A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xvi Part 7

Day of Water at a stand Mean Time Perpendicular the of rise Month. from to High Water. Inches.

November 6. 11h 15m to 12h 20m 11h 48m 5,5 7. 11 40 1 00 12 20 5,2 8. 11 35 12 50 12 12 5,0 9. 11 40 1 16 12 28 5,5 10. 11 25 1 10 12 18 6,5 11. 12 00 1 40 12 20 5,0 12. 11 00 1 05 12 02 5,7 13. 9 30 11 40 10 35 8,0 14. 11 10 12 50 12 00 8,0 15. 9 20 11 30 10 25 9,2 16. 10 00 12 00 11 00 9,0 17. 10 45 12 15 11 30 8,5 18. 10 25 12 10 11 18 9,0 19. 11 00 1 00 12 00 8,0 20. 11 30 2 00 12 45 7,0 21. 11 00 1 00 12 00 8,0 22. 11 30 1 07 12 18 8,0 23. 12 00 1 30 12 45 6,5 24. 11 30 1 40 12 35 5,5 25. 11 40 1 50 12 45 4,7 26. 11 00 1 30 12 15 5,2

Having now finished all that occurs to me, with regard to these islands, which make so conspicuous a figure in the list of our discoveries, the reader will permit me to suspend the prosecution of my journal, while he peruses the following section, for which I am indebted to Mr Anderson.

SECTION IX.

_Accounts of Otaheite still imperfect.--The prevailing Winds.--Beauty of the Country.--Cultivation.--Natural Curiosities.--The Persons of the Natives.--Diseases.--General Character.--Love of Pleasure.--Language.--Surgery and Physic.--Articles of Food.--Effects of drinking Ava.--Times and Manner of Eating.--Connexions with the Females.--Circ.u.mcision.--System of Religion.--Notions about the Soul and a future Life.--Various Superst.i.tions.--Traditions about the Creation.--An historical Legend.--Honours paid to the King.--Distinction of Ranks.--Punishment of Crimes.--Peculiarities of the neighbouring Islands.--Names of their G.o.ds.--Names of Islands they visit.--Extent of their Navigation._

To what has been said of Otaheite, in the accounts of the successive voyages of Captain Wallis, Mons. de Bougainville, and Captain Cook, it would, at first sight, seem superfluous to add any thing, as it might be supposed, that little could be now produced but a repet.i.tion of what has been told before. I am, however, far from being of that opinion; and will venture to affirm, though a very accurate description of the country, and of the most obvious customs of its inhabitants, has been already given, especially by Captain Cook, that much still remains untouched; that, in some instances, mistakes have been made, which later and repeated observation has been able to rectify; and that, even now, we are strangers to many of the most important inst.i.tutions that prevail amongst these people. The truth is, our visits, though frequent, have been but transient; many of us had no inclination to make enquiries; more of us were unable to direct our enquiries properly; and we all laboured, though not to the same degree, under the disadvantages attending an imperfect knowledge of the language of those, from whom alone we could receive any information. The Spaniards had it more in their power to surmount this bar to instruction; some of them having resided at Otaheite much longer than any other European visitors. As, with their superior advantages, they could not but have had an opportunity of obtaining the fullest information on most subjects relating to this island, their account of it would, probably, convey more authentic and accurate intelligence, than, with our best endeavours, any of us could possibly obtain. But, as I look upon it to be very uncertain, if not very unlikely, that we shall ever have any communication from that quarter, I have here put together what additional intelligence, about Otaheite, and its neighbouring islands, I was able to procure, either from, Omai, while on board the s.h.i.+p, or by conversing with the other natives, while we remained among them.

The wind, for the greatest part of the year, blows from between E.S.E., and E.N.E. This is the true trade-wind, or what the natives call _Maaraee_; and it sometimes blows with considerable force. When this is the case, the weather is often cloudy, with showers of rain; but, when the wind is more moderate, it is clear, settled, and serene.

If the wind should veer farther to the southward, and become S.E., or S.S.E., it then blows more gently, with a smooth sea, and is called _Maooui_. In those months, when the sun is nearly vertical, that is, in December and January, the winds and weather are both very variable; but it frequently blows from W.N.W., or N.W. This wind is what they call _Toerou_; and is generally attended by dark, cloudy weather, and frequently by rain, it sometimes blows strong, though generally moderate; but seldom lasts longer than five or six days without interruption; and is the only wind in which the people of the islands to leeward come to this in their canoes. If it happens to be still more northerly, it blows with less strength, and has the different appellation of _Era-potaia_; which they feign to be the wife of the _Toerou_; who, according to their mythology, is a male.

The wind from S.W., and W.S.W., is still more frequent than the former; and, though it is, in general, gentle, and interrupted by calms, or breezes from the eastward, yet it sometimes blows in brisk squalls. The weather attending it is commonly dark; cloudy, and rainy, with a close, hot air; and often accompanied by a great deal of lightning and thunder. It is called _Etoa_, and often succeeds the _Toerou_; as does also the _Farooa_, which is still more southerly; and, from its violence, blows down houses and trees, especially the cocoa-palms, from their loftiness; but it is only of a short duration.

The natives seem not to have a very accurate knowledge of these changes, and yet pretend to have drawn some general conclusions from their effects; for they say, when the sea has a hollow sound, and dashes slowly on the sh.o.r.e, or rather on the reef without, that it portends good weather, but, if it has a sharp sound, and the waves succeed each other fast, that the reverse will happen.

Perhaps there is scarcely a spot in the universe that affords a more luxuriant prospect than the S.E. part of Otaheite. The hills are high and steep; and, in many places, craggy. But they are covered to the very summits with trees and shrubs, in such a manner, that the spectator can scarcely help thinking, that the very rocks possess the property of producing and supporting their verdant clothing. The flat land which bounds those hills toward the sea, and the interjacent valleys also, teem with various productions that grow with the most exuberant vigour, and at once fill the mind of the beholder with the idea, that no place upon earth can out-do this, in the strength and beauty of vegetation. Nature has been no less liberal in distributing rivulets, which are found in every valley; and as they approach the sea, often divide into two or three branches, fertilizing the flat lands through which they run. The habitations of the natives are scattered without order upon these flats; and many of them appearing toward the sh.o.r.e, presented a delightful scene, viewed from our s.h.i.+ps; especially as the sea within the reef, which bounds the coast, is perfectly still, and affords a safe navigation at all times for the inhabitants, who are often seen paddling in their canoes indolently along in pa.s.sing from place to place, or in going to fish. On viewing these charming scenes, I have often regretted my inability to transmit to those who have had no opportunity of seeing them, such a description as might, in some measure, convey an impression similar to what must be felt by every one who has been fortunate enough to be upon the spot.

It is doubtless the natural fertility of the country, combined with the mildness and serenity of the climate, that renders the natives so careless in their cultivation, that, in many places, though, overflowing with the richest productions, the smallest traces of it cannot be observed. The cloth-plant, which is raised by seeds brought from the mountains, and the _ava_, or intoxicating pepper, which they defend from the sun when very young, by covering them with leaves of the bread-fruit tree, are almost the only things to which they seem to pay any attention, and these they keep very clean.

I have enquired very carefully into their manner of cultivating the bread-fruit tree, but was always answered that they never planted it.

This, indeed, must be evident to every one who will examine the places where the young trees come up. It will be always observed that they spring from the roots of the old ones, which ran along near the surface of the ground; so that the bread-fruit trees may be reckoned those that would naturally cover the plains, even supposing that the island was not inhabited, in the same manner that the white-barked trees, found at Van Diemen's Land, const.i.tute the forests there. And from this we may observe, that the inhabitant of Otaheite, instead of being obliged to plant his bread, will rather be under a necessity of preventing its progress; which, I suppose, is sometimes done, to give room for trees of another sort, to afford him some variety in his food.

The chief of these are the cocoa-nut and plantain; the first of which can give no trouble, after it has raised itself a foot or two above the ground; but the plantain requires a little more care; for, after it is planted, it shoots up, and, in about three months, begins to bear fruit; during which time it gives young shoots, which supply a succession of fruit. For the old stocks are cut down as the fruit is taken off.

The products of the island, however, are not so remarkable for their variety, as great abundance; and curiosities of any kind are not numerous. Amongst these we may reckon a pond or lake of fresh water at the top of one of the highest mountains, to go to and return from which takes three or four days; it is remarkable for its depth, and has eels of an enormous size in it, which are sometimes caught by the natives, who go upon this water, in little floats of two or three wild plantain trees fastened together. This is esteemed one of the greatest natural curiosities of the country; insomuch, that travellers, who come from the other islands, are commonly asked, amongst the first things, by their friends, at their return, if they have seen it? There is also a sort of water, of which there is only one small pond upon the island, as far distant as the lake, and, to appearance, very good, with a yellow sediment at the bottom; but it has a bad taste, and proves fatal to those who drink any quant.i.ty, or makes them break out in blotches if they bathe in it.

Nothing could make a stronger impression, at first sight, on our arrival here, than the remarkable contrast between the robust make and dark colour of the people of Tongataboo, and a sort of delicacy and whiteness which distinguish the inhabitants of Otaheite. It was even some time before that difference could preponderate in favour of the Otaheiteans; and then only, perhaps, because we became accustomed to them, the marks which had recommended the others began to be forgotten. Their women, however, struck us as superior in every respect, and as possessing all those delicate characteristics which distinguish them from, the other s.e.x in many countries. The beard, which the men here wear long, and the hair, which is not cut so short as is the fas.h.i.+on at Tongataboo, made also a great difference; and we could not help thinking that on every occasion they shewed a greater degree of timidity and fickleness. The muscular appearance, so common amongst the Friendly Islanders, and which seems a consequence of their being accustomed to much action, is lost here, where the superior fertility of their country enables the inhabitants to lead a more indolent life; and its place is supplied by a plumpness and smoothness of the skin, which, though perhaps more consonant with our ideas of beauty, is no real advantage, as it seems attended with a kind of languor in all their motions, not observable in the others. This observation is fully verified in their boxing and wrestling, which may be called little better than the feeble efforts of children, if compared to the vigour with which these exercises are performed at the Friendly Islands.

Personal endowments being in great esteem amongst them, they have recourse to several methods of improving them, according to their notions of beauty. In particular, it is a practice, especially among the _Erreoes_, or unmarried men of some consequence, to undergo a kind of physical operation to render them fair. This is done by remaining a month or two in the house; during which time they wear a great quant.i.ty of clothes, eat nothing but bread-fruit, to which they ascribe a remarkable property in whitening them. They also speak, as if their corpulence and colour, at other times, depended upon their food; as they are obliged, from the change of seasons, to use different sorts at different times.

Their common diet is made up of, at least, nine-tenths of vegetable food, and, I believe, more particularly the _mahee_, or fermented bread-fruit, which enters almost every meal, has a remarkable effect upon them, preventing a costive habit, and producing a very sensible coolness about them, which could not be perceived in us who fed on animal food. And it is, perhaps, owing to this temperate course of life that they have so few diseases among them.

They only reckon five or six, which might be called chronic, or national disorders; amongst which are the dropsy and the _fefai_, or indolent swellings before mentioned as frequent at Tongataboo. But this was before the arrival of the Europeans; for we have added to this short catalogue, a disease which abundantly supplies the place of all the others; and is now almost universal. For this they seem to have no effectual remedy. The priests, indeed, sometimes give them a medley of simples; but they own that it never cures them. And yet they allow that in a few cases, nature, without the a.s.sistance of a physician, exterminates the poison of this fatal disease, and a perfect recovery is produced. They say, that if a man is infected with it, he will often communicate it to others in the same house, by feeding out of the same utensils or handling them; and that, in this case, they frequently die, while he recovers; though we see no reason why this should happen.

Their behaviour on all occasions seems to indicate a great openness and generosity of disposition. Omai, indeed, who, as their countryman, should be supposed rather willing to conceal any of their defects, has often said that they are sometimes cruel in punis.h.i.+ng their enemies.

According to his representation, they torment them very deliberately; at one time tearing out small pieces of flesh from different parts; at another taking out the eyes; then cutting off the nose; and, lastly, killing them by opening the belly. But this only happens on particular occasions. If cheerfulness argues a conscious innocence, one would suppose that their life is seldom sullied by crimes. This, however, I rather impute to their feelings, which, though lively, seem in no case permanent; for I never saw them, in any misfortune, labour under the appearance of anxiety after the critical moment was past. Neither does care ever seem to wrinkle their brow. On the contrary, even the approach of death does not appear to alter their usual vivacity. I have seen them when brought to the brink of the grave by disease, and when preparing to go to battle; but in neither case ever observed their countenances overclouded with melancholy or serious reflection.

Such a disposition leads them to direct all their aims only to what can give them pleasure and ease. Their amus.e.m.e.nts all tend to excite and continue their amorous pa.s.sions; and their songs, of which they are immoderately fond, answer the same purpose. But as a constant succession of sensual enjoyments must cloy, we found, that they frequently varied them to more refined subjects, and had much pleasure in chaunting their triumphs in war, and their occupations in peace; their travels to other islands, and adventures there; and the peculiar beauties, and superior advantages of their own island over the rest, or of different parts of it over other less favourite districts. This marks, that they receive great delight from music; and though they rather expressed a dislike to our complicated compositions, yet were they always delighted with the more melodious sounds produced singly on our instruments, as approaching nearer to the simplicity of their own.

Neither are they strangers to the soothing effects produced by particular sorts of motion, which, in some cases, seem to allay any perturbation of mind, with as much success as music. Of this, I met with a remarkable instance. For on walking one day about Matavai Point, where our tents were erected, I saw a man paddling in a small canoe, so quickly, and looking about with such eagerness, on each side, as to command all my attention. At first, I imagined that he had stolen something from one of the s.h.i.+ps, and was pursued; but, on waiting patiently, saw him repeat his amus.e.m.e.nt. He went out from the sh.o.r.e, till he was near the place where the swell begins to take its rise; and, watching its first motion very attentively, paddled before it, with great quickness, till he found that it overtook him, and had acquired sufficient force to carry his canoe before it, without pa.s.sing underneath. He then sat motionless, and was carried along, at the same swift rate as the wave, till it landed him upon the beach.

Then he started out, emptied his canoe, and went in search of another swell. I could not help concluding, that this man felt the most supreme pleasure, while he was driven on, so fast and so smoothly, by the sea; especially as, though the tents and s.h.i.+ps were so near, he did not seem, in the least, to envy, or even to take any notice of, the crowds of his countrymen collected to view them as objects which were rare and curious. During my stay, two or three of the natives came up, who seemed to share his felicity, and always called out, when there was an appearance of a favourable swell, as he sometimes missed it, by his back being turned, and looking about for it. By them I understood, that this exercise, which is called _ehorooe_, was frequent amongst them; and they have probably more amus.e.m.e.nts of this sort, which afford them at least as much pleasure as skaiting, which is the only one of ours, with whose effects I could compare it.

The language of Otaheite, though doubtless radically the same with that of New Zealand and the Friendly Islands, is dest.i.tute of that guttural p.r.o.nunciation, and of some consonants, with which those latter dialects abound. The specimens we have already given are sufficient to mark wherein the variation chiefly consists, and to shew, that, like the manners of the inhabitants, it has become soft and soothing. During the former voyage, I had collected a copious vocabulary, which enabled me the better to compare this dialect with that of the other islands; and, during this voyage, I took every opportunity of improving my acquaintance with it, by conversing with Omai, before we arrived, and by my daily intercourse with the natives, while we now remained there.[1] It abounds with beautiful and figurative expressions, which, were it perfectly known, would, I have no doubt, put it upon a level with many of the languages that are most in esteem for their warm and bold images. For instance, the Otaheiteans express their notions of death very emphatically, by saying, "That the soul goes into darkness; or rather into night." And, if you seem to entertain any doubt, in asking the question, "if such a person is their mother?" they immediately reply, with surprise, "Yes, the mother that bore me." They have one expression, that corresponds exactly with the phraseology of the scriptures, where we read of the "yearning of the bowels." They use it on all occasions, when the pa.s.sions give them uneasiness; as they constantly refer pain from grief, anxious desire, and other affections, to the bowels, as its seat; where they likewise suppose all operations of the mind are performed. Their language admits of that inverted arrangement of words, which so much distinguishes the Latin and Greek from most of our modern European tongues, whose imperfections require a more orderly construction, to prevent ambiguities. It is so copious, that for the bread-fruit alone, in its different states, they have above twenty names; as many for the _taro_ root; and about ten for the cocoa-nut. Add to this, that, besides the common dialect, they often expostulate, in a kind of stanza or recitative, which is answered in the same manner.

[Footnote 1: See this Vocabulary at the end of Captain Cook's second voyage. Many corrections and additions to it were now made by this indefatigable enquirer; but the specimens of the language of Otaheite, already in the hands of the public, seem sufficient for every useful purpose.--D.]

Their arts are few and simple; yet, if we may credit them, they perform cures in surgery, which our extensive knowledge in that branch has not, as yet, enabled us to imitate. In simple fractures, they bind them up with splints; but if part of the substance of the bone be lost, they insert a piece of wood, between the fractured ends, made hollow like the deficient part. In five or six days, the _rapaoo_, or surgeon, inspects the wound, and finds the wood partly covered with growing flesh. In as many more days, it is generally entirely covered; after which, when the patient has acquired some strength, he bathes in the water, and recovers. We know that wounds will heal over leaden bullets; and, sometimes, though rarely, over other extraneous bodies. But what makes me entertain some doubt of the truth of so extraordinary skill, as in the above instance, is, that in other cases which fell under my own observation, they are far from being so dexterous. I have seen the stump of an arm, which was taken off, after being shattered by a fall from a tree, that bore no marks of skilful operation, though some allowance be made for their defective instruments. And I met with a man going about with a dislocated shoulder, some months after the accident, from their being ignorant of a method to reduce it; though this be considered as one of the simplest operations of our surgery. They know that fractures or luxations of the spine are mortal, but not fractures of the skull; and they likewise know, from experience, in what parts of the body wounds prove fatal. They have sometimes pointed out those inflicted by spears, which, if made in the direction they mentioned, would certainly have been p.r.o.nounced deadly by us, and yet these people have recovered.

Their physical knowledge seems more confined; and that, probably because their diseases are fewer than their accidents. The priests, however, administer the juices of herbs in some cases; and women who are troubled with after-pains, or other disorders after child-bearing, use a remedy which one would think needless in a hot country. They first heat stones, as when they bake their food; then they lay a thick cloth over them, upon which is put a quant.i.ty of a small plant of the mustard kind; and these are covered with another cloth. Upon this they seat themselves and sweat plentifully, to obtain a cure. The men have practised the same method for the venereal _lues_, but find it ineffectual. They have no emetic medicines.

Notwithstanding the extreme fertility of the island, a famine frequently happens, in which it is said many perish. Whether this be owing to the failure of some seasons, to over-population, which must sometimes almost necessarily happen, or to wars, I have not been able to determine; though the truth of the fact may fairly be inferred, from the great economy that they observe with respect to their food, even when there is plenty. In times of scarcity, after their bread-fruit and yams are consumed, they have recourse to various roots, which grow without cultivation upon the mountains. The _patarra_, which is found in vast quant.i.ties, is what they use first.

It is not unlike a very large potatoe or yam, and good when in its growing state; but when old, is full of hard stringy fibres. They then eat two other roots, one not unlike _taro_; and lastly, the _eohee_.

This is of two sorts; one of them possessing deleterious qualities, which obliges them to slice and macerate it in water a night before they bake and eat it. In this respect, it resembles the _ca.s.sava_ root of the West Indies; but it forms a very insipid moist paste, in the manner they dress it. However, I have seen them eat it at times when no such scarcity reigned. Both this and the _patarra_ are creeping plants: the last with ternate leaves.

Of animal food a very small portion falls at any time to the share of the lower cla.s.s of people, and then it is either fish, sea-eggs, or other marine productions; for they seldom or ever eat pork. The _Eree de hoi_[2] alone is able to furnish pork every day; and inferior chiefs, according to their riches, once a week, fortnight, or month.

Sometimes they are not even allowed that; for, when the island is impoverished by war or other causes, the chief prohibits his subjects to kill any hogs; and this prohibition, we were told, is in force sometimes for several months, or even for a year or two. During that restraint the hogs multiply so fast, that there are instances of their changing their domestic state, and turning wild. When it is thought proper to take off the prohibition, all the chiefs a.s.semble at the king's place of abode, and each brings with him a present of hogs. The king then orders some of them to be killed, on which they feast; and, after that, every one returns home with liberty to kill what he pleases for his own use. Such a prohibition was actually in force on our last arrival here; at least in all those districts of the island that are immediately under the direction of Otoo. And, lest it should have prevented our going to Matavai after leaving Oheitepeha, he sent a message to a.s.sure us, that it should be taken off as soon as the s.h.i.+ps arrived there. With respect to us we found it so; but we made such a consumption of them, that, I have no doubt, it would be laid on again as soon as we sailed. A similar prohibition is also sometimes extended to fowls.

[Footnote 2: Mr Anderson, invariably in his ma.n.u.script, writes _Eree de hoi_. According to Captain Cook's mode, it is _Eree rahie_. This is one of the numerous instances that perpetually occur, of our people's representing the same word differently.--D.]

It is also amongst the better sort that the _ava_ is chiefly used. But this beverage is prepared somewhat differently, from that which we saw so much of at the Friendly Islands. For they pour a very small quant.i.ty of water upon the root here, and sometimes roast or bake and bruise the stalks, without chewing it previously to its infusion. They also use the leaves of the plant here, which are bruised, and water poured upon them, as upon the root. Large companies do not a.s.semble to drink it in that sociable way which is practised at Tongataboo.

But its pernicious effects are more obvious here; perhaps owing to the manner of preparing it, as we often saw instances of its intoxicating, or rather stupifying powers. Some of us, who had been at these islands before, were surprised to find many people, who, when we saw them last, were remarkable for their size and corpulency, now almost reduced to skeletons; and, upon enquiring into the cause of this alteration, it was universally allowed to be the use of the _ava_. The skins of these people were rough, dry, and covered with scales, which, they say, every now and then fall off, and their skin is, as it were, renewed. As an excuse for a practice so destructive, they allege, that it is adopted to prevent their growing too fat; but it evidently enervates them, and, in all probability, shortens their days. As its effects had not been so visible during our former visits, it is not unlikely that this article of luxury had never been so much abused as at this time. If it continues to be so fas.h.i.+onable, it bids fair to destroy great numbers.

The times of eating at Otaheite are very frequent. Their first meal, or (as it may rather be called) their last, as they go to sleep after it, is about two o'clock in the morning; and the next is at eight.

At eleven, they dine; and again, as Omai expressed it, at two, and at five; and sup at eight. In this article of domestic life, they have adopted some customs which are exceedingly whimsical. The women, for instance, have not only the mortification of being obliged to eat by themselves, and in a different part of the house from the men, but, by a strange kind of policy, are excluded from a share of most of the better sorts of food. They dare not taste turtle, nor fish of the tunny kind, which is much esteemed; nor some particular sorts of the best plantains; and it is very seldom that even those of the first rank are suffered to eat pork. The children of each s.e.x also eat apart; and the women generally serve up their own victuals; for they would certainly starve before any grown man would do them such an office. In this, as well as in some other customs relative to their eating, there is a mysterious conduct which we could never thoroughly comprehend. When we enquired into the reasons of it, we could get no other answer, but that it is right and necessary that it should be so.

In other customs respecting the females, there seems to be no such obscurity; especially as to their connexions with the men. If a young man and woman, from mutual choice, cohabit, the man gives the father of the girl such things as are necessary in common life; as hogs, cloth, or canoes, in proportion to the time they are together; and, if he thinks that he has not been sufficiently paid for his daughter, he makes no scruple of forcing her to leave her friend, and to cohabit with another person who may be more liberal. The man, on his part, is always at liberty to make a new choice; but, should his consort become pregnant, he may kill the child; and, after that, either continue his connexion with the mother, or leave her. But if he should adopt the child, and suffer it to live, the parties are then considered as in the married state, and they commonly live together ever after.

However, it is thought no crime in the man to join a more youthful partner to his first wife, and to live with both. The custom of changing their connexions is, however, much more general than this last; and it is a thing so common, that they speak of it with great indifference. The _Erreoes_ are only those of the better sort, who, from their fickleness, and their possessing the means of purchasing a succession of fresh connexions, are constantly roaming about; and, from having no particular attachment, seldom adopt the more settled method mentioned above. And so agreeable is this licentious plan of life to their disposition, that the most beautiful of both s.e.xes thus commonly spend their youthful days, habituated to the practice of enormities which would disgrace the most savage tribes; but are peculiarly shocking amongst a people whose general character, in other respects, has evident traces of the prevalence of humane and tender feelings.[3] When an _Erreoe_ woman is delivered of a child, a piece of cloth, dipped in water, is applied to the mouth and nose, which suffocates it.

[Footnote 3: That the Caroline Islands are inhabited by the same tribe or nation, whom Captain Cook found, it such immense distances, spread throughout the South Pacific Ocean, has been satisfactorily established in some preceding notes The situation of the Ladrones, or Marianne Islands, still farther north than the Carolines, but at no great distance from them, is favourable, at first sight, to the conjecture, that the same race also peopled that cl.u.s.ter; and, on looking into Father Le Gobien's history of them, this conjecture appears to be actually confirmed by direct evidence. One of the greatest singularities of the Otaheite manners, is the existence of the society of young men called _Erreoes_, of whom some account is given in the preceding paragraph. Now we learn from Father Le Gobien, that such a society exists also amongst the inhabitants of the Ladrones. His words are: _Les Urritoes sont parmi eux les jeuns gens qui vivent avec des maitresses, sans vouloir s'engager dans les liens du mariage_. That there should be young men in the Ladrones, as well as in Otaheite, _who live with mistresses, without being inclined to enter into the married state_, would not, indeed, furnish the shadow of any peculiar resemblance between them. But that the young men in the Ladrones, and in Otaheite, whose manners are thus licentious, should be considered as a distinct confraternity, called by a particular name; and that this name should be the same in both places: this singular coincidence of custom, confirmed by that of language, seems to furnish an irrefragable proof of the inhabitants of both places being the same nation. We know, that it is the general property of the Otaheite dialect, to soften the p.r.o.nunciation of its words.

And, it is observable, that, by the omission of one single letter (the consonant t), our _Arreoys_ (as spelled in Hawkesworth's collection), or _Erreoes_ (according to Mr Anderson's orthography), and the _Urritoes_ of the Ladrones, are brought to such a similitude of sound (the only rule of comparing two unwritten languages), that we may p.r.o.nounce them to be the same word, without exposing ourselves to the sneers of supercilious criticism.

One or two more such proofs, drawn from similarity of language, in very significant words, may be a.s.signed. Le Gobien tells us, that the people of the Ladrones wors.h.i.+p their dead, whom they call _Anitis_.

Here, again, by dropping the consonant _n_, we have a word that bears a strong resemblance to that which so often occurs in Captain Cook's voyages, when speaking of the divinities of his islands, whom he calls _Eatooas_. And it may be matter of curiosity to remark, that what is called an _Aniti_, at the Ladrones, is, as we learn from Cantova (_Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses_, tom. xv. p. 309, 310.) at the Caroline Islands, where dead chiefs are also wors.h.i.+pped, called a _Tahutup_; and that, by softening or sinking the strong sounding letters, at the beginning and at the end of this latter word, the _Ahutu_ of the Carolines, the _Aiti_ of the Ladrones, and the _Eatooa_ of the South Pacific Islands, a.s.sume such a similarity in p.r.o.nunciation (for we can have no other guide), as strongly marks one common original. Once more; we learn from Le Gobien, that the Marianne people call their chiefs _Chamorris_, or _Chamoris_. And by softening the aspirate _Ch_ into _T_, and the harshness of _r_ into _l_ (of which the vocabularies of the different islands give us repeated instances), we have the _Tamole_ of the Caroline Islands, and the _Tamolao_, or _Tamaha_, of the Friendly ones.

If these specimens of affinity of language should be thought too scanty, some very remarkable instances of similarity of customs and inst.i.tutions will go far to remove every doubt. 1. A division into three cla.s.ses, of n.o.bles, of middle rank, and the common people, or servants, was found, by Captain Cook, to prevail, both at the Friendly and the Society Islands. Father Le Gobien expressly tells us, that the same distinction prevails at the Ladrones: _Il y a trois etats, parmi les insulaires, la n.o.blesse, le moyen, et le menu._ 2. Numberless instances occur in Captain Cook's voyage to prove the great subjection under which the people of his islands are to their chiefs. We learn from Le Gobien, that it is so also at the Ladrones: _La n.o.blesse est d'un fierte incroyable, et tien le peuple dans un abais.e.m.e.nt qu'on ne pourroit imaginer en Europe_, &c. 3. The diversions of the natives at Wateeo, the Friendly, and the Society Islands, have been copiously described by Captain Cook. How similar are those which Le Gobien mentions in the following words, as prevailing at the Ladrones!--_Ils se divertissent a danser, courir, sautir, lutter, pour s'exercer, et eprouver leur forces. Ils prennent grand plaisir a raconter les avantures de leurs ancetres, et a reciter des vers de leurs poetes._ 4. The princ.i.p.al share sustained by the women, in the entertainments at Captain Cook's islands, appears sufficiently from a variety of instances in this work; and we cannot read what Le Gobien says of the practice at the Ladrones, without tracing the strongest resemblance--_Dans leurs a.s.semblees elles se mettent doux ou trieze femmes en rond, debout, sans se remuer. Dans cette att.i.tude elles chantent les vers fabuleux de leurs poetes avec un agrement, et une justesse qui plairoit en Europe. L'accord de leur voix est admirable, et ne cede en rien a la musique concertee. Elles ont dans les mains de pet.i.ts coquilles, dont elles se servent avec beaucoup de precision.

Elles soutiennent leur voix, et animent leur chants avec une action si vive, et des gestes si expressives, qu'elles charment ceux qui les voient, et qui les entendent._ 5. We read in Captain Cook's first voyage, that at Otaheite garlands of the fruit of the palm-tree and cocoa-leaves, with other things particularly consecrated to funeral solemnities, are deposited about the places where they lay their dead; and that provisions and water are also left at a little distance. How conformable to this is the practice at the Ladrones, as described by Le Gobien!--_Ils font quelques repas autour du tombeau; car on en eleve toujours un sur le lieu ou le corps est enterre, ou dans le voisinage; on le charge de fleurs, de branches de palmiers, de coquillages, et de tout ce qu'ils ont de plus precieux._ 6. It is the custom at Otaheite not to bury the skulls of the chiefs with the rest of the bones, but to put them into boxes made for that purpose. Here again, we find the same strange custom prevailing at the Ladrones; for Le Gobien expressly tells us, _qui'ls gardent les cranes, en leur maisons_, that they put these skulls into little baskets (_pet.i.tes corbeilles_); and that these dead chiefs are the _Anitis_, to whom their priests address their invocations. 7. The people at Otaheite, as we learn from Captain Cook, in his account of Tee's embalmed corpse, make use of cocoa-nut oil, and other ingredients, in rubbing the dead bodies. The people of the Ladrones, Father Le Gobien tells us, sometimes do the same--_D'autres frottent les morts d'huile odoriferante._ 8. The inhabitants of Otaheite believe the immortality of the soul; and that there are two situations after death, somewhat a.n.a.logous to our heaven and h.e.l.l; but they do not suppose, that their actions here in the least influence their future state. And in the account given in this Voyage of the religious opinions entertained at the Friendly Islands, we find there exactly the same doctrine. It is very observable, how conformable to this is the belief of the inhabitants of the Ladrones--_Ils sont persuades_ (says Le Gobien) _de l'immortalite de l'ame. Ils reconnoissent meme un Paradis et un Enfer, dont ils se forment des idees a.s.sez bizarres. Ce n'est point, selon eux, la vertu ni le crime, qui conduit dans ces lieux la; les bonnes ou les mauvaises actions n'y servent de rien._ 9. One more very singular instance of agreement shall close this long list. In Captain Cook's account of the New Zealanders, we find that, according to them, the soul of the man who is killed, and whose flesh is devoured, is doomed to a perpetual fire; while the souls of all who die a natural death, ascend to the habitations of the G.o.ds. And, from Le Gobien, we learn that this very notion is adopted by his islanders--_Si on a le malkeur de mourir de mort violente, on a l'enfer pour leur portage._

Surely such a concurrence of very characteristic conformities cannot be the result of mere accident; and, when combined with the specimens of affinity of language mentioned at the beginning of this note, it should seem that we are fully warranted, from premises thus unexceptionable, to draw a certain conclusion, that the inhabitants of the various islands discovered or visited by Captain Cook in the South Pacific Ocean, and those whom the Spaniards found settled upon the Ladrones or Mariannes, in the northern hemisphere, carried the same language, customs, and opinions from one common centre, from which they had emigrated; and that, therefore, they may be considered as scattered members of the same nation.

See Pere Le Gobien's _Histoire des Iles Mariannes_, Book ii. or the summary of it in _Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes_, T. ii. p. 492-512, from which the materials for this note have been extracted.--D.]

As in such a life, their women must contribute a very large share of its happiness, it is rather surprising, besides the humiliating restraints they are laid under with regard to food, to find them often treated with a degree of harshness, or rather brutality, which one would scarcely suppose a man would bestow on an object for whom he had the least affection. Nothing, however, is more common, than to see the men beat them without mercy; and, unless this treatment is the effect of jealousy, which both s.e.xes, at least, pretend to be sometimes infected with, it will be difficult to account for it. It will be less difficult to admit this as the motive, as I have seen several instances where the women have preferred personal beauty to interest; though, I must own, that even in these cases, they seem scarcely susceptible of those delicate sentiments that are the result of mutual affection; and, I believe, that there is less Platonic love in Otaheite than in any other country.

Cutting, or inciding the foreskin, should be mentioned here as a practice adopted amongst them from a notion of cleanliness; and they have a reproachful epithet in their language for those who do not observe that custom. When there are five or six lads pretty well grown up in a neighbourhood, the father of one of them goes to a _Tahoua_, or man of knowledge, and lets him know. He goes with the lads to the top of the hills, attended by a servant, and seating one of them properly, introduces a piece of wood underneath the foreskin, and desires him to look aside at something he pretends is coming; having thus engaged the young man's attention to another object, he cuts through the skin upon the wood with a shark's tooth, generally at one stroke. He then separates, or rather turns back the divided parts; and having put on a bandage, proceeds to perform the same operation on the other lads. At the end of five days they bathe, and the bandages being taken off, the matter is cleaned away. At the end of five days more they bathe again, and are well; but a thickness of the prepuce, where it was cut, remaining, they go again to the mountains with the _Tahoua_ and servant; and a fire being prepared, and some stones heated, the _Tahoua_ puts the prepuce between two of them, and squeezes it gently, which removes the thickness. They then return home, having their heads, and other parts of their bodies, adorned with odoriferous flowers; and the _Tahoua_ is rewarded for his services by their fathers, in proportion to their several abilities, with presents of hogs and cloth; and if they be poor, their relations are liberal on the occasion.

Their religious system is extensive, and, in many instances, singular; but few of the common people have a perfect knowledge of it; that being confined chiefly to their priests, who are pretty numerous. They do not seem to pay respect to one G.o.d, as possessing pre-eminence; but believe in a plurality of divinities, who are all very powerful; and in this case, as different parts of the island, and the other islands in the neighbourhood, have different ones, the inhabitants of each, no doubt, think that they have chosen the most eminent, or, at least, one who is invested with power sufficient to protect them, and to supply all their wants. If he should not answer their expectations, they think it no impiety to change; as has very lately happened in Tiarabooa, where, in the room of the two divinities formerly honoured there, Oraa,[4] G.o.d of Bolabola, had been adopted, I should suppose, because he is the protector of a people who have been victorious in war; and as, since they have made this change, they have been very successful themselves against the inhabitants of _Otaheite-nooe_, they impute it entirely to _Oraa_, who, as they literally say, fights their battles.

[Footnote 4: We have another instance of the same word being differently p.r.o.nounced by our people. Captain Cook, as appears above, speaks of _Olla_ as the Bolabola G.o.d.--D.]

Their a.s.siduity in serving their G.o.ds is remarkably conspicuous. Not only the _whattas_, or offering-places of the _morais_, are commonly loaded with fruits and animals, but there are few houses where you do not meet with a small place of the same sort near them. Many of them are so rigidly scrupulous, that they will not begin a meal without first laying aside a morsel for the _Eatooa_; and we had an opportunity, during this voyage, of seeing their superst.i.tious zeal carried to a most pernicious height, in the instance of human sacrifices; the occasions of offering which, I doubt, are too frequent. Perhaps they have recourse to them when misfortunes occur; for they asked, if one of our men, who happened to be confined, when we were detained by a contrary wind, was _taboo_? Their prayers are also very frequent, which they chaunt, much after the manner of their songs in their festive entertainments. And the women, as in other cases, are also obliged to shew their inferiority in religious observances; for it is required of them, that they should partly uncover themselves as they pa.s.s the _morais_, or take a considerable circuit to avoid them. Though they have no notion that their G.o.d must always be conferring benefits, without sometimes forgetting them, or suffering evil to befall them, they seem to regard this less than the attempts of some more inauspicious being to hurt them. They tell us, that _Etee_ is an evil spirit, who sometimes does them mischief; and to whom, as well as to their G.o.d, they make offerings. But the mischiefs they apprehend from any superior invisible beings, are confined to things merely temporal.

They believe the soul to be both immaterial and immortal. They say that it keeps fluttering about the lips during the pangs of death; and that then it ascends and mixes with, or, as they express it, is eaten by the deity. In this state it remains for some time; after which it departs to a certain place, destined for the reception of the souls of men where it exists in eternal night; or, as they sometimes say, in twilight or dawn. They have no idea of any permanent punishment after death, for crimes that they have committed on earth; for the souls of good and of bad men are eat indiscriminately by G.o.d. But they certainly consider this coalition with the deity as a kind of purification necessary to be undergone before they enter a state of bliss. For, according to their doctrine, if a man refrain from all connexion with women some months before death, he pa.s.ses immediately into his eternal mansion, without such a previous union; as if already, by this abstinence, he were pure enough to be exempted from the general lot.

They are, however, far from entertaining those sublime conceptions of happiness, which our religion, and indeed reason, gives us room to expect hereafter. The only great privilege they seem to think they shall acquire by death is immortality; for they speak of spirits being, in some measure, not totally divested of those pa.s.sions which actuated them when combined with material vehicles. Thus, if souls, who were formerly enemies, should meet, they have many conflicts; though, it should seem, to no purpose, as they are accounted invulnerable in this invisible state. There is a similar reasoning with regard to the meeting of man and wife. If the husband dies first, the soul of the wife is known to him on its arrival in the land of spirits. They resume their former acquaintance, in a s.p.a.cious house, called _tourooa_, where the souls of the deceased a.s.semble to recreate themselves with the G.o.ds. She then retires with him, to his separate habitation, where they remain for ever, and have an offspring; which, however, is entirely spiritual, as they are neither married, nor are their embraces supposed to be the same as with corporeal beings.