside, was thirty feet high, and the sides of the
house, to the edge of the roof, were twelve feet high; all below the
roof being open. As soon as we entered the house, she made us sit down,
and then calling four young girls, she assisted them to take off my
shoes, draw down my stockings, and pull off my coat, and then directed
them to smooth down the skin, and gently chafe it with their hands. The
same operation was also performed on the first lieutenant and the
purser, but upon none of those who appeared to be in health. While this
was doing, our surgeon, who had walked till he was very warm, took off
his wig to cool and refresh himself: a sudden exclamation of one of the
Indians, who saw it, drew the attention of the rest, and in a moment
every eye was fixed upon the prodigy, and every operation was suspended.
The whole assembly stood some time motionless, in silent astonishment,
which could not have been more strongly expressed, if they had
discovered that our friend's limbs had been screwed on to the trunk. In
a short time, however, the young women who were chafing us, resumed
their employment, and having continued for about half an hour, they
dressed us again, but in this they were, as may easily be imagined, very
awkward; I found great benefit, however, from the chafing, and so did
the lieutenant and the purser.
'After a little time our generous benefactress ordered some bales of
Indian cloth to be brought out, with which she clothed me, and all that
were with me, according to the fashion of the country. At first I
declined the acceptance of this favour, but being unwilling not to seem
pleased with what was intended to please me, I acquiesced. When we went
away, she ordered a very large sow, big with young, to be taken down to
the boat, and accompanied us thither herself. She had given directions
to her people to carry me, as they had done when I came, but as I chose
rather to walk, she took me by the arm, and whenever we came to a plash
of water or dirt, she lifted me over with as little trouble as it would
have cost me to have lifted over a child, if I had been well.'
The following morning Captain Wallis sent her a present by the gunner,
who found her in the midst of an entertainment given to at least a
thousand people. The messes were put into shells of cocoa-nuts, and the
shells into wooden trays, like those used by our butchers, and she
distributed them with her own hands to the guests, who were seated in
rows in the open air, round the great house. When this was done, she sat
down herself upon a place somewhat elevated above the rest, and two
women, placing themselves, one on each side of her, fed her, she opening
her mouth as they brought their hands up with the food. From this time,
provisions were sent to market in the greatest abundance. The queen
frequently visited the captain on board, and always with a present, but
she never condescended to barter, nor would she accept of any return.
One day, after visiting her at her house, the captain at parting made
her comprehend by signs, that he intended to quit the island in seven
days: she immediately understood his meaning, and by similar signs,
expressed her wish that he should stay twenty days; that he should go
with her a couple of days' journey into the country, stay there a few
days, return with plenty of hogs and poultry, and then go away; but on
persisting in his first intention, she burst into tears, and it was not
without great difficulty that she could be pacified. The next time that
she went on board, Captain Wallis ordered a good dinner for her
entertainment and those chiefs who were of her party; but the queen
would neither eat nor drink. As she was going over the ship's side, she
asked, by signs, whether he still persisted in leaving the island at the
time he had fixed, and on receiving an answer in the affirmative, she
expressed her regret by a flood of tears; and as soon as her passion
subsided, she told the captain that she would come on board again the
following day.
Accordingly, the next day she again visited the ship twice, bringing
each time large presents of hogs, fowls, and fruits. The captain, after
expressing his sense of her kindness and bounty, announced his intention
of sailing the following morning. This, as usual, threw her into tears,
and after recovering herself, she made anxious inquiry when he should
return; he said in fifty days, with which she seemed to be satisfied.
'She stayed on board,' says Captain Wallis, 'till night, and it was then
with the greatest difficulty that she could be prevailed upon to go on
shore. When she was told that the boat was ready, she threw herself down
upon the arm-chest, and wept a long time, with an excess of passion that
could not be pacified; at last, however, with the greatest reluctance,
she was prevailed upon to go into the boat, and was followed by her
attendants.'
The next day, while the ship was unmooring, the whole beach was covered
with the inhabitants. The queen came down, and having ordered a double
canoe to be launched, was rowed off by her own people, followed by
fifteen or sixteen other canoes. She soon made her appearance on board,
but, not being able to speak, she sat down and gave vent to her passion
by weeping. Shortly after a breeze springing up, the ship made sail; and
finding it now necessary to return into her canoe, 'she embraced us
all,' says Captain Wallis, 'in the most affectionate manner, and with
many tears; all her attendants also expressed great sorrow at our
departure. In a few minutes she came into the bow of her canoe, where
she sat weeping with inconsolable sorrow. I gave her many things which I
thought would be of great use to her, and some for ornament; she
silently accepted of all, but took little notice of any thing. About ten
o'clock we had got without the reef, and a fresh breeze springing up,
our Indian friends, and particularly the queen, once more bade us
farewell, with such tenderness of affection and grief, as filled both my
heart and my eyes.'
The tender passion had certainly caught hold of one or both of these
worthies; and if her Majesty's language had been as well understood by
Captain Wallis, as that of Dido was to Æneas, when pressing him to stay
with her, there is no doubt it would have been found not less pathetic--
Nec te noster amor, nec te data dextera quondam,
Nec moritura tenet crudeli funere Dido?
This lady, however, did not sink, like the 'miserrima Dido,' under her
griefs; on the contrary, we find her in full activity and animation, and
equally generous, to Lieut. Cook and his party, under the name of
_Oberea_, who, it now appeared, was no queen, but whose husband they
discovered was uncle to the young king, then a minor, but from whom she
was separated. She soon evinced a partiality for Mr. Banks, though not
quite so strong as that for Wallis, but it appears to have been mutual,
until an unlucky discovery took place, that she had, at her command, a
stout strong-boned _cavaliere servente_; added to which, a theft, rather
of an amusing nature, contributed for a time to create a coolness, and
somewhat to disturb the good understanding that had subsisted between
them. It happened that a party, consisting of Cook, Banks, Solander, and
three or four others, were benighted at a distance from the anchorage.
Mr. Banks, says Lieut. Cook, thought himself fortunate in being offered
a place by Oberea, in her own canoe, and wishing his friends a good
night, took his leave. He went to rest early, according to the custom of
the country; and taking off his clothes, as was his constant practice,
the nights being hot, Oberea kindly insisted upon taking them into her
own custody, for otherwise, she said, they would certainly be stolen.
Mr. Banks having, as he thought, so good a safeguard, resigned himself
to sleep with all imaginable tranquillity; but awakening about eleven
o'clock, and wanting to get up, he searched for his clothes where he had
seen them carefully deposited by Oberea, when he lay down to sleep, and
perceived to his sorrow and surprise, that they were missing. He
immediately awakened Oberea, who, starting up and hearing his complaint,
ordered lights, and prepared in great haste to recover what had been
lost. Tootahah (the regent) slept in the next canoe, and being soon
alarmed, he came to them and set out with Oberea in search of the thief.
Mr. Banks was not in a condition to go with them, as of his apparel
scarcely any thing was left him but his breeches. In about half an hour
his two noble friends returned, but without having obtained any
intelligence of his clothes or of the thief. Where Cook and Solander had
disposed of themselves he did not know; but hearing music, which was
sure to bring a crowd together, in which there was a chance of his
associates being among them, he rose, and made the best of his way
towards it, and joined his party, as Cook says, 'more than half naked,
and told us his melancholy story.'
It was some consolation to find that his friends were fellow-sufferers,
Cook having lost his stockings, that had been stolen from under his
head, though he had never been asleep, and his associates their jackets.
At day-break Oberea brought to Mr. Banks some of her country clothes;
'so that when he came to us,' says Cook, 'he made a most motley
appearance, half Indian and half English.' Such an adventure must have
been highly amusing to him who was the object of it, when the
inconvenience had been removed, as every one will admit who knew the
late venerable President of the Royal Society. He never doubted,
however, that Oberea was privy to the theft, and there was strong
suspicion of her having some of the articles in her custody. Being aware
that this feeling existed, she absented herself for some time, and when
she again appeared, she said a favourite of hers had taken them away,
whom she had beaten and dismissed; 'but she seemed conscious,' says
Cook, 'that she had no right to be believed; she discovered the
strongest signs of fear, yet she surmounted it with astonishing
resolution, and was very pressing to be allowed to sleep with her
attendants in Mr. Banks's tent; in this, however, she was not
gratified.' Sir Joseph might have thought that, if he complied with her
request, his breeches might be in danger of following the other articles
of his dress.
The Otaheitans cannot resist pilfering. 'I must bear my testimony,'
says Cook, 'that the people of this country, of all ranks, men and
women, are the arrantest thieves upon the face of the earth; but,' he
adds, 'we must not hastily conclude that theft is a testimony of the
same depravity in them that it is in us, in the instances in which our
people were sufferers by their dishonesty; for their temptation was
such, as to surmount what would be considered as a proof of uncommon
integrity among those who have more knowledge, better principles, and
stronger motives to resist the temptations of illicit advantage; an
Indian among penny knives and beads, and even nails and broken glass, is
in the same state of mind with the meanest servant in Europe among
unlocked coffers of jewels and gold.' Captain Wallis has illustrated the
truth of this position by an experiment he made on some persons, whose
dress and behaviour indicated that they were of a superior cast. 'To
discover what present,' he says, 'would most gratify them, I laid down
before them a Johannes, a guinea, a crown piece, a Spanish dollar, a few
shillings, some new halfpence, and two large nails, making signs that
they should take what they liked best. The nails were first seized with
great eagerness, and then a few of the halfpence, but the silver and
gold lay neglected.' Here then it might with truth be said was
discovered
The goldless age, where gold disturbs no dreams.
But their thirst after iron was irresistible; Wallis's ship was stripped
of all the nails in her by the seamen to purchase the good graces of
the women, who assembled in crowds on the shore. The men even drew out
of different parts of the ship those nails that fastened the cleats to
her side. This commerce established with the women rendered the men, as
might readily be expected, less obedient to command, and made it
necessary to punish some of them by flogging. The Otaheitans regarded
this punishment with horror. One of Cook's men having insulted a chief's
wife, he was ordered to be flogged in their presence. The Indians saw
him stripped and tied up to the rigging with a fixed attention, waiting
in silent suspense for the event; but as soon as the first stroke was
given, they interfered with great agitation, earnestly entreating that
the rest of the punishment might be remitted; and when they found they
were unable to prevail, they gave vent to their pity by tears. 'But
their tears,' as Cook observes, 'like those of children, were always
ready to express any passion that was strongly excited, and like those
of children, they also appeared to be forgotten as soon as shed.' And he
instances this by the following incident:--Mr. Banks seeing a young
woman in great affliction, the tears streaming from her eyes, inquired
earnestly the cause; but instead of answering, she took from under her
garment a shark's tooth, and struck it six or seven times into her head
with great force; a profusion of blood followed, and disregarding his
inquiries, she continued to talk loud in a melancholy tone, while those
around were laughing and talking without taking the least notice of her
distress. The bleeding having ceased, she looked up with a smile, and
collecting the pieces of cloth which she had used to stanch the blood,
threw them into the sea; then plunging into the river, and washing her
whole body, she returned to the tents with the same gaiety and
cheerfulness as if nothing had happened. The same thing occurred in the
case of a chief, who had given great offence to Mr. Banks, when he and
all his followers were overwhelmed with grief and dejection; but one of
his women, having struck a shark's tooth into her head several times,
till it was covered with blood, the scene was immediately changed, and
laughing and good humour took place. Wallis witnessed the same kind of
conduct. This, therefore, and the tears, are probably considered a sort
of expiation or doing penance for a fault.
But the sorrows of these simple and artless people are transient. Cook
justly observes, that what they feel they have never been taught either
to disguise or suppress; and having no habits of thinking, which
perpetually recall the past and anticipate the future, they are affected
by all the changes of the passing hour, and reflect the colour of the
time, however frequently it may vary. They grieve for the death of a
relation, and place the body on a stage erected on piles and covered
with a roof of thatch, for they never bury the dead, and never approach
one of these _morais_ without great solemnity; but theirs is no lasting
grief.
An old woman having died, Mr. Banks, whose pursuit was knowledge of
every kind, and to gain it made himself one of the people, requested he
might attend the ceremony and witness all the mysteries of the solemnity
of depositing the body in the morai. The request was complied with, but
on no other condition than his taking a part in it. This was just what
he wished. In the evening he repaired to the house of mourning, where he
was received by the daughter of the deceased and several others, among
whom was a boy about fourteen years old. One of the chiefs of the
district was the principal mourner, wearing a fantastical dress. Mr.
Banks was stripped entirely of his European clothes, and a small piece
of cloth was tied round his middle. His face and body were then smeared
with charcoal and water, as low as the shoulders, till they were as
black as those of a negro: the same operation was performed on the rest,
among whom were some women, who were reduced to a state as near to
nakedness as himself; the boy was blacked all over, after which the
procession set forward, the chief mourner having mumbled something like
a prayer over the body. It is the custom of the Indians to fly from
these processions with the utmost precipitation. On the present occasion
several large bodies of the natives were put to flight, all the houses
were deserted, and not an Otaheitan was to be seen. The body being
deposited on the stage, the mourners were dismissed to wash themselves
in the river, and to resume their customary dresses and their usual
gaiety.
They are, however, so jealous of any one approaching these abodes of
the dead, that one of Cook's party, happening one day to pull a flower
from a tree which grew in one of these sepulchral inclosures, was struck
by a native who saw it, and came suddenly behind him. The morai of
Oberea was a pile of stone-work raised pyramidically, two hundred and
sixty-seven feet long, eighty-seven feet wide, and forty-four feet high,
terminating in a ridge like the roof of a house, and ascended by steps
of white coral stone neatly squared and polished, some of them not less
than three feet and a half by two feet and a half. Such a structure,
observes Cook, raised without the assistance of iron tools, or mortar to
join them, struck us with astonishment, as a work of considerable skill
and incredible labour.
On the same principle of making himself acquainted with every novelty
that presented itself, Captain Cook states that 'Mr. Banks saw the
operation of _tattooing_ performed upon the back 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 stayed in the neighbouring house an hour, and the operation
was not over when he went away.'
The sufferings of this young lady did not however deter the late
President of the Royal Society from undergoing the operation on his own
person.
The skill and labour which the Otaheitans bestow on their large double
boats is not less wonderful than their stone morais, from the felling of
the tree and splitting it into plank, to the minutest carved ornaments
that decorate the head and the stern. The whole operation is performed
without the use of any metallic instrument. 'To fabricate one of their
principal vessels with their tools is,' says Cook, 'as great a work as
to build a British man of war with ours.' The fighting boats are
sometimes more than seventy feet long, but not above three broad; but
they are fastened in pairs, side by side, at the distance of about three
feet; the head and stern rise in a semi-circular form, the latter to the
height of seventeen or eighteen feet. To build these boats, and the
smaller kinds of canoes;--to build their houses, and finish the slight
furniture they contain;--to fell, cleave, carve, and polish timber for
various purposes;--and, in short, for every conversion of wood--the
tools they make use of are the following: an adze of stone; a chisel 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.
The persons of the Otaheitan men are in general tall, strong,
well-limbed and finely shaped; equal in size to the largest of
Europeans. The women of superior rank are also above the middle stature
of Europeans, but the inferior class are rather below it. The complexion
of the former class is that which we call a brunette, and the skin is
most delicately smooth and soft. The shape of the face is comely, the
cheek bones are not high, neither are the eyes hollow, nor the brow
prominent; the nose is a little, but not much, flattened; but their
eyes, and more particularly 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. In their motions
there is at once vigour as well as ease; their walk is graceful, their
deportment liberal, and their behaviour to strangers and to each other,
affable and courteous. In their dispositions they appear to be brave,
open, and candid, without suspicion or treachery, cruelty or revenge.
Mr. Banks had such confidence in them, as to sleep frequently in their
houses in the woods, without a companion, and consequently wholly in
their power. They are delicate and cleanly, almost wholly without
example.
'The natives of Otaheite,' says Cook, '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 be near them or at a distance.
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.'
If any one should think this picture somewhat overcharged, he will find
it fully confirmed in an account of them made by a description of men
who are not much disposed to represent worldly objects in the most
favourable light. In the first missionary voyage, in the year 1797, the
natives of Otaheite are thus described:
'Natural colour olive, inclining to copper; the women, who carefully
clothe themselves, and avoid the sun-beams, are but a shade or two
darker than an 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;
they are in general large and wide over the shoulders; we were therefore
disappointed in the judgement we had formed from the report of preceding
visitors; and though here and there was to be seen a young 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. Their manners are affable and engaging; their step easy,
firm, and graceful; their behaviour free and unguarded; always
boundless in generosity to each other, and to strangers; their tempers
mild, gentle, and unaffected; slow to take offence, easily pacified, and
seldom retaining resentment or revenge, whatever provocation they may
have received. Their arms and hands are very delicately formed; and
though they go barefoot, their feet are not coarse and spreading.
'As wives in private life, they are affectionate, tender and obedient to
their husbands, and uncommonly fond of their children: they nurse them
with the utmost care, and are particularly attentive to keep the
infant's limbs supple and straight. A cripple is hardly ever seen among
them in early life. A rickety child is never known; anything resembling
it would reflect the highest disgrace on the mother.
'The Otaheitans 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 this 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.'[2]
Such are the females and the mothers here described, whose interesting
offspring are now peopling Pitcairn's Island, and who, while they
inherit their mothers' virtues, have hitherto kept themselves free from
their vices.
The greater part of the food of Otaheitans is vegetable. Hogs, dogs, and
poultry are their only animals, and all of them serve for food. 'We all
agreed,' says Cook, 'that a South-Sea dog was little inferior to an
English lamb,' which he ascribes to its being kept up and fed wholly on
vegetables. Broiling and baking are the only two modes of applying fire
to their cookery. Captain Wallis observes, that having no vessel in
which water could be subjected to the action of fire, they had no more
idea that it could be made _hot_, than that it could be made _solid_;
and he mentions that one of the attendants of the supposed queen, having
observed the surgeon fill the tea-pot from an urn, turned the cock
himself, and received the water in his hand; and that as soon as he felt
himself scalded, he roared out and began to dance about the cabin with
the most extravagant and ridiculous expressions of pain and
astonishment; his companions, unable to conceive what was the matter,
staring at him in amaze, and not without some mixture of terror.
One of Oberea's peace-offerings to Mr. Banks, for the robbery of his
clothes committed in her boat, was a fine fat dog, and the way in which
it was prepared and baked was as follows. Tupei, the high priest,
undertook to perform the double office of butcher and cook. He first
killed him by holding his hands close over his mouth and nose for the
space of a quarter of an hour. A hole was then made in the ground about
a foot deep, in which a fire was kindled, and some small stones placed
in layers, alternately with the wood, to be heated. The dog was then
singed, scraped with a shell, and the hair taken off as clean as if he
had been scalded in hot water. He was then cut up with the same
instrument, and his entrails carefully washed. When the hole was
sufficiently heated, the fire was taken out, and some of the stones,
being placed at the bottom, were covered with green leaves. The dog,
with the entrails, was then placed upon the leaves, and other leaves
being laid upon them, the whole was covered with the rest of the hot
stones, and the mouth of the hole close stopped with mould. In somewhat
less than four hours, it was again opened, and the dog taken out
excellently baked, and the party all agreed that he made a very good
dish. These dogs it seems are bred to be eaten, and live wholly on
bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, yams, and other vegetables of the like kind.
The food of the natives, being chiefly vegetable, consists of the
various preparations of the bread-fruit, of cocoa-nuts, bananas,
plantains, and a great variety of other fruit, the spontaneous products
of a rich soil and genial climate. The bread-fruit, when baked in the
same manner as the dog was, is rendered soft, and not unlike a boiled
potato; not quite so farinaceous as a good one, but more so than those
of the middling sort. Much of this fruit is gathered before it is ripe,
and by a certain process is made to undergo the two states of
fermentation, the saccharine and acetous, in the latter of which it is
moulded into balls, and called _Mahie_. The natives seldom make a meal
without this sour paste. Salt water is the universal sauce, without
which no meal is eaten. Their drink in general consists of water, or the
juice of the cocoa-nut; the art of producing liquors that intoxicate by
fermentation being at this time happily unknown among them; neither did
they make use of any narcotic, as the natives of some other countries do
opium, beetel-nut, and tobacco. One day the wife of one of the chiefs
came running to Mr. Banks, who was always applied to in every emergency
and distress, and with a mixture of grief and terror in her countenance,
made him understand that her husband was dying, in consequence of
something the strangers had given him to eat. Mr. Banks found his friend
leaning his head against a post, in an attitude of the utmost languor
and despondency. His attendants brought out a leaf folded up with great
care, containing part of the poison of the effects of which their master
was now dying. On opening the leaf Mr. Banks found in it a chew of
tobacco, which the chief had asked from some of the seamen, and
imitating them, as he thought, he had rolled it about in his mouth,
grinding it to powder with his teeth, and ultimately swallowing it.
During the examination of the leaf he looked up at Mr. Banks with the
most piteous countenance, and intimated that he had but a very short
time to live. A copious draught of cocoa-nut milk, however, set all to
rights, and the chief and his attendants were at once restored to that
flow of cheerfulness and good-humour, which is the characteristic of
these single-minded people.
There is, however, one plant from the root of which they extract a juice
of an intoxicating quality, called _Ava_, but Cook's party saw nothing
of its effects, probably owing to their considering drunkenness as a
disgrace. This vice of drinking ava is said to be peculiar almost to the
chiefs, 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 the women.
As eating is one of the most important concerns of life, here as well as
elsewhere, Captain Cook's description of a meal made by one of the
chiefs of the island cannot be considered as uninteresting, and is here
given in his own words.
'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
bananas, are 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 one 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 bread-fruits, 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 meantime 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 of us were able to do it before
we left the island, and some that could scarcely crack a filbert. The
master when he chooses to drink takes the cocoa-nut thus prepared, and
boring a hole through the shell with his fingers, 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 everything that is left is replaced in the basket.'
Captain Cook adds, '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 on the occasion.'
The women, who, on other occasions, always mix in the amusements of the
men, who are particularly fond of their society, are wholly excluded
from their meals; nor could the latter be prevailed on to partake of
anything when dining in company on board ship; they said it was not
right: even brothers and sisters have each their separate baskets, and
their provisions are separately prepared; but the English officers and
men, when visiting the young ones at their own houses, frequently ate
out of the same basket and drank out of the same cup, to the horror and
dismay of the older ladies, who were always offended at this liberty;
and if by chance any of the victuals were touched, or even the basket
that contained them, they would throw them away.
In this fine climate houses are almost unnecessary. The minimum range of
the thermometer is about 63°, the maximum 85°, giving an average of 74°.
Their sheds or houses consist generally of a thatched roof raised on
posts, the eaves reaching to within three or four feet of the ground;
the floor is covered with soft hay, over which are laid mats, so that
the whole is one cushion, on which they sit by day and sleep by night.
They eat in the open air, under the shade of the nearest tree. In each
district there is a house erected for general use, much larger than
common, some of them exceeding two hundred feet in length, thirty broad,
and twenty high. The dwelling-houses all stand in the woody belt which
surrounds the island, between the feet of the central mountains and the
sea, each having a very small piece of ground cleared, just enough to
keep the dropping of the trees from the thatch. An Otaheitan wood
consists chiefly of groves of bread-fruit and cocoa-nuts, without
underwood, and intersected in all directions by the paths that lead from
one house to another. 'Nothing,' says Cook, 'can be more grateful than
this shade, in so warm a climate, nor anything more beautiful than these
walks,'
With all the activity they are capable of displaying, and the
sprightliness of their disposition, they are fond of indulging in ease
and indolence. The trees that produce their food are mostly of
spontaneous growth--the bread-fruit, cocoa-nut, bananas of thirteen
sorts, besides plantains; a fruit not unlike an apple, which, when ripe,
is very pleasant; sweet potatoes, yams, and a species of _arum_; the
pandanus, the jambu and the sugar-cane; a variety of plants whose roots
are esculent--these, with many others, are produced with so little
culture, that, as Cook observes, they seem to be exempted from the first
general curse that 'man should eat his bread in the sweat of his brow.'
Then for clothing they have the bark of three different trees, the paper
mulberry, the bread-fruit tree, and a tree which resembles the wild
fig-tree of the West Indies; of these the mulberry only requires to be
cultivated.
In preparing the cloth they display a very considerable degree of
ingenuity. Red and yellow are the two colours most in use for dyeing
their cloth; the red is stated to be exceedingly brilliant and
beautiful, approaching nearest to our full scarlet; it is produced by
the mixture of the juices of two vegetables, neither of which separately
has the least tendency to that hue: one is the _Cordia Sebestina_, the
other a species of _Ficus_; of the former the leaves, of the latter the
fruits yield the juices. The yellow dye is extracted from the bark of
the root of the _Morinda citrifolia_, by scraping and infusing it in
water.
Their matting is exceedingly beautiful, particularly that which is made
from the bark of the _Hibiscus tiliaceus_, and of a species of
_Pandanus_. Others are made of rushes and grass with amazing facility
and dispatch. In the same manner their basket and wicker work are most
ingeniously made; the former in patterns of a thousand different kinds.
Their nets and fishing-lines are strong and neatly made, so are their
fish-hooks of pearl-shell; and their clubs are admirable specimens of
wood-carving.
A people so lively, sprightly, and good-humoured as the Otaheitans are,
must necessarily have their amusements. They are fond of music, such as
is derived from a rude flute and a drum; of dancing, wrestling, shooting
with the bow, and throwing the lance. They exhibit frequent trials of
skill and strength in wrestling; and Cook says it is scarcely possible
for those who are acquainted with the athletic sports of very remote
antiquity, not to remark a rude resemblance of them in a wrestling-match
(which he describes) among the natives of a little island in the midst
of the Pacific Ocean.
But these simple-minded people have their vices, and great ones too.
Chastity is almost unknown among a certain description of women: there
is a detestable society called _Arreoy_, composed, it would seem, of a
particular class, who are supposed to be the chief warriors of the
island. In this society the men and women live in common; and on the
birth of a child it is immediately smothered, that its bringing up may
not interfere with the brutal pleasures of either father or mother.
Another savage practice is that of immolating human beings at the
_Morais_, which serve as temples as well as sepulchres, and yet, by the
report of the missionaries, they entertain a due sense and reverential
awe of the Deity. 'With regard to their worship,' Captain Cook does the
Otaheitans but justice in saying, 'they reproach many who bear the name
of Christians. You see no instances of an Otaheitan drawing near the
Eatooa with carelessness and inattention; he is all devotion; he
approaches the place of worship with reverential awe; uncovers when he
treads on sacred ground; and prays with a fervour that would do honour
to a better profession. He firmly credits the traditions of his
ancestors. None dares dispute the existence of the Deity.' Thieving may
also be reckoned as one of their vices; this, however, is common to all
uncivilized nations, and, it may be added, civilized too. But to judge
them fairly in this respect, we should compare their situation with that
of a more civilized people. A native of Otaheite goes on board a ship
and finds himself in the midst of iron bolts, nails, knives, scattered
about, and is tempted to carry off a few of them. If we could suppose a
ship from El Dorado to arrive in the Thames, and that the custom-house
officers, on boarding her, found themselves in the midst of bolts,
hatchets, chisels, all of solid gold, scattered about the deck, one need
scarcely say what would be likely to happen. If the former found the
temptation irresistible to supply himself with what was essentially
useful--the latter would be as little able to resist that which would
contribute to the indulgence of his avarice or the gratification of his
pleasures, or of both.
Such was the state of this beautiful island and its interesting and
fascinating natives at the time when Captain Wallis first discovered and
Lieutenant Cook shortly afterwards visited it. What they now are, as
described by Captain Beechey, it is lamentable to reflect. All their
usual and innocent amusements have been denounced by the missionaries,
and, in lieu of them, these poor people have been driven to seek for
resources in habits of indolence and apathy: that simplicity of
character, which atoned for many of their faults, has been converted
into cunning and hypocrisy; and drunkenness, poverty, and disease have
thinned the island of its former population to a frightful degree. By a
survey of the first missionaries, and a census of the inhabitants, taken
in 1797, the population was estimated at 16,050 souls; Captain
Waldegrave, in 1830, states it, on the authority of a census also taken
by the missionaries, to amount only to 5000--and there is but too much
reason to ascribe this diminution to praying, psalm-singing, and
dram-drinking.[3]
The island of Otaheite is in shape two circles united by a low and
narrow isthmus. The larger circle is named Otaheite Mooé, and is about
thirty miles in diameter; the lesser, named Tiaraboo, about ten miles in
diameter. A belt of low land, terminating in numerous valleys, ascending
by gentle slopes to the central mountain, which is about seven thousand
feet high, surrounds the larger circle, and the same is the case with
the smaller circle on a proportionate scale. Down these valleys flow
streams and rivulets of clear water, and the most luxuriant and verdant
foliage fills their sides and the hilly ridges that separate them, among
which were once scattered the smiling cottages and little plantations of
the natives. All these are now destroyed, and the remnant of the
population has crept down to the flats and swampy ground on the sea
shore, completely subservient to the seven establishments of
missionaries, who have taken from them what little trade they used to
carry on, to possess themselves of it; who have their warehouses, act as
agents, and monopolize all the cattle on the island--but, in return,
they have given them a new religion and a _parliament (risum teneatis?)_
and reduced them to a state of complete pauperism--and all, as they say,
and probably have so persuaded themselves, for the honour of God, and
the salvation of their souls! How much is such a change brought about by
such conduct to be deprecated! how lamentable is it to reflect, that an
island on which Nature has lavished so many of her bounteous gifts, with
which neither Cyprus nor Cythera, nor the fanciful island of Calypso,
can compete in splendid and luxuriant beauties, should be doomed to such
a fate,--in an enlightened age, and by a people that call themselves
civilized!