The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead Volume Ii Part 34

[8] P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ p. 57. Compare M.

Radiguet, _Les Derniers Sauvages_, pp. 304 _sq._

[9] H. Melville, _Typee_, p. 220.

[10] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 222 _sq._

[11] M. Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 304.

-- 2. _Physical Appearance of the Natives_

Observers are generally agreed that from the purely physical point of view the Marquesan islanders are, or used to be, the n.o.blest specimens of the Polynesian race. Captain Cook remarked that "the inhabitants of these islands collectively are, without exception, the finest race of people in this sea. For fine shape and regular features, they perhaps surpa.s.s all other nations."[12] To the same effect the naturalist George Forster, who accompanied Captain Cook, gives his impression of a crowd of Marquesan men, among whom were no women. He says: "They were tall, and extremely well limbed; not one of them unwieldy or corpulent like a Taheitian, nor meagre and shrivelled like a native of Easter Island. The punctuation" (by which he meant the tattooing) "which almost entirely covered the men of a middle age, made it difficult to distinguish their elegance of form; but among the youths, who were not yet marked or tattooed, it was easy to discover beauties singularly striking, and often without a blemish, such as demanded the admiration of all beholders. Many of them might be placed near the famous models of antiquity, and would not suffer in the comparison:

"_Qualis aut Nireus fuit, aut aquosa Raptus ab Ida."_ HOR.

"The natural colour of these youths was not quite so dark as that of the common people in the Society Isles; but the men appeared to be infinitely blacker, on account of the punctures which covered their whole body, from head to foot. These punctures were disposed with the utmost regularity; so that the marks on each leg, arm, and cheek, and on the corresponding muscles, were exactly similar. They never a.s.sumed the determinate form of an animal or plant, but consisted of a variety of blotches, spirals, bars, chequers, and lines, which had a most motley appearance."[13]

[12] J. Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 284.

[13] G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_, ii. 14 _sq._ Compare Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 152 _sq._; U. Lisiansky, _Voyage round the World_ (London, 1814), p. 85; G. H. von Langsdorff, _Reise um die Welt_ (Frankfurt am Mayn, 1812), i. 92 _sqq._; Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 96 _sqq._; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C.

Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 216 _sqq._; Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op.

cit._ p. 39.

Similarly, speaking of the Taipiis or Typees, Melville observes, "In beauty of form they surpa.s.sed anything I had ever seen. Not a single instance of natural deformity was observable in all the throng attending the revels. Occasionally I noticed among the men the scars of wounds they had received in battle; and sometimes, though very seldom, the loss of a finger, an eye, or an arm, attributable to the same cause. With these exceptions, every individual appeared free from those blemishes which sometimes mar the effect of an otherwise perfect form. But their physical excellence did not merely consist in an exemption from these evils; nearly every individual of their number might have been taken for a sculptor's model."[14] As to their stature, the same writer affirms that "the men, in almost every instance, are of lofty stature, scarcely ever less than six feet."[15] Similarly Captain Porter tell us that "they are far above the common stature of the human race, seldom less than five feet eleven inches, but most commonly six feet two or three inches, and every way proportioned. Their faces are remarkably handsome, with keen, piercing eyes; teeth white, and more beautiful than ivory; countenances open and expressive, which reflect every emotion of their souls; limbs which might serve as models for a statuary, and strength and activity proportioned to their appearance."[16] Another observer remarks of them that "the natives bear the palm for personal beauty from most other of the Polynesian tribes. The men are tall and muscular, though rather slightly framed; their deportment is graceful and independent; their features are handsome, and partake more of the European regularity of profile than is usual with Polynesian islanders."[17] The nose is straight or aquiline, sometimes short or slightly flattened, but never ill-shaped: the mouth is never large nor the lips thick: the forehead is rather low and somewhat retreating.[18]

The hair is almost always straight or wavy; men or women with frizzly hair are very seldom seen, especially in the north-western group. The colour of the skin, where it is not darkened by tattooing, is a clear brown, resembling the bronzed appearance acquired by Europeans through exposure to a tropical sun.[19] The women are both absolutely and relatively shorter than the men; indeed Melville describes them as "uncommonly diminutive." Their complexion is lighter; in the parts of the body which are seldom exposed to the sun they are even said to appear as white as European women. Their features are good, but rather pretty than beautiful; their hands and feet are very shapely. Unlike the men, who are, or used to be, tattooed from head to foot, the women were tattooed very little, and that chiefly on the lips.[20] They took pains to whiten their skin by avoiding exposure to the sun and by was.h.i.+ng themselves with the juice of a small native vine,[21] or by smearing themselves with a cosmetic in which the yellow of the turmeric root predominated.[22]

[14] H. Melville, _Typee_, p. 194.

[15] H. Melville, _Typee_, p. 195.

[16] David Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 58 _sq._

[17] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 304.

[18] M. Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 169.

[19] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ p. 39.

[20] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 39 _sq._; H. Melville, _Typee_, p. 195.

[21] C. S. Stewart, _Visit to the South Seas_, i. 231 _sq._, who speaks highly of the beauty of the women. But the general opinion appears to be that the Marquesan women are much less handsome than the men. See Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 94-96; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 59.

[22] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 308 _sq._

-- 3. _Food, Weapons, Tools, Houses, Canoes, Fis.h.i.+ng_

The Marquesans subsist chiefly on a vegetable diet. Their staple food is the bread-fruit, and their national dish is a paste called _popoi_, which is prepared from bread-fruit after it has been subjected to a process of fermentation. Fish is also a common article of diet; the natives usually eat it raw, even when it is rotten and stinking. They keep pigs, but seldom kill them except for a festival or at the reception of a stranger. Hence pork is not a regular or common article of diet with them; and apart from it they hardly taste flesh. Other sorts of food, such as bananas, taro, and sugar-cane, are entirely subsidiary to the great staples, bread-fruit and fish. The natives do not readily accustom themselves to a European diet; indeed when the experiment has been made of feeding them exclusively in our manner, they have wasted away and only recovered their health when they were allowed to return to their usual nourishment. Their ordinary beverage was water, but they were also addicted to the drinking of kava, which was extracted from the root of the _Piper methystic.u.m_ in the usual fas.h.i.+on.[23]

Drawing their sustenance chiefly from the bread-fruit tree, the Marquesans paid little attention to the cultivation of the soil; however, they grew a certain amount of taro, sweet potatoes, and sugar-cane; and they had plantations of the paper-mulberry,[24] the bark of which was manufactured by the women into cloth in the ordinary way.

But the bark of other trees was also employed for the same purpose.

Since the natives were able to procure European stuffs, the indigenous manufacture of bark-cloth has much declined.[25] Hence agriculture engaged the men very little; fis.h.i.+ng, though it was part of their business, they are said to have neglected; the only work of consequence they did was to build their houses and manufacture their arms, but these employments occupied them only occasionally.[26]

[23] Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 42-44; Clavel, _Les Marquisiens_, pp. 3 _sqq._ Compare G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii. 27 _sq._; Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 106-108; Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 115 _sq._; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 50-55; F. D. Bennett, _op.

cit._ i. 316 _sq._; H. Melville, _Typee_, pp. 120-124, 179; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 277 _sq._; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 138 _sq._, 144 _sq._; A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 208-211. As to the preparation and drinking of kava among the Marquesans, see also M. Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp.

64-66.

[24] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 164; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 53; C. S. Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 213 _sq._; F. D. Bennett, _op.

cit._ i. 345 (who says that the only root the natives cultivate for food is the sweet potato); Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp.

148, 149; Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 18.

[25] Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 122 _sq._; Porter, _op. cit._ ii.

116; Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 337 _sq._; Melville, _Typee_, pp.

158-160, 210; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 137 _sq._; Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp. 53 _sq._; Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ 55 _sq._; Clavel, _op. cit._ 19.

[26] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 164.

The weapons of the warriors were clubs, spears, and slings. The slings were made of coco-nut fibre, and the natives were very expert in the use of them. Bows and arrows were unknown.[27] Like the rest of the Polynesians, the Marquesans were totally ignorant of the metals until they acquired them from Europeans. Their tools were made of stone, bone, and sh.e.l.l. Thus they employed a pointed stone to bore holes with, and an axe of black, hard stone for cutting. The axe-head was shaped like an elongated wedge or mortise-chisel, and was fastened to the haft by coco-nut fibre. Some of these axes weighed as much as twenty-five pounds. The natives also used sharp-edged or toothed sh.e.l.ls as cutting implements, and borers made of pointed bones; while rough fish-skins served them as polishers.[28] Like the rest of the Polynesians, they kindled fire by the method known as the stick-and-groove, that is, by rubbing the sharp point of one stick against the flat surface of another, so as to form a groove in it and, by continued friction, to elicit smoke and a glow, which, with the help of dry leaves, is nursed into a flame. Contrary to the usage of some peoples, the Marquesans employed the same kind of wood for both the fire-sticks, either a species of hibiscus (_Hibiscus tiliaceus_) or a species of poplar (_Thespesia populnea_); for this purpose they split a branch in two, lengthwise, and used the two pieces as the fire-sticks. In former days these fire-sticks were regularly kept in every native house.[29]

[27] Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 118 _sq._; Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 162; Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 88; Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i.

152 (bows and arrows unknown); Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 282 _sq._

[28] Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 121; Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i.

162.

[29] H. Melville, _Typee_, pp. 118 _sq._; Clavel, _Les Marquisiens_, pp. 11 _sq._ Compare G. Forster, _op. cit._ ii.

20; D. Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 116; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p.

143.

The Marquesan houses are regularly built on stone platforms, oblong or square in shape, and raised above the ground to heights varying from one to four, eight, or even ten feet. The higher platforms are approached from the ground by ladders or notched poles. The houses, constructed of timber and bamboo, are oblong in shape, and comprise a high back wall, generally inclined forward at an angle, from which the thatched roof slopes down steeply to a low front wall, while two short walls close the house at either end. The door is in the middle of the front wall, and is so low that it is necessary to stoop in entering. Sometimes the fronts of the houses are entirely open except for the low pillars which support the roof. The interior of the house forms a single chamber undivided by part.i.tions. Two trunks of coco-nut palms extend parallel to each other along the whole length of the floor at an interval of four or five feet; the innermost log, a foot or two distant from the back wall, forms a pillow on which the heads of the sleepers rest, while the other supports their feet or legs. The s.p.a.ce between the two logs is paved with stone, and spread with mats. In the single apartment the whole family live and sleep. Such at least were the domestic arrangements in the old days. The size of the houses naturally varies. Some of them measure eighty feet by forty, others only twenty-five feet by ten, or even less.[30]

[30] J. Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 285 _sq._; G. Forster, _op. cit._ pp. 21, 24; J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 131, 134 _sq._; Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 84; Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 159; Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 109-111; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 39 _sq._; C. S.

Stewart, _op. cit._ i. 209-211, 212, 267 _sq._; Bennett, _op.

cit._ i. 302 _sq._; Melville, _Typee_, pp. 81-83; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz, _op. cit._ pp. 274-276; Mathias G----, _op. cit._ pp. 122-129; Radiguet, _op. cit._ pp.

36-38; Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 44 _sq._; Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 15 _sq._; Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 200-208.

The platforms on which the houses are built consist often of large blocks of stone neatly and regularly laid without mortar or cement, in a style which would do no discredit to European masons.[31] Sometimes the stones are described as enormous blocks of rock,[32] some of which would require ten or twelve men to carry or roll them.[33] Water-worn boulders, washed down from the mountains in the bed of torrents, were especially chosen for the purpose.[34]

[31] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 109 _sq._

[32] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ p. 129.

[33] Langsdorff, _l.c._

[34] Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 15.

Sometimes, though far less commonly, Marquesan houses were raised above the ground on posts from eight or ten to sixteen feet high. Such houses were lightly built of wood and thatched; the floor was an open work of split bamboos. Sometimes these raised dwellings resembled the ordinary Marquesan house in structure; at other times they were quadrangular, with perpendicular walls and an ordinary roof. They were approached by ladders and resembled the habitations in use among the Malay tribes of the Indian Archipelago. No dwellings of this type have been noticed in Nukahiva, the princ.i.p.al island of the archipelago; but they have been seen and described in Tauata (Santa Christina) and Hivaoa (Dominica).[35]

[35] F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 303 _sq._; Baessler, _op.

cit._ pp. 207 _sq._