Volume 16 / Part 3 — CHAPTER III. TRANSACTIONS AT OTAHEITE, AND THE SOCIETY ISLANDS; AND PROSECUTION OF THE VOYAGE TO THE COAST OF NORTH AMERICA. (continued 3)

Oreo himself did not give way to unavailing lamentations, but instantly began his exertions to recover our deserters, by dispatching a canoe to Bolabola, with a message to Opoony, the sovereign of that island, acquainting him with what had happened, and requesting him to seize the two fugitives, and send them back. The messenger, who was no less a man than the father of Pootoe, Oreo's son-in-law, before he set out came to receive my commands. I strictly enjoined him not to return without the deserters, and to tell Opoony, from me, that, if they had left Bolabola, he must send canoes to bring them back, for I suspected that they would not long remain in one place.

The consequence, however, of the prisoners was so great, that the natives did not think proper to trust to the return of our people for their release; or, at least, their impatience was so great, that it hurried them to meditate an attempt which might have involved them in still greater distress, had it not been fortunately prevented. Between five and six o'clock in the evening, I observed that all their canoes in and about the harbour began to move off, as if some sudden panic had seized them. I was ashore, abreast of the ship at the time, and enquired in vain to find out the cause, till our people called to as from the Discovery, and told us, that a party of the natives had seized Captain Clerke and Mr Gore, who had walked out a little way from the ships. Struck with the boldness of this plan of retaliation, which seemed to counteract me so effectually in my own way, there was no time to deliberate. I instantly ordered the people to arm; and in less than five minutes, a strong party, under the command of Mr King, was sent to rescue our two gentlemen. At the same time, two armed boats, and a party under Mr Williamson, went after the flying canoes, to cut off their retreat to the shore. These several detachments were hardly out of sight, before an account arrived that we had been misinformed, upon which I sent and called them all in.

This conspiracy, as it may be called, was first discovered by a girl, whom one of the officers had brought from Huaheine. She, overhearing some of the Ulieteans say, that they would seize Captain Clerke and Mr Gore, ran to acquaint the first of our people that she met with. Those who were charged with the execution of the design threatened to kill her as soon as we should leave the island, for disappointing them. Being aware of this, we contrived that her friends should come, some days after, and take her out of the ship, to convey her to a place of safety, where she might lie concealed till they should have an opportunity of sending her back to Huaheine.

On the 27th, our observatories were taken down, and every thing we had ashore carried on board; the moorings of the ships were cast off, and we transported them a little way down the harbour, where they came to an anchor again. Toward the afternoon the natives began to shake off their fears, gathering round and on board the ships as usual, and the awkward transactions of the day before seemed to be forgotten on both sides.

The following night the wind blew in hard squalls from S. to E. attended with heavy showers of rain. In one of the squalls, the cable by which the Resolution was riding, parted just without the hawse. We had another anchor ready to let go, so that the ship was presently brought up again. In the afternoon the wind became moderate, and we hooked the end of the best small bower-cable, and got it again into the hawse.

Oreo, the chief, being uneasy, as well as myself, that no account had been received from Bolabola, set out this evening for that island, and desired me to follow him the next day with the ships. This was my intention, but the wind would not admit of our getting to sea. But the same wind which kept us in the harbour, brought Oreo back from Bolabola, with the two deserters. They had reached Otaha the same night they deserted; but, finding it impossible to get to any of the islands to the eastward (which was their intention) for want of wind, they had proceeded to Bolabola, and from thence to the small island Toobaee, where they were taken by the father of Pootoe, in consequence of the first message sent to Opoony. As soon as they were on board, the three prisoners were released. Thus ended an affair which had given me much trouble and vexation. Nor would I have exerted myself so resolutely on the occasion, but for the reasons before mentioned, and to save the son of a brother officer from being lost to his country.

The wind continued constantly between the N. and W. and confined us in the harbour till eight o'clock in the morning of the 7th of December, when we took the advantage of a light breeze which then sprung up at N.E., and, with the assistance of all the boats, got out to sea, with the Discovery in company.

During the last week we had been visited by people from all parts of the island, who furnished us with a large stock of hogs and green plantains. So that the time we lay wind-bound in the harbour was not entirely lost; green plantains being an excellent substitute for bread, as they will keep good a fortnight or three weeks. Besides this supply of provisions, we also completed our wood and water.

The inhabitants of Ulietea seemed, in general, smaller and blacker than those of the other neighbouring islands, and appeared also less orderly, which, perhaps, may be considered as the consequence of their having become subject to the natives of Bolabola. Oreo, their chief, is only a sort of deputy of the sovereign of that island; and the conquest seems to have lessened the number of subordinate chiefs resident among them; so that they are less immediately under the inspection of those whose interest it is to enforce due obedience to authority. Ulietea, though now reduced to this humiliating state, was formerly, as we were told, the most eminent of this cluster of islands, and, probably, the first seat of government; for, they say, that the present royal family of Otaheite is descended from that which reigned here before the late revolution. Ooroo, the dethroned monarch of Ulietea, was still alive when we were at Huaheine, where he resides, a royal wanderer, furnishing, in his person, an instance of the instability of power; but, what is more remarkable, of the respect paid by these people to particular families, and to the customs which have once conferred sovereignty; for they suffer Ooroo to preserve all the ensigns which they appropriate to majesty, though he has lost his dominions.

SECTION VIII.

Arrival at Bolabola.—Interview with Opoony.—Reasons for purchasing Monsieur de Bougainville's Anchor.—Departure from the Society Islands.—Particulars about Bolabola.—History of the Conquest of Otaha and Ulieta.—High Reputation of the Bolabola Men.—Animals left there and at Ulietea.—Plentiful Supply of Provisions, and Manner of salting Pork on Board.—Various Reflections relative to Otaheite and the Society Islands.—Astronomical and Nautical Observations made there.

As soon as we had got clear of the harbour, we took our leave of Ulietea, and steered for Bolabola. The chief, if not sole object I had in view by visiting that island was, to procure from its monarch, Opoony, one of the anchors which Monsieur de Bougainville had lost at Otaheite. This having afterwards been taken up by the natives there, had, as they informed me, been sent by them as a present to that chief. My desire to get possession of it did not arise, from our being in want of anchors; but having expended all the hatchets, and other iron tools which we had brought from England, in purchasing refreshments, we were now reduced to the necessity of creating a fresh assortment of trading articles, by fabricating them out of the spare iron we had on board; and in such conversions, and in the occasional uses of the ships, great part of that had been already expended. I thought that M. de Bougainville's anchor would supply our want of this useful material; and I made no doubt that I should be able to tempt Opoony to part with it.

Oreo, and six or eight men more from Ulietea, took a passage with us to Bolabola. Indeed most of the natives in general, except the chief himself, would have gladly taken a passage with us to England. At sunset, being the length of the south point of Bolabola, we shortened sail, and spent the night making short boards. At day-break, on the 8th, we made sail for the harbour, which is on the west side of the island. The wind was scant, so that we had to ply up, and it was nine o'clock before we got near enough to send away a boat to sound the entrance, for I had thoughts of running the ships in, and anchoring for a day or two.

When the boat returned, the master, who was in her, reported, that though at the entrance of the harbour the bottom was rocky, there was good ground within, and the depth of water twenty-seven and twenty-five fathoms; and that there was room to turn the ships in, the channel being one-third of a mile broad. In consequence of this report, we attempted to work the ships in. But the tide, as well as the wind, being against us, after making two or three trips, I found that it could not be done till the tide should turn in our favour. Upon this I gave up the design of carrying the ships into the harbour; and having ordered the boats to be got ready, I embarked in one of them, accompanied by Oreo and his companions, and was rowed in for the island.

While the boats were hoisting in, some of the natives came off in three or four canoes to see the ships, as they said. They brought with them a few cocoa-nuts and one pig, which was the only one we got at the island. I make no doubt, however, that if we had staid till the next day, we should have been plentifully supplied with provisions; and I think the natives would feel themselves disappointed when they found that we were gone. But as we had already a very good stock, both of hogs and of fruit on board, and very little of any thing left to purchase more, I could have no inducement to defer any longer the prosecution of our voyage.

The harbour of Bolabola, called Oteavanooa, situated on the west side of the island, is one of the most capacious that I ever met with; and though we did not enter it, it was a satisfaction to me that I had an opportunity of employing my people to ascertain its being a very proper place for the reception of ships.

The high double-peaked mountain, which is in the middle of the island, appeared to be barren on the east side; but on the west side, has trees or bushes on its most craggy parts. The lower grounds, all round toward the sea, are covered with cocoa-palms and bread-fruit trees, like the other islands of this ocean; and the many little islets that surrounded it on the inside of the reef, add both to the amount of its vegetable productions and to the number of its inhabitants.

Ulietea, and Otaha which adjoins it, lived long in friendship, or, as the natives express it, were considered as two brothers, inseparable by any interested views. They also admitted the island of Huaheine as their friend, though not so intimate. Otaha, however, like a traitor, leagued with Bolabola, and they resolved jointly to attack Ulietea; whose people called in their friends of Huaheine to assist them against these two powers. The men of Bolabola were encouraged by a priestess, or rather prophetess, who foretold that they should be successful; and, as a proof of the certainty of her prediction, she desired, that a man might be sent to the sea, at a particular place, where, from a great depth, a stone would ascend. He went, accordingly, in a canoe to the place mentioned; and was going to dive to see where this stone lay, when, behold, it started up to the surface spontaneously into his hand! The people were astonished at the sight: The stone was deposited as sacred in the house of the Eatooa; and is still preserved at Bolabola, as a proof of this woman's influence with the divinity. Their spirits being thus elevated with the hopes of victory, the canoes of Bolabola set out to engage those of Ulietea and Huaheine, which being strongly fastened together with ropes, the encounter lasted long, and would probably, notwithstanding the prediction and the miracle, have ended in the overthrow of the Bolabola fleet, if that of Otaha had not, in the critical moment, arrived. This turned the fortune of the day, and their enemies were defeated with great slaughter. The men of Bolabola, prosecuting their victory, invaded Huaheine two days after, which they knew must be weakly defended, as most of its warriors were absent. Accordingly, they made themselves masters of that island. But many of its fugitives having got to Otaheite, there told their lamentable story; which so grieved those of their countrymen, and of Ulietea, whom, they met with in that island, that they obtained some assistance from them. They were equipped with only ten fighting canoes; but, though their force was so inconsiderable, they conducted the expedition with so much prudence, that they landed at Huaheine at night, when dark, and, falling upon the Bolabola men by surprise, killed many of them, forcing the rest to fly. So that, by this means, they got possession of their island again, which now remains independent, under the government of its own chiefs. Immediately after the defeat of the united fleets of Ulietea and Huaheine, a proposal was made to the Bolabola men by their allies of Otaha, to be admitted to an equal share of the conquests. The refusal of this broke the alliance; and in the course of the war, Otaha itself, as well as Ulietea, was conquered; and both now remain subject to Bolabola; the chiefs who govern them being only deputies of Opoony, the sovereign of that island. In the reduction of the two islands, five battles were fought at different places, in which great numbers were slain on both sides.

Such was the account we received. I have more than once remarked, how very imperfectly these people recollect the exact dates of past events. And with regard to this war, though it happened not many years ago, we could only guess at the time of its commencement and its conclusion, from collateral circumstances, furnished by our own observation, as the natives could not satisfy our enquiries with any precision. The final conquest of Ulietea, which closed the war, we know had been made before I was there in the Endeavour, in 1769; but we may infer, that peace had not been very long restored, as we could then see marks of recent hostilities having been committed upon that island. Some additional light may be thrown upon this enquiry, by attending to the age of Teereetareea, the present chief of Huaheine. His looks shewed that he was not above ten or twelve years old; and we were informed that his father had been killed in one of the battles. As to the time when the war began, we had no better rule for judging than this, that the young people of about twenty years of age, of whom we made enquiries, could scarcely remember the first battles; and I have already mentioned, that Omai's countrymen, whom we found at Wateoo, knew nothing of this war; so that its commencement was subsequent to their voyage.

Ever since the conquest of Ulietea and Otaha, the Bolabola men have been considered by their neighbours as invincible; and such is the extent of their fame, that even at Otaheite, which is almost out of their reach, if they are not dreaded, they are, at least, respected for their valour. It is said that they never fly in battle, and that they always beat an equal number of the other islanders. But, besides these advantages, their neighbours seem to ascribe a great deal to the superiority of their god, who, they believed, detained us at Ulietea by contrary winds, as being unwilling that we should visit an island under his special protection.

How high the Bolabola men are now in estimation at Otaheite, may be inferred from Monsieur de Bougainville's anchor having been conveyed to them. To the same cause we must ascribe the intention of transporting to their island the Spanish bull. And they had already got possession of a third European curiosity, the male of another animal, brought to Otaheite by the Spaniards. We had been, much puzzled, by the imperfect description of the natives, to guess what this could be; but Captain Clerke's deserters, when brought back from Bolabola, told me, that the animal had been there shewn to them, and that it was a ram. It seldom happens but that some good arises out of evil, and if our two men had not deserted, I should not have known this. In consequence of their information, at the same time that I landed to meet Opoony, I carried ashore a ewe, which we had brought from the Cape of Good Hope; and I hope that by this present I have laid the foundation for a breed of sheep at Bolabola. I also left at Ulietea, under the care of Oreo, an English boar and sow, and two goats. So that not only Otaheite, but all the neighbouring islands, will, in a few years, have their race of hogs considerably improved; and, probably, be stocked with all the valuable animals which have been transported hither by their European visitors.

When once this comes to pass, no part of the world will equal these islands in variety and abundance of refreshments for navigators. Indeed, even in their present state, I know no place that excels them. After repeated trials in the course of several voyages we find, when they are not disturbed by intestine broils, but live in amity with one another, which has been the case for some years past, that their productions are in the greatest plenty; and, particularly, the most valuable of all the articles, their hogs.

If we had had a larger assortment of goods, and a sufficient quantity of salt on board, I make no doubt that we might have salted as much pork as would have served both ships near twelve months. But our visiting the Friendly Islands, and our long stay at Otaheite and the neigbourhood, quite exhausted our trading commodities, particularly our axes, with which alone, hogs, in general, were to be purchased. And we had hardly salt enough to cure fifteen puncheons of meat; of these, five were added to our stock of provisions at the Friendly Islands, and the other ten at Otaheite. Captain Clerke also salted a proportionable quantity for his ship.

The process was the same that had been adopted by me in my last voyage; and it may be worth while to describe it again. The hogs were killed in the evening; as soon as they were cleaned, they were cut up, the bone taken out, and the meat salted when it was hot. It was then laid in such a position as to permit the juices to drain from it, till the next morning, when it was again salted, packed into a cask, and covered with pickle. Here it remained for four or five days, or a week; after which it was taken out and examined, piece by piece, and if there was any found to be in the least tainted, as sometimes happened, it was separated from the rest, which was repacked into another cask, headed up, and filled with good pickle. In about eight or ten days time it underwent a second examination; but this seemed unnecessary, as the whole was generally found to be perfectly cured. A mixture of bay and of white salt answers the best, but either of them will do alone. Great care should be taken that none of the large blood vessels remain in the meat; nor must too great a quantity be packed together, at the first salting, lest the pieces in the middle should heat, and, by that means, prevent the salt from penetrating them. This once happened to us, when we killed a larger quantity than usual. Rainy sultry weather is unfavourable for salting meat in tropical climates.

Perhaps the frequent visits Europeans have lately made to these islanders, may be one great inducement to their keeping up a large stock of hogs, as they have had experience enough to know, that, whenever we come, they may be sure of getting from us what they esteem a valuable consideration for them. At Otaheite they expect the return of the Spaniards every day, and they will look for the English two or three years hence, not only there, but at the other islands. It is to no purpose to tell them that you will not return; they think you must, though not one of them knows, or will give himself the trouble to enquire, the reason of your coming.

Otaheite, though not comprehended in the number of what we have called the Society Islands, being inhabited by the same race of men, agreeing in the same leading features of character and manners, it was fortunate, that we happened to discover this principal island before the others; as the friendly and hospitable reception we there met with, of course, led us to make it the principal place of resort, in our successive visits to this part of the Pacific Ocean. By the frequency of this intercourse, we have had better opportunities of knowing something about it and its inhabitants, than about the other similar but less considerable islands in its vicinity. Of these, however, we have seen enough to satisfy us, that all that we observed and have related of Otaheite, may, with trifling variations, be applied to them.

Too much seems to have been already known and published in our former relations, about some of the modes of life that made Otaheite so agreeable an abode to many on board our ships; and, if I could now add any finishing strokes to a picture, the outlines of which have been already drawn with sufficient accuracy, I should still have hesitated to make this journal the place for exhibiting a view of licentious manners, which could only serve to disgust those for whose information I write. There are, however, many parts of the domestic, political, and religious institutions of these people, which, after all our visits to them, are but imperfectly understood. The foregoing narrative of the incidents that happened during our stay, will probably be thought to throw some additional light; and, for farther satisfaction, I refer to Mr Anderson's remarks.

Amidst our various subordinate employments, while at these islands, the great objects of our duty were always attended to. No opportunity was lost of making astronomical and nautical observations; from which the following table was drawn up:

Place.Latitude.Longitude.Variation ofDip of the

South.Eastthe Compass.Needle.

Matavai Point, Otaheite,17° 24-1/4'210° 22' 28"5° 34' East29° 12'

Owharre Harbour, Huaheine,16° 42-3/4'208° 52' 24"5° 13-1/2" East28° 28'

Ohamaneno Harbour, Ulietea,16° 45-1/2'208° 25' 22"6° 19' East29° 5'

[Transcriber's Note: It is possible that the compass variation at Owharre Harbour should read 5° 13-1/2' not 5° 13-1/2" (minutes not seconds)]

The longitude of the three several places is deduced from the mean of 145 sets of observations made on shore; some at one place, and some at another; and carried on to each of the stations by the time-keeper. As the situation of these places was very accurately settled, during my former voyages, the above observations were now made chiefly with a view of determining how far a number of lunar observations might be depended upon, and how near they would agree with those made upon the same spot in 1769, which fixed Matavai Point to be in 210° 27' 30". The difference, it appears, is only of 5' 2"; and, perhaps, no other method could have produced a more perfect agreement. Without pretending to say which of the two computations is the nearest the truth, the longitude of 210° 22' 28", or, which is the same thing, 208° 25' 22", will be the longitude we shall reckon from with the time-keeper, allowing it to be losing, on mean time, 1,"69 each day, as found by the mean of all the observations made at these islands for that purpose.

On our arrival at Otaheite, the error of the time-keeper in longitude was,

byGreenwich rate,1° 18' 58"

Tongataboo rate,0° 16' 40"

Some observations were also made on the tide; particularly at Otaheite and Ulietea, with a view of ascertaining its greatest rise at the first place. When we were there, in my second voyage, Mr Wales thought he had discovered that it rose higher than I had observed it to do, when I first visited Otaheite, in 1769. But the observations we now made proved that it did not; that is, that it never rose higher than twelve or fourteen inches at most. And it was observed to be high-water nearly at noon, as well at the quadratures, as at the full and change of the moon.

To verify this, the following observations were made at Ulietea:

Day ofWater at a standMean TimePerpendicular

theofrise

Month.fromtoHigh Water.Inches.

November 6.11h 15m12h 20m11h 48m5,5

7.11 401 0012 205,2

8.11 3512 5012 125,0

9.11 401 1612 285,5

10.11 251 1012 186,5

11.12 001 4012 205,0

12.11 001 0512 025,7

13.9 3011 4010 358,0

14.11 1012 5012 008,0

15.9 2011 3010 259,2

16.10 0012 0011 009,0

17.10 4512 1511 308,5

18.10 2512 1011 189,0

19.11 001 0012 008,0

20.11 302 0012 457,0

21.11 001 0012 008,0

22.11 301 0712 188,0

23.12 001 3012 456,5

24.11 301 4012 355,5

25.11 401 5012 454,7

26.11 001 3012 155,2

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.—Circumcision.—System of Religion.—Notions about the Soul and a future Life.—Various Superstitions.—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 Gods.—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 repetition 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 institutions 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 ship, 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 shore, 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 shore, presented a delightful scene, viewed from our ships; 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 passing 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, constitute 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 quantity, 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 sex in many countries. The beard, which the men here wear long, and the hair, which is not cut so short as is the fashion 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 quantity 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 assistance 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 punishing 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 amusements all tend to excite and continue their amorous passions; 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 ships, and was pursued; but, on waiting patiently, saw him repeat his amusement. He went out from the shore, 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 passing 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 ships 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 amusements 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.

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 pronounced 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 quantity 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 quantities, 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 cassava 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.

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 quantity 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 assemble 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 fashionable, 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 sex 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.

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 sexes, 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 assiduity in serving their gods 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 superstitious 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 pass the morais, or take a considerable circuit to avoid them. Though they have no notion that their god 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 god, 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 God. 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 passes 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 passions 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 spacious house, called tourooa, where the souls of the deceased assemble to recreate themselves with the gods. 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.

Some of their notions about the deity are extravagantly absurd: They believe that he is subject to the power of those very spirits to whom he has given existence; and that, in their turn, they frequently eat or devour him, though he possess the power of re-creating himself. They doubtless use this mode of expression, as they seem incapable of conversing about immaterial things, without constantly referring to material objects to convey their meaning. And in this manner they continue the account, by saying, that, in the tourooa, the deity enquires if they intend, or not, to destroy him? And that he is not able to alter their determination. This is known to the inhabitants on earth, as well as to the spirits; for when the moon is in its wane, it is said that they are then devouring their Eatooa; and that as it increases he is renewing himself. And to this accident, not only the inferior, but the most eminent gods are liable. They also believe, that there are other places for the reception of souls at death. Thus, those who are drowned in the sea remain there; where they think that there is a fine country, houses, and every thing that can make them happy. But, what is more singular, they maintain, that not only all other animals, but trees, fruit, and even stones, have souls, which at death, or upon being consumed or broken, ascend to the divinity, with whom they first mix, and afterwards pass into the mansion allotted to each.

They imagine that their punctual performance of religious offices procures for them every temporal blessing. And as they believe that the animating and powerful influence of the divine spirit is every where diffused, it is no wonder that they join to this many superstitious opinions about its operations. Accordingly, they believe that sudden deaths, and all other accidents, are effected by the immediate action of some divinity. If a man only stumble against a stone and hurt his toe, they impute it to an Eatooa; so that they may be literally said, agreeably to their system, to tread enchanted ground. They are startled in the night on approaching a toopapaoo, where the dead are exposed, in the same manner that many of our ignorant and superstitious people are with the apprehensions of ghosts, and at the sight of a church-yard; and they have an equal confidence in dreams, which they suppose to be communications either from their god, or from the spirits of their departed friends, enabling those favoured with them to foretell future events; but this kind of knowledge is confined to particular people. Omai pretended to have his gift. He told us, that the soul of his father had intimated to him in a dream, on the 26th of July 1776, that he should go on shore at some place within three days; but he was unfortunate in this first attempt to persuade us that he was a prophet; for it was the 1st of August before we got into Teneriffe. Amongst them, however, the dreamers possess a reputation little inferior to that of their inspired priests and priestesses, whose predictions they implicitly believe, and are determined by them in all undertakings of consequence. The priestess who persuaded Opoony to invade Ulietea, is much respected by him; and he never goes to war without consulting her. They also, in some degree, maintain our old doctrine of planetary influence; at least, they are sometimes regulated in their public counsels by certain appearances of the moon; particularly when lying horizontally, or much inclined on the convex part, on its first appearance after the change, they are encouraged to engage in war with confidence of success.

They have traditions concerning the creation, which, as might be expected, are complex and clouded with obscurity. They say, that a goddess, having a lump or mass of earth suspended in a cord, gave it a swing, and scattered about pieces of land, thus constituting Otaheite and the neighbouring islands, which were all peopled by a man and woman, originally fixed at Otaheite. This, however, only respects their own immediate creation; for they have notions of an universal one before this; and of lands, of which they have now no other knowledge than what is mentioned in the tradition. Their most remote account reaches to Tatooma and Tapuppa, male and female stones or rocks, who support the congeries of land and water, or our globe underneath. These produced Totorro, who was killed, and divided into land; and after him Otaia and Oroo were begotten, who were afterward married, and produced, first, land, and then a race of gods. Otaia is killed, and Oroo marries a god, her son, called Teorrhaha, whom she orders to create more land, the animals, and all sorts of food found upon the earth; as also the sky, which is supported by men called Teeferei. The spots observed in the moon, are supposed to be groves of a sort of trees which once grew in Otaheite, and being destroyed by some accident, their seeds were carried up thither by doves, where they now flourish.

They have also many legends, both religious and historical; one of which latter, relative to the practice of eating human flesh, I shall give the substance of, as a specimen of their method. A long time since there lived in Otaheite two men, called Taheeai, the only name they yet have for cannibals; none knew from whence they came, or in what manner they arrived at the island. Their habitation was in the mountains, from whence they used to issue, and kill many of the natives, whom they afterward devoured, and by that means prevented the progress of population. Two brothers, determined to rid their country of such a formidable enemy, used a stratagem for their destruction, with success. These still lived farther upward than the Taheeai, and in such a situation that they could speak with them without greatly hazarding their own safety; they invited them to accept of an entertainment that should be provided for them, to which these readily consented. The brothers then taking some stones, heated them in a fire, and thrusting them into pieces of mahee, desired one of the Taheeai to open his mouth; on which one of these pieces was dropped in, and some water poured down, which made a boiling or hissing noise, in quenching the stone, and killed him. They entreated the other to do the same; but he declined it, representing the consequences of his companion's eating. However, they assured him that the food was excellent, and its effects only temporary; for that the other would soon recover. His credulity was such that be swallowed the bait, and shared the fate of the first. The natives then cut them in pieces, which they buried; and conferred the government of the island on the brothers, as a reward for delivering them from such monsters. Their residence was in the district called Whapaeenoo; and to this day there remains a bread-fruit tree, once the property of the Taheeais. They had also a woman, who lived with them, and had two teeth of a prodigious size. After they were killed, she lived at the island Otaha; and when dead, was ranked amongst their deities. She did not eat human flesh, as the men; but, from the size of her teeth, the natives still call any animal that has a fierce appearance, or is represented with large tusks, Taheeai.

Every one must allow that this story is just as natural as that of Hercules destroying the hydra, or the more modern one of Jack the giant-killer. But I do not find that there is any moral couched under it, any more than under most old fables of the same kind, which have been received as truths only during the prevalence of the same ignorance that marked the character of the ages in which they were invented. It, however, has not been improperly introduced, as serving to express the horror and detestation entertained here against those who feed upon human flesh. And yet, from some circumstances, I have been led to think that the natives of these isles were formerly cannibals. Upon asking Omai, he denied it stoutly; yet mentioned a fact, within his own knowledge, which almost confirms such an opinion. When the people of Bolabola, one time, defeated those of Huaheine, a great number of his kinsmen were slain. But one of his relations had, afterward, an opportunity of revenging himself, when the Bolabola men were worsted in their turn, and cutting a piece out of the thigh of one of his enemies, he broiled, and eat it. I have also frequently considered the offering of the person's eye, who is sacrificed, to the chief, as a vestige of a custom which once really existed to a greater extent, and is still commemorated by this emblematical ceremony.

The being invested with the maro, and the presiding at human sacrifices, seem to be the peculiar characteristics of the sovereign. To these, perhaps, may be added the blowing a conch-shell, which produces a very loud sound. On hearing it, all his subjects are obliged to bring food of every sort to his royal residence, in proportion to their abilities. On some other occasions, they carry their veneration for his very name to an extravagant and very destructive pitch. For if, on his accession to the maro, any words in their language be found to have a resemblance to it in sound, they are changed for others; and if any man be bold enough not to comply, and continue to use those words, not only he, but all his relations, are immediately put to death. The same severity is exercised toward those who shall presume to apply this sacred name to any animal. And, agreeably to this custom of his countrymen, Omai used to express his indignation, that the English should give the names of prince or princess to their favourite horses or dogs. But while death is the punishment for making free with the name of their sovereign, if abuse be only levelled at his government, the offender escapes with the forfeiture of lands and houses.

The king never enters the house of any of his subjects, but has, in every district where he visits, houses belonging to himself. And if, at any time, he should be obliged by accident to deviate from this rule, the house thus honoured with his presence, and every part of its furniture, is burnt. His subjects not only uncover to him, when present, down to the waist; but if he be at any particular place, a pole, having a piece of cloth tied to it, is set up somewhere near, to which they pay the same honours. His brothers are also entitled to the first part of the ceremony; but the women only uncover to the females of the royal family. In short, they seem even superstitious in their respect to him, and esteem his person little less than sacred. And it is, perhaps, to these circumstances, that he owes the quiet possession of his dominions. For even the people of Tiaraboo allow him the same honours as his right; though, at the same time, they look upon their own chief as more powerful; and say, that he would succeed to the government of the whole island, should the present reigning family become extinct. This is the more likely, as Waheiadooa not only possesses Tiaraboo, but many districts of Opooreanoo. His territories, therefore, are almost equal in extent to those of Otoo; and he has, besides, the advantage of a more populous and fertile part of the island. His subjects, also, have given proofs of their superiority, by frequent victories over those of Otaheite-nooe, whom they affect to speak of as contemptible warriors, easily to be worsted, if at any time their chief should wish to put it to the test.

The ranks of people, besides the Eree de hoi and his family, are the Erees, or powerful chiefs; the Manahoone, or vassals; and the Teou, or Toutou, servants, or rather slaves. The men of each of these, according to the regular institution, form their connexions with women of their respective ranks; but if with any inferior one, which frequently happens, and a child be born, it is preserved, and has the rank of the father, unless he happens to be an Eree, in which case it is killed. If a woman of condition should choose an inferior person to officiate as a husband, the children he has by her are killed. And if a Teou be caught in an intrigue with a woman of the blood-royal, he is put to death. The son of the Eree de hoi succeeds his father in title and honours as soon as he is born; but if he should have no children, the brother assumes the government at his death. In other families, possessions always descend to the eldest son; but he is obliged to maintain his brothers and sisters, who are allowed houses on his estates.

The boundaries of the several districts, into which Otaheite is divided, are, generally, either rivulets, or low hills, which, in many places, jut out into the sea. But the subdivisions into particular property, are marked by large stones, which have remained from one generation to another. The removal of any of these gives rise to quarrels, which are decided by arms; each party bringing his friends into the field. But if any one complain to the Eree de hoi, he terminates the difference amicably. This is an offence, however, not common; and long custom seems to secure property here as effectually as the most severe laws do in other countries. In conformity also to ancient practice established amongst them, crimes of a less general nature are left to be punished by the sufferer, without referring them to a superior. In this case, they seem to think that the injured person will judge as equitably as those who are totally unconcerned; and as long custom has allotted certain punishments for crimes of different sorts, he is allowed to inflict them, without being amenable to any other person. Thus, if any one be caught stealing, which is commonly done in the night, the proprietor of the goods may put the thief instantly to death; and if any one should enquire of him after the deceased, it is sufficient to acquit him, if he only informs them of the provocation he had to kill him. But so severe a punishment is seldom inflicted, unless the articles that are stolen be reckoned very valuable; such as breast-plates and plaited hair. If only cloth, or even hogs, be stolen, and the thief escape, upon his being afterward discovered, if he promise to return the same number of pieces of cloth, or of hogs, no farther punishment is inflicted. Sometimes, after keeping out of the way for a few days, he is forgiven, or, at most, gets a slight beating. If a person kill another in a quarrel, the friends of the deceased assemble, and engage the survivor and his adherents. If they conquer, they take possession of the house, lands, and goods of the other party; but if conquered, the reverse takes place. If a Manahoone kill the Toutou, or slave of a chief, the latter sends people to take possession of the lands and house of the former, who flies either to some other part of the island, or to some of the neighbouring islands. After some months he returns, and finding his stock of hogs much increased, he offers a large present of these, with some red feathers, and other valuable articles, to the Toutou's master, who generally accepts the compensation, and permits him to repossess his house and lands. This practice is the height of venality and injustice; and the slayer of the slave seems to be under no farther necessity of absconding, than to impose upon the lower class of people, who are the sufferers. For it does not appear that the chief has the least power to punish this Manahoone; but the whole management marks a collusion between him and his superior, to gratify the revenge of the former, and the avarice of the latter. Indeed, we need not wonder that the killing of a man should be considered as so venial an offence, amongst a people who do not consider it as any crime at all to murder their own children. When talking to them, about such instances of unnatural cruelty, and asking, whether the chiefs or principal people were not angry, and did not punish them? I was told, that the chief neither could nor would interfere in such cases; and that every one had a right to do with his own child what he pleased.

Though the productions, the people, and the customs and manners of all the islands in the neighbourhood, may, in general, be reckoned the same as at Otaheite, there are a few differences which should be mentioned, as this may lead to an enquiry about more material ones hereafter, if such there be, of which we are now ignorant.

With regard to the little island Mataia, or Osnaburgh Island, which lies twenty leagues east of Otaheite, and belongs to a chief of that place, who gets from thence a kind of tribute, a different dialect from that of Otaheite is there spoken. The men of Mataia also wear their hair very long; and when they fight, cover their arms with a substance which is beset with sharks' teeth, and their bodies with a sort of shagreen, being skin of fishes. At the same time they are ornamented with polished pearl-shells, which make a prodigious glittering in the sun; and they have a very large one, that covers them before, like a shield or breast plate.

The language of Otaheite has many words, and even phrases, quite unlike those of the islands to the westward of it, which all agree; and this island is remarkable for producing great quantities of that delicious fruit we call apples, which are found in none of the others, except Eimeo. It has also the advantage of producing an odoriferous wood, called eahoi, which is highly valued at the other isles, where there is none; nor even in the south-east peninsula, or Tiaraboo, though joining it. Huaheine and Eimeo, again, are remarkable for producing greater quantities of yams than the other islands. And at Mourooa there is a particular bird, found upon the hills, much esteemed for its white feathers; at which place there is also said to be some of the apples, though it be the most remote of the Society Islands from Otaheite and Eimeo, where they are produced.

Though the religion of all the islands be the same, each of them has its particular, or tutelar god; whose names, according to the best information I could receive, are set down in the following list:

Gods of the Isles,

Huaheine, Tanne.

Ulietea, Oore.

Otaha, Tanne.

Bolabola, Oraa.

Mourooa, Otoo, ee weiahoo.

Toobaee, Tamouee.

Tabooymanoo, or Saunders's Island, which is subject to Huaheine, Taroa.

Eimeo, Oroo hadoo.

Otaheite-nooe,Ooroo.

Otaheite,

Tiaraboo,Opoonooa andwhom they have

Whatooteeree,lately changed

for Oraa, god

of Bolabola.

Mataia or Osnaburgh Island Tooboo, toobooai, Ry maraiva.

The Low Isles, Eastward Tammaree.

Besides the cluster of high islands from Mataia to Mourooa inclusive, the people of Otaheite are acquainted with a low uninhabited island, which they name Mopeeha, and seems to be Howe's Island, laid down to the westward of Mourooa in our late charts of this ocean. To this the inhabitants of the most leeward islands sometimes go. There are also several low islands, to the north-eastward of Otaheite, which they have sometimes visited, but not constantly; and are said to be only at the distance of two days' sail, with a fair wind. They were thus named to me:

The inhabitants of these isles come more frequently to Otaheite and the other neighbouring high islands, from whose natives they differ in being of a darker colour, with a fiercer aspect, and differently punctured. I was informed, that at Mataeeva, and others of them, it is a custom for the men to give their daughters to strangers who arrive amongst them; but the pairs must be five nights lying near each other, without presuming to proceed farther. On the sixth evening, the father of the young woman, treats his guest with food, and informs his daughter, that she must, that night, receive him as her husband. The stranger, however, must not offer to express the least dislike, though the bed-fellow allotted to him should be ever so disagreeable; for this is considered as an unpardonable affront, and is punished with death. Forty men of Bolabola, who, incited by curiosity, had roamed as far as Mataeeva in a canoe, were treated in this manner; one of them having incautiously mentioned his dislike of the woman who fell to his lot, in the hearing of a boy, who informed her father. In consequence of this the Mateevans fell upon them; but these warlike people killed three times their own number; though with the loss of all their party, except five. These hid themselves in the woods, and took an opportunity, when the others were burying their dead, to enter some houses, where, having provided themselves with victuals and water, they carried them on board a canoe, in which they made their escape; and, after passing Mataia, at which they would not touch, at last arrived safe at Eimeo. The Bolabolans, however, were sensible enough that their travellers had been to blame; for a canoe from Mateeva, arriving some time after at Bolabola, so far were they from retaliating upon them for the death of their countrymen, that they acknowledged they had deserved their fate, and treated their visitors kindly.

SECTION X.

Progress of the Voyage, after leaving the Society Islands.—Christmas Island discovered, and Station of the Ships there.—Boats sent ashore.—Great Success in catching Turtle.—An Eclipse of the Sun observed.—Distress of two Seamen who had lost their Way.—Inscription left in a Bottle.—Account of the Island.—Its Soil.—Trees and Plants.—Birds.—Its Size.—Form.—Situation.—Anchoring Ground.

After leaving Bolabola, I steered to the northward, close-hauled, with the wind between N.E. and E., hardly ever having it to the southward of E., till after we had crossed the Line, and had got into N. latitudes. So that our course, made good, was always to the W. of N., and sometimes no better than N.W.

Though seventeen months had now elapsed since our departure from England, during which, we had not, upon the whole, been unprofitably employed, I was sensible, that with regard to the principal object of my instructions, our voyage was, at this time, only beginning; and, therefore, my attention to every circumstance that might contribute toward our safety and our ultimate success, was now to be called forth anew. With this view I had examined into the state of our provisions at the last islands; and, as soon as I had left them, and got beyond the extent of my former discoveries, I ordered a survey to be taken of all the boatswain's and carpenter's stores that were in the ships, that I might be fully informed of the quantity, state, and condition of every article; and, by that means, know how to use them to the greatest advantage.

In the night, between the 22d and 23d, we crossed the Line in the longitude of 203° 15' E. Here the variation of the compass was 6° 30' E. nearly.

On the 24th, about half an hour after day-break, land was discovered bearing N.E. by E. 1/2 E. Upon a nearer approach, it was found to be one of those low islands so common in this ocean, that is, a narrow bank of land inclosing the sea within. A few cocoa-nut trees were seen in two or three places; but, in general, the land had a very barren appearance. At noon, it extended from N.E. by E. to S. by E. 1/2 E., about four miles distant. The wind was at E.S.E., so that we were under a necessity of making a few boards, to get up to the lee or west side, where we found from forty to twenty and fourteen fathoms water, over a bottom of fine sand, the least depth about half a mile from, the breakers, and the greatest about one mile. The meeting with soundings determined me to anchor, with a view to try to get some turtles, for the island seemed to be a likely place to meet with them, and to be without inhabitants. Accordingly we dropped anchor in thirty fathoms; and then a boat was dispatched to examine whether it was practicable to land, of which I had some doubt, as the sea broke in a dreadful surf all along the shore. When the boat returned, the officer, whom I had entrusted with this examination, reported to me that he could see no place where a boat could land, but that there was great abundance of fish in the shoal water, without the breakers.

At day-break, the next morning, I sent two boats, one from each ship, to search more accurately for a landing-place; and, at the same time, two others to fish at a grappling near the shore. These last returned about eight o'clock, with upward of two hundred weight of fish. Encouraged by this success, they were dispatched again after breakfast; and I then went in another boat, to take a view of the coast and attempt landing, but this I found to be wholly impracticable. Toward noon, the two boats, sent on the same search, returned. The master, who was in that belonging to the Resolution, reported to me, that about a league and a half to the N., was a break in the land, and a channel into the lagoon, consequently, that there was a fit place for landing; and that he had found the same soundings off this entrance, as we had where we now lay. In consequence of this report the ships weighed anchor, and, after two or three trips, came to again in twenty fathoms water, over a bottom of fine dark sand, before a small island that lies at the entrance of the lagoon, and on each side of which there is a channel leading into it, but only fit for boats. The water in the lagoon itself is all very shallow.

On the 26th, in the morning, I ordered Captain Clerke to send a boat, with an officer, to the S.E. part of the lagoon, to look for turtles; and Mr King and I went each in a boat to the N.E. part. I intended to have gone to the most easterly extremity, but the wind blew too fresh to allow it, and obliged us to land more to leeward, on a sandy flat, where we caught one turtle, the only one that we saw in the lagoon. We walked, or rather waded, through the water to an island, where finding nothing but a few birds, I left it, and proceeded to the land that bounds the sea to the N.W., leaving Mr King to observe the sun's meridian altitude. I found this land to be even more barren than the island I had been upon; but walking over to the sea-coast, I saw five turtles close to the shore. One of these we caught, and the rest made their escape. Not seeing any more I returned on board, as did Mr King soon after, without having seen one turtle. We, however, did not despair of getting a supply; for some of Captain Clerke's officers, who had been ashore on the land to the southward of the channel leading into the lagoon, had been more fortunate, and caught several there.

In the morning of the 27th, the pinnace and cutter, under the command of Mr King, were sent to the S.E. part of the island, within the lagoon, and the small cutter to the northward, where I had been the day before, both parties being ordered upon the same service, to catch turtles. Captain Clerke having had some of his people on shore all night, they had been so fortunate as to turn between forty and fifty on the sand, which were brought on board with all expedition this day. And, in the afternoon, the party I had sent northward returned with six. They were sent back again, and remained there till we left the island, having in general pretty good success.

On the 28th, I landed in company with Mr Bayly, on the island which lies between the two channels into the lagoon, to prepare the telescopes for observing the approaching eclipse of the sun, which was one great inducement to my anchoring here. About noon, Mr King returned with one boat and eight turtles, leaving seven behind to be brought by the other boat, whose people were employed in catching more; and, in the evening, the same boat was sent with water and provisions for them. Mr Williamson now went to superintend this duty in the room of Mr King, who remained on board to attend the observation of the eclipse.

The next day, Mr Williamson dispatched the two boats back to the ship, laden with turtles. At the same time, he sent me a message, desiring that the boats might be ordered round by sea, as he had found a landing-place on the S.E. side of the island, where most of the turtles were caught; so that by sending the boats thither, the trouble would be saved of carrying them over the land to the inside of the lagoon, as had been hitherto done. The boats were accordingly dispatched to the place which he pointed out.

On the morning of the 30th, the day when the eclipse was to happen, Mr King, Mr Bayly, and myself, went ashore on the small island above-mentioned, to attend the observation. The sky was over-cast till past nine o'clock, when the clouds about the sun dispersed long enough to take its altitude, to rectify the time by the watch we made use of. After this, it was again obscured, till about thirty minutes past nine, and then we found that the eclipse was begun. We now fixed the micrometers to the telescopes, and observed or measured the uneclipsed part of the sun's disk. At these observations I continued about three-quarters of an hour before the end, when I left off, being, in fact, unable to continue them longer, on account of the great heat of the sun, increased by the reflection from the sand.

The sun was clouded at times; but it was clear when the eclipse ended, the time of which was observed as follows:

Mr Bayly 0 26 3

ByMr Kingat0 26 1Apparent Time p.m.

Myself 0 25 37

Mr Bayly and I observed with the large achromatic telescopes, and Mr King with a reflector. As Mr Bayly's telescope and mine were of the same magnifying power, I ought not to have differed so much from him as I did. Perhaps, it was, in part, if not wholly owing to a protuberance in the moon, which escaped my notice, but was seen by both the other gentlemen.

It was a matter of surprise to every one, how these two men could contrive to lose themselves. The land over which they had to travel, from the sea-coast to the lagoon, where the boats lay, was not more than three miles across, nor was there any thing to obstruct their view, for the country was a flat, with a few shrubs scattered upon it, and from many parts of it, the masts of the ships could easily be seen. But this was a rule of direction they never once thought of; nor did they recollect in what quarter of the island the ships had anchored, and they were as much at a loss how to get back to them, or to the party they had straggled from, as if they had but just dropped from the clouds. Considering how strange a set of beings the generality of seamen are, when on shore, instead of being surprised that these two men should thus lose their way, it is rather to be wondered at, that no more of the party were missing. Indeed, one of those who landed with me was in a similar situation; but he had sagacity enough to know that the ships were to leeward, and got on board almost as soon as it was discovered that he had been left behind.

As soon as Captain Clerke knew that one of the stragglers was still in this awkward situation, he sent a party in search of him; but neither the man nor the party having come back, the next morning I ordered two boats into the lagoon, to go different ways, in prosecution of the search. Not long after, Captain Clerke's party returned with their lost companion; and my boats having now no object left, I called them back by signal. This poor fellow must have suffered far greater distress than the other straggler, not only as having been lost a longer time, but as we found that he was too squeamish to drink turtle's blood.

Having some cocoa-nuts and yams on board, in a state of vegetation, I ordered them to be planted on the little island where we had observed the eclipse, and some melon-seeds were sown in another place. I also left, on the little island, a bottle containing this inscription:

On the 1st of January, 1778, I sent boats to bring on board all our parties from the land, and the turtles they had caught. Before this was completed it was late in the afternoon, so that I did not think proper to sail till next morning. We got at this island, to both ships, about three hundred turtles, weighing, one with another, about ninety or a hundred pounds. They were all of the green kind, and perhaps as good as any in the world. We also caught, with hook and line, as much fish as we could consume during our stay. They consisted principally of cavallies of different sizes, large and small snappers, and a few of two sorts of rock-fish, one with numerous spots of blue, and the other with whitish streaks scattered about.

The soil of this island, in some places, is light and black, evidently composed of decayed vegetables, the dung of birds, and sand. There are other places again, where nothing but marine productions, such as broken coral stones and shells are to be seen. These are deposited in long narrow ridges, lying in a parallel direction with the sea-coast, not unlike a ploughed field, and must have been thrown up by the waves, though, at this time, they do not reach within a mile of some of these places. This seems to furnish an incontestible proof that the island has been produced by accessions from the sea, and is in a state of increase; for not only the broken pieces of coral, but many of the shells, are too heavy and large to have been brought by any birds, from the beach, to the places where they now lie. Not a drop of fresh water was any where found, though frequently dug for. We met with several ponds of salt water, which had no visible communication with the sea, and must, therefore, in all probability, be filled by the water filtrating through the sand in high tides. One of the lost men found some salt on the S.E. part of the island. But though this was an article of which we were in want, a man who could lose himself, as he did, and not know whether he was travelling east, west, north, or south, was not to be depended upon as a fit guide to conduct us to the place.

There were not the smallest traces of any human being having ever been here before us; and, indeed, should any one be so unfortunate as to be accidentally driven upon the island, or left there, it is hard to say, that he could be able to prolong existence. There is, indeed, abundance of birds and fish, but no visible means of allaying thirst, nor any vegetable that could supply the place of bread, or correct the bad effects of an animal diet, which, in all probability, would soon prove fatal alone. On the few cocoa-trees upon the island, the number of which did not exceed thirty, very little fruit was found; and, in general, what was found, was either not fully grown, or had the juice salt, or brackish. So that a ship touching here, must expect nothing but fish and turtles, and of these an abundant supply may be depended upon.

On some parts of the land were a few low trees. Mr Anderson gave me an account also of two small shrubs, and, of two or three small plants, all which we had seen on Palmerston's Island and Otakootaia. There was also a species of sida or Indian mallow, a sort of purslain, and another small plant, that seemed, from its leaves, a mesembryanthemum, with two species of grass. But each of these vegetable productions was in so small a quantity, and grew with so much languor, that one is almost surprised that the species do not become extinct.