_Departure from Tanna; with some Account of its Inhabitants, their
Manners and Arts._
1774 August
During the night the wind had veered round to S.E. As this was favourable
for getting out of the harbour, at four o'clock in the morning of the 20th,
we began to unmoor, and at eight, having weighed our last anchor, put to
sea. As soon as we were clear of the land, I brought-to, waiting for the
launch, which was left behind to take up a kedge-anchor and hawser we had
out, to cast by. About day-break a noise was heard in the woods, nearly
abreast of us, on the east side of the harbour, not unlike singing of
psalms. I was told that the like had been heard at the same time every
morning, but it never came to my knowledge till now, when it was too late
to learn the occasion of it. Some were of opinion, that at the east point
of the harbour (where we observed, in coming in, some houses, boats, etc.)
was something sacred to religion, because some of our people had attempted
to go to this point, and were prevented by the natives. I thought, and do
still think, it was owing to a desire they shewed on every occasion, of
fixing bounds to our excursions. So far as we had once been, we might go
again; but not farther with their consent. But by encroaching a little
every time, our country expeditions were insensibly extended without giving
the least umbrage. Besides, these morning ceremonies, whether religious or
not, were not performed down at that point, but in a part where some of our
people had been daily.
I cannot say what might be the true cause of these people shewing such
dislike to our going up into their country. It might be owing to a
naturally jealous disposition, or perhaps to their being accustomed to
hostile visits from their neighbours, or quarrels among themselves.
Circumstances seemed to shew that such must frequently happen; for we
observed them very expert in arms, and well accustomed to them; seldom or
never travelling without them. It is possible all this might be on our
account; but I hardly think it. We never gave them the least molestation,
nor did we touch any part of their property, not even the wood and water,
without first having obtained their consent. The very cocoa-nuts, hanging
over the heads of the workmen, were as safe as those in the middle of the
island. It happened rather fortunately, that there were so many cocoa-nut
trees, near the skirts of the harbour, which seemed not to be private
property; so that we could generally prevail on the natives to bring us
some of these nuts, when nothing would induce them to bring any out of the
country.
We were not wholly without refreshments; for besides the fish, which our
seine now and then provided us with, we procured daily some fruits or roots
from the natives, though but little in proportion to what we could consume.
The reason why we got no more might be our having nothing to give them in
exchange, which they thought valuable. They had not the least knowledge of
iron; consequently, nails and iron tools, beads, etc. which had so great a
run at the more eastern isles, were of no consideration here; and cloth can
be of no use to people who go naked.
The produce of this island is bread-fruit, plantains, cocoa-nuts, a fruit
like a nectarine, yams, tarra, a sort of potatoe, sugar-cane, wild figs, a
fruit like an orange, which is not eatable, and some other fruit and nuts
whose names I have not. Nor have I any doubt that the nutmeg before
mentioned was the produce of this island. The bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, and
plantains, are neither so plentiful nor so good as at Otaheite; on the
other hand, sugar-canes and yams are not only in greater plenty, but of
superior quality, and much larger. We got one of the latter which weighed
fifty-six pounds, every ounce of which was good. Hogs did not seem to be
scarce; but we saw not many fowls. These are the only domestic animals they
have. Land-birds are not more numerous than at Otaheite, and the other
islands; but we met with some small birds, with a very beautiful plumage,
which we had never seen before. There is as great a variety of trees and
plants here, as at any island we touched at, where our botanists had time
to examine. I believe these people live chiefly on the produce of the land,
and that the sea contributes but little to their subsistence. Whether this
arises from the coast not abounding with fish, or from their being bad
fishermen, I know not; both causes perhaps concur. I never saw any sort of
fishing-tackle amongst them, nor any one out fishing, except on the shoals,
or along the shores of the harbour, where they would watch to strike with a
dart such fish as came within their reach; and in this they were expert.
They seemed much to admire our catching fish with the seine; and, I
believe, were not well pleased with it at last. I doubt not, they have
other methods of catching fish besides striking them.
We understood that the little isle of Immer was chiefly inhabited by
fishermen, and that the canoes we frequently saw pass, to and from that
isle and the east point of the harbour, were fishing canoes. These canoes
were of unequal sizes, some thirty feet long, two broad, and three deep;
and they are composed of several pieces of wood clumsily sewed together
with bandages. The joints are covered on the outside by a thin batten
champered off at the edges, over which the bandages pass. They are
navigated either by paddles or sails. The sail is lateen, extended to a
yard and boom, and hoisted to a short mast. Some of the large canoes have
two sails, and all of them outriggers.
At first we thought the people of this island, as well as those of
Erromango, were a race between the natives of the Friendly Islands and
those of Mallicollo; but a little acquaintance with them convinced us that
they had little or no affinity to either, except it be in their hair, which
is much like what the people of the latter island have. The general colours
of it are black and brown, growing to a tolerable length, and very crisp
and curly. They separate it into small locks, which they woold or cue round
with the rind of a slender plant, down to about an inch of the ends; and,
as the hair grows, the woolding is continued. Each of these cues or locks
is somewhat thicker than common whipcord; and they look like a parcel of
small strings hanging down from the crown of their heads. Their beards,
which are strong and bushy, are generally short. The women do not wear
their hair so, but cropped; nor do the boys, till they approach manhood.
Some few men, women, and children, were seen, who had hair like ours; but
it was obvious that these were of another nation; and, I think, we
understood they came from Erronan. It is to this island they ascribe one of
the two languages which they speak, and which is nearly, if not exactly,
the same as that spoken in the Friendly Islands. It is therefore more than
probable that Erronan was peopled from that nation, and that by long
intercourse with Tanna and the other neighbouring islands, each had learnt
the other's language, which they use indiscriminately.
The other language which the people of Tanna speak, and, as we understood,
those of Erromango and Annatom, is properly their own. It is different from
any we had before met with, and bears no affinity to that of Mallicollo; so
that, it should seem, the people of these islands are a distinct nation of
themselves. Mallicollo, Apee, etc. were names entirely unknown to them; they
even knew nothing of Sandwich Island, which is much nearer. I took no small
pains to know how far their geographical knowledge extended; and did not
find that it exceeded the limits of their horizon.
These people are of the middle size, rather slender than otherwise; many
are little, but few tall or stout; the most of them have good features, and
agreeable countenances; are, like all the tropical race, active and nimble;
and seem to excel in the use of arms, but not to be fond of labour. They
never would put a hand to assist in any work we were carrying on, which the
people of the other islands used to delight in. Bat what I judge most from,
is their making the females do the most laborious work, as if they were
pack-horses. I have seen a woman carrying a large bundle on her back, or a
child on her back and a bundle under her arm, and a fellow strutting before
her with nothing but a club or spear, or some such thing. We have
frequently observed little troops of women pass, to and fro, along the
beach, laden with fruit and roots, escorted by a party of men under arms;
though, now and then, we have seen a man carry a burden at the same time,
but not often. I know not on what account this was done, nor that an armed
troop was necessary. At first, we thought they were moving out of the
neighbourhood with their effects, but we afterwards saw them both carry
out, and bring in, every day.
I cannot say the women are beauties, but I think them handsome enough for
the men, and too handsome for the use that is made of them. Both sexes are
of a very dark colour, but not black; nor have they the least
characteristic of the negro about them. They make themselves blacker than
they really are, by painting their faces with a pigment of the colour of
black-lead. They also use another sort which is red, and a third sort
brown, or a colour between red and black. All these, but especially the
first, they lay on with a liberal hand, not only on the face, but on the
neck, shoulders, and breast. The men wear nothing but a belt, and the
wrapping leaf as at Mallicollo. The women have a kind of petticoat made of
the filaments of the plantain-tree, flags, or some such thing, which
reaches below the knee. Both sexes wear ornaments, such as bracelets,
ear-rings, necklaces, and amulets. The bracelets are chiefly worn by the men;
some made of sea-shells, and others of those of the cocoa-nut. The men also
wear amulets; and those of most value being made of a greenish stone, the
green stone of New Zealand is valued by them for this purpose. Necklaces
are chiefly used by the women, and made mostly of shells. Ear-rings are
common to both sexes, and those valued most are made of tortoise-shell.
Some of our people having got some at the Friendly Islands, brought it to a
good market here, where it was of more value than any thing we had besides;
from which I conclude that these people catch but few turtle, though I saw
one in the harbour, just as we were getting under sail. I observed that,
towards the latter end of our stay, they began to ask for hatchets, and
large nails, so that it is likely they had found that iron is more
serviceable than stone, bone, or shells, of which all their tools I have
seen are made. Their stone hatchets, at least all those I saw, are not in
the shape of adzes, as at the other islands, but more like an axe. In the
helve, which is pretty thick, is made a hole into which the stone is fixed.
These people, besides the cultivation of ground, have few other arts worth
mentioning. They know how to make a coarse kind of matting, and a coarse
cloth of the bark of a tree, which is used chiefly for belts. The
workmanship of their canoes, I have before observed, is very rude; and
their arms, with which they take the most pains in point of neatness, come
far short of some others we have seen. Their weapons are clubs, spears or
darts, bows and arrows, and stones. The clubs are of three or four kinds,
and from three to five feet long. They seem to place most dependence on the
darts, which are pointed with three bearded edges. In throwing them they
make use of a becket, that is, a piece of stiff plaited cord about six
inches long, with an eye in one end and a knot at the other. The eye is
fixed on the fore-finger of the right hand, and the other end is hitched
round the dart, where it is nearly on an equipoise. They hold the dart
between the thumb and remaining fingers, which serve only to give it
direction, the velocity being communicated by the becket and fore-finger.
The former flies off from the dart the instant its velocity becomes greater
than that of the hand. But it remains on the finger ready to be used again.
With darts they kill both birds and fish, and are sure of hitting a mark,
within the compass of the crown of a hat, at the distance of eight or ten
yards; but, at double that distance, it is chance if they hit a mark the
size of a man's body, though they will throw the weapon sixty or seventy
yards. They always throw with all their might, let the distance be what it
will. Darts, bows and arrows are to them what musquets are to us. The
arrows are made of reeds pointed with hard wood; some are bearded and some
not, and those for shooting birds have two, three, and sometimes four
points. The stones they use are, in general, the branches of coral rocks
from eight to fourteen inches long, and from an inch to an inch-and-half in
diameter. I know not if they employ them as missive weapons; almost every
one of them carries a club, and besides that, either darts, or a bow and
arrows, but never both; those who had stones kept them generally in their
belts.
I cannot conclude this account of their arms without adding an entire
passage out of Mr Wales's journal. As this gentleman was continually on
shore amongst them, he had a better opportunity of seeing what they could
perform, than any of us. The passage is as follows: "I must confess I have
been often led to think the feats which Homer represents his heroes as
performing with their spears, a little too much of the marvellous to be
admitted into an heroic poem; I mean when confined within the strait stays
of Aristotle. Nay, even so great an advocate for him as Mr Pope,
acknowledges them to be _surprising_. But since I have seen what these
people can do with their wooden spears, and them badly pointed, and not of
a very hard nature, I have not the least exception to any one passage in
that great poet on this account. But, if I see fewer exceptions, I can find
infinitely more beauties in him; as he has, I think, scarce an action,
circumstance, or description of any kind whatever, relating to a spear,
which I have not seen and recognised among these people; as their whirling
motion, and whistling noise, as they fly; their quivering motion, as they
stick in the ground when they fall; their meditating their aim, when they
are going to throw, and their shaking them in their hand as they go along,
etc. etc."
I know no more of their cookery, than that it consists of roasting and
baking; for they have no vessel in which water can be boiled. Nor do I know
that they have any other liquor but water and the juice of the cocoa-nut.
We are utter strangers to their religion; and but little acquainted with
their government. They seem to have chiefs among them; at least some were
pointed out to us by that title; but, as I before observed, they appeared
to have very little authority over the rest of the people. Old Geogy was
the only one the people were ever seen to take the least notice of; but
whether this was owing to high rank or old age, I cannot say. On several
occasions I have seen the old men respected and obeyed. Our friend Paowang
was so; and yet I never heard him called chief, and have many reasons to
believe that he had not a right to any more authority than many of his
neighbours, and few, if any, were bound to obey him, or any other person in
our neighbourhood; for if there had been such a one, we certainly should,
by some means, have known it. I named the harbour Port Resolution, after
the ship, she being the first which ever entered it. It is situated on the
north side of the most eastern point of the island, and about E.N.E. from
the volcano; in the latitude of 19° 32' 25" 1/2 S., and in the longitude of
169° 44' 35" E. It is no more than a little creek running in S. by W. 1/2
W. three quarters of a mile, and is about half that in breadth. A shoal of
sand and rocks, lying on the east side, makes it still narrower. The depth
of water in the harbour is from six to three fathoms, and the bottom is
sand and mud. No place can be more convenient for taking in wood and water;
for both are close to the shore. The water stunk a little after it had been
a few days on board, but it afterwards turned sweet; and even when it was
at the worst, the tin machine would, in a few hours, recover a whole cask.
This is an excellent contrivance for sweetening water at sea, and is well
known in the navy.
Mr Wales, from whom I had the latitude and longitude, found the variation
of the needle to be 7° 14' 12" E., and the dip of its south end 45° 2' 3/4.
He also observed the time of high water, on the full and change days, to be
about 5h 45m; and the tide to rise and fall three feet.