A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xiii Part 3

In numeration they proceed from one to ten, the number of fingers on both hands; and though they have for each number a different name, they generally take hold of their fingers one by one, s.h.i.+fting from one hand to the other, till they come to the number they want to express. And in other instances, we observed that, when they were conversing with each other, they joined signs to their words, which were so expressive that a stranger might easily apprehend their meaning.

In counting from ten they repeat the name of that number, and add the word _more_; ten, and one more, is eleven; ten, and two more, twelve; and so of the rest, as we say one-and-twenty, two-and-twenty. When they come to ten and ten more, they have a new denomination, as we say a score; and by these scores they count till they get ten of them, when they have a denomination for two hundred; and we never could discover that they had any denomination to express a greater number: Neither, indeed; do they seem to want any; for ten of these amount to two thousand, a greater number than they can ever apply.[24]

[Footnote 24: The reader cannot but be pleased with what Goguet says on the practice of numbering with the fingers, so common in most nations, and adopted we see by the Otaheitans. "Nature has provided us with a kind of arithmetical instrument more generally used than is commonly imagined; I mean our fingers. Every thing inclines us to think, that these were the first instruments used by men to a.s.sist them in the practice of numeration. We may observe in Homer, that Proteus counts his sea-calves by fives and fives, that is, by his fingers. Several nations in America have no other instruments of calculation. It was probably the same in the primitive ages. It is another strong presumption of the truth of what I now advance, that all civilized nations count by tens, tens of tens, or _hundreds_, tens of hundreds, _thousands_, and so on; still from ten to ten. We can discover no reason why the number ten should be chosen rather than any other for the term of numeration, except this primitive practice of counting by the fingers." The whole of his observations on this subject are well worthy of minute consideration. On such elements, the provision of nature, are founded the most sublime and important sciences.--E.]

In measuring distance they are much more deficient than in computing numbers, having but one term which answers to fathom; when they speak of distances from place to place, they express it, like the Asiatics, by the time that is required to pa.s.s it.

Their language is soft and melodious; it abounds with vowels, and we easily learnt to p.r.o.nounce it: But found it exceedingly difficult to teach them to p.r.o.nounce a single word of ours; probably not only from its abounding in consonants, but from some peculiarity in its structure; for Spanish and Italian words, if ending in a vowel, they p.r.o.nounced with great facility.

Whether it is copious, we were not sufficiently acquainted with it to know; but it is certainly very imperfect, for it is almost totally without inflexion, both of nouns and verbs. Few of the nouns have more than one case, and few of the verbs more than one tense; yet we found no great difficulty in making ourselves mutually understood, however strange it may appear in speculation.

They have, however, certain _affixa_, which, though but few in number, are very useful to them, and puzzled us extremely. One asks another, _Harre hea?_ "Where are you going?" the other answers _Ivahinera_, "To my wives;" upon which the first repeating the answer interrogatively, "To your wives?" is answered, _Ivahinereira_; "Yes, I am going to my wives." Here the suffixa _era_ and _eira_ save several words to both parties.[25]

[Footnote 25: A table of some words of the language follows in the copy.--It is omitted here, because an opportunity will occur, to give one more full and correct; and it seemed injudicious to run the hazard of being charged with unnecessary repet.i.tion.--E.]

Among people whose food is so simple, and who in general are seldom drunk, it is scarcely necessary to say, that there are but few diseases; we saw no critical disease during our stay upon the island, and but few instances of sickness, which were accidental fits of the cholic. The natives, however, are afflicted with the erysipelas, and cutaneous eruptions of the scaly kind, very nearly approaching to a leprosy. Those in whom this distemper was far advanced, lived in a state of seclusion from all society, each in a small house built upon some unfrequented spot, where they were supplied with provisions: But whether they had any hope of relief, or languished out the remainder of their lives in solitude and despair, we could not learn. We observed also a few who had ulcers upon different parts of their bodies, some of which had a very virulent appearance; yet they seemed not much to be regarded by those who were afflicted with them, for they were left entirely without application even to keep off the flies.[26]

[Footnote 26: The affection of the skin, called leprosy in the text, is, in the missionary account, ascribed to the excessive use of the _yava_, the intoxicating beverage of the Otaheitans, and is there said to be regarded by many as a _badge of n.o.bility_. This perhaps is something on the same principle as the gout is accounted among us, an evidence of a person's being rich; for it appears, that the common people in general are as unable to procure the yava in Otaheite, as they are on our side of the world to indulge in luxurious living. What excellency there is in the scabbed skins of the Otaheitan lepers, to ent.i.tle them to the estimation of n.o.bility, or what advantage they find in this to compensate the sufferings of so grievous a malady, is difficult indeed to divine; but it may be very safely affirmed of those among us, who have prospered so well as to obtain the gout for a possession, that they really require all the comforts of riches, though tenfold more than imagined, to render the residue of life any way tolerable. Yet such is the inconsistency of human nature, and so formidable its weakness of resolution, when pernicious habits are once formed, that few persons, though even writhing at the bare remembrance of its horrors, and dreading its approach as the attack of

Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things, Abominable, unutterable, and worse Than fables yet have feign'd, or fear conceived, Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras dire,

can be prevailed on to swear rebellion against it "For," says Dr Heberden, "this seems to be the favourite disease of the present age in England; wished for by those who have it not, and boasted of by those who fancy they have it, though very sincerely lamented by most who in reality suffer its tyranny. For, so much respect hath been shown to this distemper, that all the other evils, except pain, which the real or supposed gouty patient ever feels, are imputed most commonly not to his having too much of this disease, but to his wanting more; and the gout, far from being blamed as the cause, is looked up to as the expected deliverer from these evils." "The dread of being cured of the gout," he further remarks, "was and is still much greater than the dread of having it; and the world seems agreed patiently to submit to this tyrant, lest a worse should come in its room." It is not difficult to account for such absurdity, though it be quite impracticable to palliate it; and what is worse, from its being founded on something more congenial to human nature than even prejudice, it is almost impossible to remove it.

A single quotation more from the same author, so much in repute among his professional brethren, will at once unravel the mystery, and show how rare a thing a cure is, where the means essential to it are necessarily dependent on the self-denial of the patient. "Strong wines, and in no small quant.i.ty, have the reputation of being highly beneficial to gouty persons; which notion they have very _readily_ and _generally_ received, not so much perhaps from a reasonable persuasion of its truth, as from a desire that it should be true, because they love wine. Let them consider, that a free use of vinous and spirituous liquors peculiarly hurts the stomach and organs of digestion, and that the gout is bred and fostered by those who indulge themselves in drinking much wine; while the poorer part of mankind, who can get very little stronger than water to drink, have better appet.i.tes than wine-drinkers, and better digestions, and are far less subject to arthritic complaints. The most perfect cures, of which I have been a witness, have been effected by a total abstinence from spirits, and wine, and flesh, which in two or three instances hath restored the helpless and miserable patients from a state worse than death, to active and comfortable life: But I have seen too few examples of the success of this method, to be confident or satisfied of its general utility." The language of the missionary account is very similar and equally encouraging. "On the discontinuance of the practice of drinking the yava, the skin of the leprous persons soon becomes smooth and clear, and they grow fat, though few are found who deny themselves the use of it." If drugs could remove either of these calamities, it is certain there would be no difficulty in getting them to be swallowed; for most men, it seems, prefer any sorts of bitter and nauseating substances, though taken by the pound, and without intermission, to the salutary restraints on appet.i.te and vicious propensities, which common sense as well as common experience so authoritatively enjoin. It is as unjust to censure physicians for failing to cure the gout, as it would be to censure a surgeon for the lameness or deformity of the leg of a man, who, while under treatment for a fracture, should make daily attempts to dance or ride on horseback.--E.]

Where intemperance produces no diseases, there will be no physicians by profession; yet where there is sufferance, there will always be attempts to relieve; and where the cause of the mischief and the remedy are alike unknown, these will naturally be directed by superst.i.tion: Thus it happens, that in this country, and in all others which are not further injured by luxury, or improved by knowledge, the management of the sick falls to the lot of the priest. The method of cure that is practised by the priests of Otaheite, consists chiefly of prayers and ceremonies.

When he visits his patient he repeats certain sentences, which appear to be set forms contrived for the occasion, and at the same time plaits the leaves of the cocoa-nut into different figures very neatly; some of these he fastens to the fingers and toes of the sick, and often leaves behind him a few branches of the the _specia populnea_, which they call _E'midho_: These ceremonies are repeated till the patient recovers or dies. If he recovers, they say the remedies cured him, if he dies, they say the disease was incurable, in which perhaps they do not much differ from the custom of other countries.[27]

[Footnote 27: Dr Hawkesworth, we see, is at loggerheads with both priests and physicians, and spares neither. Let the respective members of these bodies defend their crafts as they best can. Certainly they will have the bias of the mult.i.tude in their favour, and so need to care little about the insinuations and sarcasms of the few. If nine-tenths of mankind give them credit for their pretences, and of consequence yield to their influence, they may contentedly, without a grudge, see the remaining modic.u.m persist in their obstinacy. The fact is, however, that the fears and hopes of mankind are almost always superior in efficacy to their reason, and accordingly, in the two predicaments of bodily and spiritual health, are continually acting like tendrils which embrace with undistinguis.h.i.+ng affection whatever comes in their way, as the ivy clings to the tree or wall that happens to be in its neighbourhood.

Influence, once acquired by accident or artifice, is easily prolonged by him who knows the secret of its origin and existence--and hence in all ages and countries of the world, the mysteries and mummeries of designing men, leagued to practise on the infatuated propensities and real weaknesses of their fellow creatures. It is not till many generations have pa.s.sed, that the small sparks of reason, occasionally shooting off in various directions, have penetrated the gloomy atmosphere around them, and ascertained the universal and unqualified dependence of the whole human race on the same uncontroulable powers. In proportion as these rays of light have coalesced, the presumption of the _learned brethren_ has decreased; and should this superlative discovery be ever consummated in the general conviction of society, then will their characters undergo a thorough revolution--they will be loved more and admired less--they will be considered, not as the repositories of secrets to be dispensed with the cold hand of calculating avarice and hypocrisy, but as the liberally minded declarers of those generally beneficial truths which honest study has discovered, in their peculiar departments of science. Till then the world must submit to wonder and believe, and, above all things, to pay them fees. But, looking forward to this era of improvement, they may join with the poet in saying

Yes! there are hearts, prophetic Hope may trust, That slumber yet in uncreated dust, Ordain'd to fire th' adoring sons of earth With every charm of wisdom and of worth; Ordain'd to light, with intellectual day, The mazy wheels of Nature as they play.--E.]

If we had judged of their skill in surgery from the dreadful scars which we sometimes saw, we should have supposed it to be much superior to the art not only of their physicians, but of ours. We saw one man whose face was almost entirely destroyed, his nose, including the bone, was perfectly flat, and one cheek and one eye were so beaten in that the hollow would almost receive a man's fist, yet no ulcer remained; and our companion, Tupia, had been pierced quite through his body by a spear headed with the bone of the sting-ray, the weapon having entered his back, and come out just under his breast; but, except in reducing dislocations and fractures, the best surgeon can contribute very little to the cure of a wound; the blood itself is the best vulnerary balsam, and when the juices of the body are pure, and the patient is temperate, nothing more is necessary as an aid to nature in the cure of the worst wound, than the keeping it clean.

Their commerce with the inhabitants of Europe has, however, already entailed upon them that dreadful curse which avenged the inhumanities committed by the Spaniards in America, the venereal disease. As it is certain that no European vessel besides our own, except the Dolphin, and the two that were under the command of Mons. Bougainville, ever visited this island, it must have been brought either by one of them or by us.[28] That it was not brought by the Dolphin, Captain Wallis has demonstrated in the account of her voyage, and nothing is more certain than that when we arrived, it had made most dreadful ravages in the island. One of our people contracted it within five days after we went on sh.o.r.e; and by the enquiries among the natives, which this occasioned, we learnt, when we came to understand a little of their language, that it had been brought by the vessels which had been there about fifteen months before us, and had lain on the east side of the island. They distinguished it by a name of the same import with _rottenness_, but of a more extensive signification, and described, in the most pathetic terms, the sufferings of the first victims to its rage, and told us that it caused the hair and the nails to fall off, and the flesh to rot from the bones; that it spread a universal terror and consternation among them, so that the sick were abandoned by their nearest relations, lest the calamity should spread by contagion, and left to perish alone in such misery as till then had never been known among them. We had some reason, however, to hope that they had found out a specific to cure it: During our stay upon the island we saw none in whom it had made a great progress, and one who went from us infected, returned after a short time in perfect health; and by this it appeared, either that the disease had cured itself, or that they were not unacquainted with the virtues of simples, nor implicit dupes to the superst.i.tious follies of their priests. We endeavoured to learn the medical qualities which they imputed to their plants, but our knowledge of their language was too imperfect for us to succeed. If we could have learnt their specific for the venereal disease, if such they have, it would have been of great advantage to us, for when we left the island it had been contracted by more than half the people on board the s.h.i.+p.

[Footnote 28: Bougainville most positively a.s.serts, that the disease existed in the island at his arrival; yet the statement of Wallis as to the _soundness_ of his crew, seems deserving of all credit. After all, perhaps, there is reason to doubt if the affection judged to be the Lues Venerea, and at different times so exceedingly prevalent among these people, were really so. Scientific men of the medical profession, know the extreme difficulty there is of deciding, as to the existence of this disease in certain cases. Common observers easily perceive and confidently aver. But to the general reader the discussion of this topic would be very unamusing. It is indeed quite irrelevant to the objects of this work. But there may be some propriety in giving the following remarks. The origin of the disease in question has never been distinctly ascertained, and perhaps never will be. The common opinion is, that it was brought from the western hemisphere; and the island of Hispaniola or St Domingo is particularly mentioned by some writers as the place of its first appearance. Hence the historian Robertson, with somewhat more of unnecessary vehemence than of dignified moderation and good sense, tells us in words very like part of our text: "One dreadful malady, the severest scourge with which, in this life, offended heaven chastens the indulgence of criminal desire, seems to have been peculiar to the Americans. By communicating it to their conquerors, they have not only amply avenged their own wrongs, but by adding this calamity to those which formerly embittered human life, they have, perhaps, more than counterbalanced all the benefits which Europe has derived from the discovery of the New World." As if a disease which every body might have avoided, so soon as its existence, its inveterate nature, and the mode of communicating it, were known, and which, after all that has been said of its malignity and rapid progress, was both mitigated by various means soon after its appearance, and ultimately at no great distance of time effectually arrested in its terrifying career--as if this could be considered competent to liquidate all the advantages and the greatly augmented comforts which have resulted to Europe and to the world at large by the discoveries of Columbus: And as if, granting all that has been exaggeratingly related of its spreading over Europe with the celerity and unqualified extension of an epidemic--such visitation on mult.i.tudes of generations no way implicated in the guilt, could by any rules of logic for the interpreting of Providence be construed into acts of righteous retribution in avenging these Indians! But in reality, it is highly disputable if the facts on which is exhibited such an _uncommonly_ zealous display of justice on the part of the historian, are adequate to warrant his opinion, that America inflicted this calamity. This is rather unfortunate for his apparent warmth of piety, and the more so, as, from the information to which he alludes in his note on the text, he must have been diffident at least of the accuracy of its application. In that note, he makes mention of a dissertation published in 1765, by Dr Antonio Sanchez Ribeiro, in which it is endeavoured to be proved that the venereal disease took its rise in Europe, and was brought on by an epidemical and malignant disorder.

Though calling in question some of the facts on which this opinion is built, the Princ.i.p.al allows that it "is supported with such plausible arguments, as render it (what? deserving of considerable regard, or very probable? No such thing--as render it) a subject of enquiry well deserving the attention of learned physicians!" Mr Bryan Edwards is more moderate in his judgment of the matter, and seemingly more industrious in ascertaining the evidence of it. In his opinion, an attentive enquirer will hesitate to subscribe to the conclusion that this infection was the product of the West Indies. He refers to the work of Sanchez above mentioned, and to several other works, for reasons to substantiate the other view; and he terminates his note with the following paragraph, which by most readers will be considered of superlative authority as to one important part of the case: In Stowe's Survey of London, vol. ii. p. 7, is preserved a copy of the rules or regulations established by parliament in the eighth year of Henry the Second, for the government of the licensed stews in Southwark, among which I find the following: "No stewholder to keep any woman that hath the perilous infirmity of burning." This was 330 years before the voyage of Columbus. If this "perilous infirmity of burning" be the disease now denominated the Lues Venerea, the question is solved as to the concern of America in its production. And all that Oviedo, Guicciardin, Charlevoix, and others say, as to its first appearance in Europe, when the king of Spain sent an army to the a.s.sistance of Ferdinand the Second of Naples, must be reckoned as applicable only to its greater frequency, or more common occurrence, than had before been known. But, indeed, the description given of the disease which then prevailed so alarmingly, is with some difficulty reconcileable to what is now ascertained of the venereal infection. Guicciardin himself seems to hint at a diversity in its form and mode of reception, betwixt the period he a.s.signs for its appearance, and "after the course of many years." "For then," says he, (the quotation is made from Fenton's curious translation, London, 1599) "the disease began to be less malitious, changing itself into diverse kindes of infirmity, _differing from the first calamity_, whereof truly the regions and people of our times might justly complain, _if it happened to them without their proper disorder_ (that is, without their own fault,) seeing it is well approved by all those that have diligently studied and observed the properties of that evil, that either never or very rarely it happeneth to any otherwayes, than by contagious wh.o.r.edome or immoderate incontinency." That a mistake exists in the early accounts as to the nature of the disease which was found at Hispaniola by the Spaniards, and by them on their return to Europe communicated to the French and Neapolitans, is very probable from the circ.u.mstance mentioned in them, that some vegetable substances, especially _guiaic.u.m_, were effectual for its cure;--since it is most certain, that the Lues Venerea of modern times is not at all destructible by such means, whereas there are several cutaneous affections which may be benefited by them. A similar remark may be made respecting the disease observable at Otaheite, which, as the reader will find in the text, is said to have been cured by _simples_ known to the inhabitants. This is most unlikely, if that disease were really the Lues Venerea, as is alleged, and had not existed among them previous to the arrival of Europeans; though what Lawson says in his account of the natives of North Carolina does undoubtedly yield material evidence to such an opinion. "They cure,"

says he, "the pox, which is frequent among them, by a berry that salivates, as mercury does; yet they use sweating and decoctions very much with it; as they do, almost on every occasion; and when they are thoroughly heated, they leap into the river." The natives of Madagascar too are said to cure this disease by similar treatment. But the reader's patience, perhaps, is exhausted, and it is full time to conclude this long note. On the whole, it seems probable enough, that this disease is not the product of any one particular country, and from it propagated among others by communication, but is the result of certain circ.u.mstances not indeed yet ascertained, but common to the human race, and of earlier occurrence in the world than is generally imagined.--E.]

It is impossible but that, in relating incidents, many particulars with respect to the customs, opinions, and works of these people should be antic.i.p.ated; to avoid repet.i.tion therefore, I shall only supply deficiencies. Of the manner of disposing of their dead much has been said already. I must more explicitly observe, that there are two places in which the dead are deposited; one a kind of shed, where the flesh is suffered to putrify; the other an inclosure, with erections of stone, where the bones are afterwards buried. The sheds are called _Tupapow_ and the inclosures _Morai_. The Morais are also places of wors.h.i.+p.[29]

[Footnote 29: "It is the heaviest stone," says Sir Thomas Brown in his curious work Hydriotaphia, "that melancholy can throw at a man, to tell him he is at the end of his nature; or that there is no farther state to come, unto which this seems progressional, and otherwise made in vain."

But of such a conspiracy and a.s.sault against the best hopes of man, these Otaheitans, we see, are by no means guilty. They look for another existence after that one is finished, in which the body held an inseparable companions.h.i.+p. By their mode of treating the dead, they seem to study the perpetuity of friends.h.i.+p, and by their using their morais as places of wors.h.i.+p, they acknowledge a fellows.h.i.+p with them in something that death cannot destroy. The philosopher of modern times may say this is foolish, and may call for evidence that the notion of immortality is not groundless. It is perhaps impossible to satisfy him, because, in fact, he demands of reason what it is not the province of reason to afford. The notion is founded on other principles of the const.i.tution which G.o.d has imparted to man, and these principles rebut all the sophistry of the presumptuous sciolist. Is it true, that this notion prevails universally among the human race? Let him answer to this. He must admit it;--let him then explain it, if he can. Reason, he will say, is incompetent to the task.--Admitted. But so is it to many other tasks--it cannot, for instance, solve the question, why we believe the sun will rise to-morrow and dispel the darkness now cloaking over the horizon? The hope that it will do so, is nevertheless very natural.

Who shall say it is improper, or that it is founded on the mere fancy of man? Reason indeed may strengthen the ground of this hope, and so may it too the notion of a future existence. But they both rest on foundations quite distinct from that faculty, and might, for any thing can be seen to the contrary, have formed part of our moral const.i.tution, although that faculty had never existed in our minds. And here let it be distinctly understood, that in stating the notion or expectation of a future existence to be founded on some principle or principles separate from reason, and the same in all the human race, it is not meant to be denied that the mere opinions as to the nature and condition of that existence may have no other foundation whatever than what Mr Hume, for instance, has ascribed erroneously to the notion itself--men's own conceit and imagination. This in fact is the secret of that writer's vile sophistry on the subject, and at once confutes it, by proving the inapplicability of his argument. All that is now contended for, is, the universality of the notion or belief, not by any means the similarity of the opinions connected with it. These opinions are as numerous, indeed, as the characteristic features of different nations and governments; but were they a thousand times more diversified than they are ascertained to be, and a thousand times more contradictory and absurd, they still recognise some instinctive or const.i.tutional principle common to our race, and which no reasoning or artifices of priests or designing men could possibly produce. No conceit or imagination can ever originate, though it may certainly foster, "this hope, this fond desire, this longing after immortality;" and no reasoning, no efforts of the mind, nay, what is still more striking, no dislike, however strong, as proceeding from an apprehension of some evil consequences involved in the truth of the belief, can eradicate the inclination to entertain it.

In short, it is no way paradoxical to a.s.sert, that, were man by any means to know that there shall be no hereafter, his whole life, supposing his const.i.tution to remain the same, would be a direct and continued contradiction to his knowledge. This, to be sure, would be a strange anomaly in the government of G.o.d, and utterly irreconcileable with every view we can form of his veracity, if we may use the expression, though still consistent with his wisdom and goodness. But what then shall we say of the conduct of the would-be philosophers, who, with limited faculties and intelligences and benevolence, (this is no disparagement, for even Voltaire himself, with all his powers, was but a finite creature!) force reason and science to prove what their own feelings belie, and to oppose what their consciences declare to be irresistible? It is not profane, on such an occasion, to accommodate the language of an apostle into a suitable rebuke to such perverse contenders. "What if some labour not to believe, shall their attempts frustrate the work of G.o.d? Far be it--G.o.d will maintain his truth, though all men should conspire against it." Allowing then free scope to a notion so natural to us, and having our opinions guided by an unerring light, we shall see that there is something vastly more dignified than fas.h.i.+on in the funeral rites of the Otaheitans--and feel that there is something vastly more important than eloquence, in the words of an author already quoted at the commencement of this note:--"Man is a n.o.ble animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave, solemnizing nativities and deaths with equal l.u.s.tre, nor omitting ceremonies of bravery, in the infancy of his nature;"--the reason for which is explained by another author, in words still more sublime and exhilarating:--"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of G.o.d, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."--E.]

As soon as a native of Otaheite is known to be dead, the house is filled with relations, who deplore their loss, some by loud lamentations, and some by less clamorous, but more genuine expressions of grief. Those who are in the nearest degree of kindred, and are really affected by the event, are silent; the rest are one moment uttering pa.s.sionate exclamations in a chorus, and the next laughing and talking without the least appearance of concern. In this manner the remainder of the day on which they a.s.semble is spent, and all the succeeding night. On the next morning the body is shrouded in their cloth, and conveyed to the seaside upon a bier, which the bearers support upon their shoulders, attended by the priest, who having prayed over the body, repeats his sentences during the procession: When it arrives at the water's edge, it is set down upon the beach; the priest renews his prayers, and taking up some of the water in his hands, sprinkles it towards the body, but not upon it. It is then carried back forty or fifty yards, and soon after brought again to the beach, where the prayers and sprinkling are repeated: It is thus removed backwards and forwards several times, and while these ceremonies have been performing, a house has been built, and a small s.p.a.ce of ground railed in. In the centre of this house, or Tupapow, posts are set up to support the bier, which is at length conveyed thither, and placed upon it, and here the body remains to putrify till the flesh is wholly wasted from the bones.

These houses of corruption are of a size proportioned to the rank of the person whose body they are to contain; those allotted to the lower cla.s.s are just sufficient to cover the bier, and have no railing round them.

The largest we ever saw was eleven yards long, and such as these are ornamented according to the abilities and inclination of the surviving kindred, who never fail to lay a profusion of good cloth about the body, and sometimes almost cover the outside of the house. Garlands of the fruit of the palm-nut, or _panda.n.u.s_, and cocoa leaves, twisted by the priests in mysterious knots, with a plant called by them _Ethee no Morai_, which is particularly consecrated to funeral solemnities, are deposited about the place; provision and water are also left at a little distance, of which, and of other decorations, a more particular description has been given already.

As soon as the body is deposited in the Tupapow, the mourning is renewed. The women a.s.semble, and are led to the door by the nearest relation, who strikes a shark's tooth several times into the crown of her head: The blood copiously follows, and is carefully received upon pieces of linen, which are thrown under the bier. The rest of the women follow this example, and the ceremony is repeated at the interval of two or three days, as long as the zeal and sorrow of the parties hold out.

The tears also which are shed upon these occasions, are received upon pieces of cloth, and offered as oblations to the dead: Some of the younger people cut off their hair, and that is thrown under the bier with the other offerings. This custom is founded upon a notion that the soul of the deceased, which they believe to exist in a separate state, is hovering about the place where the body is deposited; that it observes the actions of the survivors, and is gratified by such testimonies of their affection and grief.

Two or three days after these ceremonies have been commenced by the women, during which the men seem to be wholly insensible of their loss, they also begin to perform their part. The nearest relations take it in turn to a.s.sume the dress, and perform the office which have already been particularly described in the account of Tubourai Tamaide's having acted as chief mourner to an old woman, his relation, who died while we were in the island. One part of the ceremony, however, which accounts for the running away of the people as soon as this procession is in sight, has not been mentioned. The chief mourner carries in his hand a long flat stick, the edge of which is set with shark's teeth, and in a phrenzy, which his grief is supposed to have inspired, he runs at all he sees, and if any of them happen to be overtaken, he strikes them most unmercifully with this indented cudgel, which cannot fail to wound them in a dangerous manner.

These processions continue at certain intervals for five moons, but are less and less frequent, by a gradual diminution, as the end of that time approaches. When it is expired, what remains of the body is taken down from the bier, and the bones having been sc.r.a.ped and washed very clean, are buried, according to the rank of the person, either within or without a morai: If the deceased was an earee, or chief, his skull is not buried with the rest of the bones, but is wrapped up in fine cloth, and put in a kind of box made for that purpose, which is also placed in the morai. This coffer is called _ewharre no te orometua_, the house of a teacher or master. After this the mourning ceases, except some of the women continue to be really afflicted for the loss, and in that case they will sometimes suddenly wound themselves with the shark's tooth wherever they happen to be: This perhaps will account for the pa.s.sion of grief in which Terapo wounded herself at the fort; some accidental circ.u.mstance might forcibly revive the remembrance of a friend or relation whom she had lost, with a pungency of regret and tenderness which forced a vent by tears, and prompted her to a repet.i.tion of the funeral rite.

The ceremonies, however, do not cease with the mourning: Prayers are still said by the priest, who is well paid by the surviving relations, and offerings made at the morai. Some of the things, which from time to time are deposited there, are emblematical: A young plantain represents the deceased, and the bunch of feathers the deity who is invoked. The priest places himself over against the symbol of the G.o.d, accompanied by some of the relations, who are furnished with a small offering, and repeats his oraison in a set form, consisting of separate sentences; at the same time weaving the leaves of the cocoa-nut into different forms, which he afterwards deposits upon the ground where the bones have been interred; the deity is then addressed by a shrill screech, which is used only upon that occasion. When the priest retires, the tuft of feathers is removed, and the provisions left to putrify, or be devoured by the rats.[30]

[Footnote 30: There is something very remarkable in the circ.u.mstance of resemblance among very different and distant people, as to the practice of mourning for the dead, when in fact there can be no such thing as grief in existence, and when the appearance of it is merely a part of what may be called professional duty. It is clear from the accounts of the text and other authorities, that more are concerned in this mourning work at Otaheite, than are really concerned in the occasion of it; and the probability of course is, that in some way or other these additional attendants are recompensed for their doleful services. That the use of mercenary mourners prevailed, and still prevails, among some eastern nations, is clear from Scripture and the relations of recent authors.

The reader will find some amusing information concerning them, and an account of the Caoinan or funeral cry of the Irish as practised for similar purposes, in Dr A. Clarke's edition of Mr Harmer's Observations, before alluded to. A quotation from that work can scarcely fail to interest the reader, who will be afterwards favoured with a very curious description of what is said by Lawson to have been practised in North Carolina, in which the general point of resemblance is most strikingly displayed.--"Not only do the relations and female friends, in Egypt, surround the corpse, while it remains unburied, with the most bitter cries, scratching and beating their faces so violently as to make them b.l.o.o.d.y, and black, and blue; but, to render the hubbub more complete, and do the more honour to the dead person, whom they seem to imagine to be very fond of noise, those of the lower cla.s.s of people are wont to call in, on these occasions, certain _women_, who play on tabors, and whose business it is to sing mournful airs to the sound of this instrument, which they accompany with a thousand distortions of their limbs, as frightful as those of people possessed by the devil. These women attend the corpse to the grave intermixed with the relations and friends of the deceased, who commonly have their hair in the utmost disorder, like the frantic Baccha.n.a.lian women of the ancient heathens, their heads covered with dust, their faces daubed with indigo, or at least rubbed with mud, and howling like mad people." Now let us hear Lawson.--"These savages all agree in their mourning, which is to appear, every night, at the sepulchre, and howl and weep in a very dismal manner, having their faces daubed over with light-wood soot, (which is the same as lamp-black) and bears-oil. This renders them as black as it is possible to make themselves, so that their's very much resemble the faces of executed men boiled in tar. If the dead person was a grandee, to carry on the funeral ceremonies, they hire people to cry and lament over the dead man. Of this sort there are several, that practise it for a livelihood, and are very expert at shedding abundance of tears, and howling like wolves, and so discharging their office with abundance of hypocrisy and art." The reader will meet with a pretty full account of the funeral ceremonies among some of the eastern nations, in Dr Scott's introduction to his recent edition of the Arabian Nights Entertainments.--E.]

Of the religion of these people, we were not able to acquire any clear and consistent knowledge: We found it like the religion of most other countries, involved in mystery, and perplexed with apparent inconsistencies. The religious language is also here, as it is in China, different from that which is used in common; so that Tupia, who took great pains to instruct us, having no words to express his meaning which we understood, gave us lectures to very little purpose: What we learnt, however, I will relate with as much perspicuity as I can.

Nothing is more obvious to a rational being, however ignorant or stupid, than that the universe and its various parts, as far as they fall under his notice, were produced by some agent inconceivably more powerful than himself; and nothing is more difficult to be conceived, even by the most sagacious and knowing, than the production of them from nothing, which among us is expressed by the word _Creation_. It is natural therefore, as no Being apparently capable of producing the universe is to be seen, that he should be supposed to reside in some distant part of it, or to be in his nature invisible, and that he should have originally produced all that now exists in a manner similar to that in which nature is renovated by the succession of one generation to another; but the idea of procreation includes in it that of two persons, and from the conjunction of two persons these people imagine every thing in the universe either originally or derivatively to proceed.

The Supreme Deity, one of these two first beings, they call _Taroataihetoomoo_, and the other, whom they suppose to have been a rock, _Tepapa_. A daughter of these was _Tettowmatatayo_, the year, or thirteen months collectively, which they never name but upon this occasion, and she, by the common father, produced the months, and the months, by conjunction with each other, the days; the stars they suppose partly to be the immediate offspring of the first pair, and partly to have increased among themselves; and they have the same notion with respect to the different species of plants. Among other progeny of Taroataihetoomoo and Tepapa, they suppose an inferior race of deities whom they call _Eatuas_. Two of these Eatuas, they say, at some remote period of time, inhabited the earth, and were the parents of the first man. When this man, their common ancestor, was born, they say that he was round like a ball, but that his mother, with great care, drew out his limbs, and having at length moulded him into his present form, she called him _Eothe_, which signifies _finished_. That being prompted by the universal instinct to propagate his kind, and being able to find no female but his mother, he begot upon her a daughter, and upon the daughter other daughters for several generations, before there was a son; a son, however, being at length born, he, by the a.s.sistance of his sisters, peopled the world.

Besides their daughter Tettowmatatayo, the first progenitors of nature had a son whom they called _Tane_. Taroataihetoomoo, the Supreme Deity, they emphatically style the causer of earthquakes; but their prayers are more generally addressed to Tane, whom they suppose to take a greater part in the affairs of mankind.

Their subordinate deities or Eatuas, which are numerous, are of both s.e.xes: The male are wors.h.i.+pped by the men, and the female by the women; and each have morais to which the other s.e.x is not admitted, though they have also morais common to both. Men perform the office of priest to both s.e.xes, but each s.e.x has its priests, for those who officiate for one s.e.x do not officiate for the other.[31]

[Footnote 31: In several respects the theological notions of these islanders resemble those of the oriental philosophers, spoken of in Mosheim's Historical Account of the Church in the First Century, to which the curious reader is referred. The Otaheitan Eatuas and the Gnostic [Greek] seem near a-kin; the generation scheme is common to both. What said the philosophers? The Supreme Being, after pa.s.sing many ages in silence and inaction, did at length beget of himself, two beings of very excellent nature like his own; these, by some similar operation, produced others, who having the same desires and ability, soon generated more, till the [Greek], or whole s.p.a.ce inhabited by them, was completely occupied. A sort of inferior beings proceeded from these, and were considered by the wors.h.i.+ppers as intermediate betwixt themselves and the upper G.o.ds. But enough of this trash. Let certain infatuated admirers of ancient philosophy blush, if they are capable of such an indication of modesty, to find that the rude and tin-lettered inhabitants of an island in the South-Sea, are not a whit behind their venerated sages in the manufacture of G.o.ds and G.o.dlings. Alas, poor Gibbon! must the popular religion of Otaheite, the licentious, the dissolute, the child-murdering, the _unnatural_ Otaheite, be put on a level with the elegant mythology of Homer, and the mild, serviceable superst.i.tion of imperial Rome? Why not? Is it fitting that even Otaheite be excluded the benefit of this very impartial historian's humane maxim, which he puts into the mouths of the Lords of the earth; "in every country, the form of superst.i.tion, which has received the sanction of time and experience, is the best adapted to the climate and to its inhabitants?" By all means, give Taroataihetoomoo, Tepapa, and Tettowmatatayo, the _freedom of the city_--only clip their names a little for the conveniency of the liberal-minded catholics who may desire their acquaintance.--E.]

They believe the immortality of the soul, at least its existence in a separate state, and that there are two situations of different degrees of happiness, somewhat a.n.a.logous to our heaven and h.e.l.l: The superior situation they call _Tavirua Perai_, the other _Tiahoboo_. They do not, however, consider them as places of reward and punishment, but as receptacles for different cla.s.ses; the first, for their chiefs and princ.i.p.al people, the other for those of inferior rank, for they do not suppose that their actions here in the least influence their future state, or indeed that they come under the cognizance of their deities at all. Their religion, therefore, if it has no influence upon their morals, is at least disinterested; and their expressions of adoration and reverence, whether by words or actions, arise only from a humble sense of their own inferiority, and the ineffable excellence of divine perfection.

The character of the priest, or Tahowa, is hereditary: The cla.s.s is numerous, and consists of all ranks of people; the Chief, however, is generally the younger brother of a good family, and is respected in a degree next to their kings: Of the little knowledge that is possessed in this country, the priests have the greatest share; but it consists princ.i.p.ally in an acquaintance with the names and ranks of the different Eatuas or subordinate divinities, and the opinions concerning the origin of things, which have been traditionally preserved among the order in detached sentences, of which some will repeat an incredible number, though but very few of the words that are used in their common dialect occur in them.

The priests, however, are superior to the rest of the people in the knowledge of navigation and astronomy, and indeed the name Tahowa signifies nothing more than a man of knowledge. As there are priests of every cla.s.s, they officiate only among that cla.s.s to which they belong: The priest of the inferior cla.s.s is never called upon by those of superior rank, nor will the priest of the superior rank officiate for any of the inferior cla.s.s.

Marriage in this island, as appeared to us, is nothing more than an agreement between the man and woman, with which the priest has no concern. Where it is contracted it appears to be pretty well kept, though sometimes the parties separate by mutual consent, and in that case a divorce takes place with as little trouble as the marriage.

But though the priesthood has laid the people under no tax for a nuptial benediction, there are two operations which it has appropriated, and from which it derives considerable advantages. One is _tattowing_, and the other circ.u.mcision, though neither of them have any connection with religion. The tattowing has been described already. Circ.u.mcision has been adopted merely from motives of cleanliness; it cannot indeed properly be called circ.u.mcision, because the _prepuce_ is not mutilated by a circular wound, but only slit through the upper part to prevent its contracting over the _glans_. As neither of these can be performed by any but a priest, and as to be without either is the greatest disgrace, they may be considered as a claim to surplice fees like our marriages and christenings, which are cheerfully and liberally paid, not according to any settled stipend, but the rank and abilities of the parties or their friends.

The morai, as has already been observed, is at once a burying-ground and a place of wors.h.i.+p, and in this particular our churches too much resemble it. The Indian, however, approaches his morai with a reverence and humility that disgraces the christian, not because he holds any thing sacred that is there, but because he there wors.h.i.+ps an invisible divinity, for whom, though he neither hopes for reward, nor fears punishment, at his hand, he always expresses the profoundest homage and most humble adoration. I have already given a very particular description both of the morais and the altars that are placed near them.

When an Indian is about to wors.h.i.+p at the morai, or brings his offering to the altar, he always uncovers his body to the waist, and his looks and att.i.tude are such as sufficiently express a corresponding disposition of mind.[32]

[Footnote 32: Almost all the particulars now and afterwards stated _in favour_ of the Otaheitans, are fully allowed by recent accounts, especially that of the Missionary Voyage already noticed.--E.]

It did not appear to us that these people are, in any instance, guilty of idolatry; at least they do not wors.h.i.+p any thing that is the work of their hands, nor any visible part of the creation. This island indeed, and the rest that lie near it, have a particular bird, some a heron, and others a king's fisher, to which they pay a peculiar regard, and concerning which they have some superst.i.tious notions with respect to good and bad fortune, as we have of the swallow and robin-red-breast, giving them the name of _Eatua_, and by no means killing or molesting them; yet they never address a pet.i.tion to them, or approach them with any act of adoration.[33]

[Footnote 33: The account now given of the religion of the Otaheitans is imperfect in point of information; and it must be held erroneous as to principle, by all who chuse to derive their knowledge on the subject of man's relation to his Maker, from the sacred Scriptures alone. The imperfections were the consequence of the very limited acquaintance with these islanders, which existed at the time, and may be readily filled up on the authority of subsequent observers. As to the erroneousness of principle, it may suffice for the enlightened reader to remind him, that as the Supreme Being himself is the only object of wors.h.i.+p, so every other one that is wors.h.i.+pped in place of him, whether made by the hands of men, or found made by nature, or conceived to exist, is virtually and essentially an idol. It follows from this, that idolatry is much more prevalent than is usually imagined, and is by no means confined to nations in a barbarous or semi-barbarous state. The wors.h.i.+ppers of reason, or virtue, or taste, or fas.h.i.+on, or nature, or one's own goodness and piety, or the spiritual ent.i.ties of philosophers and religionists, are as truly idolaters as the wors.h.i.+ppers of the grand lama in Thibet, or the economical sect in Lapland, who content themselves with the largest stone they can find. Mr Hume, who has been at such pains to enquire into the natural history of religion, is most unnecessarily cautious as to the qualifying of one of his most important a.s.sertions on the subject of the prevalence of idolaters. "The savage tribes of America, Africa, and Asia," says he, "are all idolaters. Not a single exception to this rule. Insomuch, that, were a traveller to transport himself into any unknown region; if he found inhabitants cultivated with arts and sciences, though even upon that supposition there are odds against their being theists, yet could he not safely, till further enquiry, p.r.o.nounce any thing on that head; but if he found them ignorant and barbarous, he might beforehand declare them idolaters; and there is scarcely a possibility of his being mistaken." He might have said with perfect confidence, that a traveller would scarcely find one person in a thousand amid all the tribes of the earth, who was ent.i.tled to be considered as a pure theist, or at least, who was single-minded in the exercise of his religious devotion. The generality of mankind, in short, are like a certain people of old,--they fear the Lord, and wors.h.i.+p their own G.o.ds. Then again as to the disinterestedness of the Otaheitan devotees, Dr Hawkesworth egregiously blunders--as if it were conceivable, or any way natural, that they or any other people could possibly serve their divinities without entertaining the hope that they should be served by them in turn. This were to exceed even Homer in his exaggerating human nature at the expence of the G.o.ds. That poet puts a curious speech in the mouth of Dione, the mother of Venus, when addressing her daughter, who had been wounded by Diomede:--

My child! how hard soe'er thy sufferings seem, Endure them patiently, since many a wrong From human hands profane the G.o.ds endure, And many a painful stroke mankind from ours.

But Dr H. it is probable, had embraced the fanatical and monstrous notion of some specialists, that G.o.d and religion were to be loved for their own sakes; not because of the benefits they confer; and he wished to exalt the characters of these islanders by representing them as acting on it. This, however, is as irrational in itself, as it is impracticable by such a creature as man. Self-love, directed by wisdom, is perhaps the best principle that can actuate him. Considering scripture as an authority, there is a high degree of commendation implied in what is said of Moses by an apostle, when speaking of his faith and obedience, and accounting for it, "he had respect unto the recompence of reward;" and of one higher than Moses it is related, that, "for the joy set before him, (certainly not then possessed,) he endured the cross." Were man always to act from a sense of what he has received, and the hope of what he may receive, he would never do wrong. He, on the other hand, that attempts to serve G.o.d out of pure benevolence, and without expectation of advantage, will soon spurn archangels, and may set up for a G.o.d himself, on any day he shall think he has succeeded in accomplis.h.i.+ng such super-eminent disinterestedness. On the whole, it may be remarked, that the Dr seems correct enough in his notions of religion, considered as founded on reason; but is far from being so in those concerning its foundation in the principles of human nature. This, however, seems the consequence of inattention to the subject as a speculation, rather than of studied disregard to those secret surmisings which every human heart will oftentimes experience to carry it beyond the brink of perishable things, and to give it a birth amid the realities of wonder, fear, and hope. Far be it from the writer to cla.s.s him amongst those whom the poet Campbell so pathetically, and yet so indignantly describes in the beautiful lines,--