Chapter 6

Most of the islands of this Archipelago are inhabited, but hitherto little is known of the natives, who are shy, and endeavour to avoid any intercourse with navigators. Byron landed by force on one of these islands; in the struggle many of the inhabitants were killed, the rest put to flight, and the provision of cocoa-nuts found in their huts plundered. Tradition may perhaps have exaggerated this attack. Cook also permitted some of his crew to land, who indeed met with no resistance, but their presents were received with the greatest indifference, and stones were thrown after them on their departure. Captain Bellingshausen, in the year 1820, wished to land on one of these islands, but the natives opposed his intention so seriously that he relinquished it rather than use force. These people resemble the O Tahaitians, their neighbours and relatives, in appearance and language; and when the latter are farther advanced in civilization, it may be presumed that intercourse with them will effect a considerable amelioration in the condition of the other South Sea islanders.

O TAHAITI.

O TAHAITI.

This beautiful island, so richly endowed by nature with every thing that its simple and innocent natives can require for the enjoyment of existence, was perhaps first seen by the Spanish voyager Quiras, when, in the year 1606, he made an expedition from Lima, "to win," as a countryman of his expresses it, "souls for Heaven, and kingdoms for Spain." Since, however, the position pointed out by him is extremely incorrect, it is uncertain whether the island which he called Sagittaria was really O Tahaiti or not. More probably, the honour of the discovery belongs to the English Captain Wallis, who in the year 1767 landed there, and took possession of the country by a solemn declaration, in the name of his King. As, however, the Tahaitians did not understand him, this act remained unknown to them; and, notwithstanding a subsequent renewal, has fallen into oblivion. Captain Wallis gave it the name of King George the Third's Island.

Eight months after him, the French Captain Bougainville visited it; and not knowing that Captain Wallis had been there before him, considered himself the first discoverer, and called it, from the most remarkable custom of the natives, _Nouvelle Cythère_, but heard that they themselves called it Tahaiti, or with the article, O Tahaiti; and this name it has retained.

The celebrated Englishman, Cook, stopped there in each of his three voyages, between the years 1769 and 1778. He remained much longer in communication with the inhabitants than any of his predecessors had done; brought back Omai, to whom in London it had been attempted to give an European education, to his native land, and made use of the narrations he obtained from him during the voyage. Since that time, Cook and his companions, particularly the two Forsters, father and son, have given us considerable information concerning the condition of the Tahaitians before their conversion to the Christian faith.

To estimate the effect of this great change, we must compare Christian Tahaiti as it now is, with the accounts these early voyagers have left us of its heathen times; and as every reader may not be conveniently able to do so, a short review of them may not be considered unwelcome.

The Society Islands, of which Tahaiti is the largest, are, like many others, either fragments of a Southern continent swallowed up by earthquake, or a mass of rock ejected from the bottom of the sea by subterranean fire, which gradually becoming covered with a fertile soil, is now adorned by the most beautiful vegetation. It consists of two peninsulas united by a narrow isthmus, which together are about one hundred and twenty miles in circumference; towards the centre of each rise wild rocky mountains, intersected by deep ravines, from the side of which, thickly wooded almost to their summits, flow numerous streamlets of pure transparent water, forming the most picturesque cascades as they descend from every direction into the sea. The high mountains are uninhabited, and the settlements made only in the valleys, more especially in the low land between the mountains and the sea-shore.

In these charming amphitheatrical landscapes, their houses, consisting only of roofs resting on stakes, surrounded and shaded by bananas, bread-fruit and cocoa-trees, are scattered at small distances from each other.

Attached to every house are enclosed fields, where the proprietors cultivate their yams, sweet potatoes, and other wholesome and pleasant roots, which form their chief nourishment.

The rest of the cultivated land is filled by plantations of bananas and plantains, or little forests of cocoa and bread-fruit trees, so luxuriantly interwoven, that the burning rays of the sun cannot penetrate to injure the bright verdure which clothes the soil. The neatly kept grass footpaths leading through these groves from one dwelling to another, are variegated with flowers of the richest colours and most fragrant perfumes, and enlivened by the notes of innumerable birds arrayed in all the splendid hues of the Tropics. Although Tahaiti is only seventeen degrees from the Equator, the heat is so much moderated by refreshing breezes that it is very supportable even to an European. Bougainville never found it above twenty-two, and often under eighteen degrees of Reaumur. That indeed was during the winter; but even in January, the middle of the Tahaitian summer, the atmosphere is much cooled by the frequent rains. The air is usually dry, clear, and particularly healthy; sick people brought ashore from a sea voyage recover rapidly. Here are neither ants, musquitoes, nor any of the tormenting insects so common in tropical climates; no beast of prey, no destructive worm nor serpent; even the scorpion (of which a small sort is to be met with) here loses its poison. The only plague of this kind is a large rat, which does much mischief in the fields, and sometimes even bites the Tahaitians during their sleep.

Bougainville says, "The inhabitants of Tahaiti consist of two distinct races, which remain such, although their language and manners are the same, and they appear to mingle indiscriminately with each other. One, the most numerous, produces the tallest men, commonly six feet and upwards; and I have never seen better proportioned, or finer forms. A sculptor could not choose a more suitable model for a Mars or a Hercules. There is nothing to distinguish their features from those of Europeans; and if they were clothed, and less exposed to the air and the burning sun, they would be quite as fair. Their hair is usually black (Wallis saw fair people, and Banks even Albinos). The other race is of middle stature, with coarse curling hair, and resembles the Mulatto in complexion and features."

Cook and his companions considered this difference among the Tahaitians to arise from the circumstance of the tall fair race, (called Eris, which is pronounced _Yeri_,) the more distinguished class, being less exposed to the sun and to hard labour, and their women more reserved and less licentious.

We were however more inclined to agree with Bougainville, who supposed the dark Tahaitians to be the original inhabitants, and the Yeris invaders, who at some remote period had subjugated them; for the latter are the exclusive possessors of the land; the others obtaining only a certain remuneration in fruits and vegetables for cultivating the fields and plantations of their masters. The kings and all great personages are of this race, which is held by the common people in much veneration.

That the language and customs of both races should have assimilated is natural; but with respect to their intermarriages, Bougainville was in error; the pride of the Yeris keeps them aloof from any such connections, which, had they subsisted, must have long since destroyed the broad and acknowledged line of distinction. It is, however, only fair to confess, that this hypothesis of an invasion is unsupported by any Tahaitian tradition.

"The men of both races," continues this traveller, "allow the lower part of the beard to grow, but shave the whiskers and the upper lip. Some cut their hair short off, others bind it together at the top of the head; both hair and beard they grease with the oil of the cocoa-nut. A girdle round the middle often serves for their only clothing; but the people of rank generally wear a large piece of stuff which falls as low as the knee. This is the principal garment of the women, who put it on in a very becoming manner. The female Yeris, who never expose themselves to the sun, and wear a hat of reeds adorned with flowers, which shades the face, are fairer than the men: their features are handsome, but they are chiefly remarkable for the beauty of their figures, which are not spoiled by the artifices of European fashions. They paint their cheeks red, and colour the lower part of the body dark blue, as an ornament and a distinction of rank.

"Both sexes are tattooed, and both hang rows of pearls or flowers through holes pierced in their ears. The greatest cleanliness reigns among them; they bathe regularly, and wash themselves before and after meals."

The descriptions of other travellers agree perfectly with this; all appear to feel the greatest kindness for these "nurselings of joyous nature," as some one calls them; and to have been particularly charmed with the women, of whom Wallis says, "They are all handsome, and some excessively lovely."

The companions of Cook also speak in the highest terms of their attractions. Their tall and slender figures; the form of their faces, which is agreeable, though rather round than oval; the tender transparency of their skin; the complexions which, whether fair or brown, are always blooming; the expressive eyes, now flashing fire and now swimming in tenderness; the small white, even teeth, and fascinating smile, are rapturously described by the younger Forster.

The nose only is defective in these beauties, it is usually too flat, but may sometimes be seen as perfectly formed as in the females of Europe.

The curse, "in the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread," falls harmless on the Tahaitians. Three bread-fruit trees are sufficient for a man's subsistence during a year; and he has here only to stretch out his hand to obtain this and many other fruits whose variety may please his palate. Nutritious roots are cultivated with great ease; and the sea yields abundance of shell and other fish, for the trifling trouble of catching it: the brooks also contain fish, and a species of crab. The opulent eat fowls and pigs roasted over hot stones in a hole in the ground, the flavour of which is very agreeable even to an European; and, by way of variety, they roast _dogs_ which have been fed upon vegetables, and are considered great delicacies.

Several families often live together in the same house, in the greatest concord. Their furniture consists simply of a few ingeniously-woven mats for sleeping on, and some vessels made of gourds and cocoa-nut shells.

The disposition of the Tahaitians is gentle, benevolent, open, gay, and peaceable, although some of them show scars of wounds received in war, which prove that they are not deficient in courage. To hatred and revenge they are wholly strangers. Hardly and unjustly as Cook sometimes treated them, he was pardoned immediately that he required their assistance, and showed the slightest wish to pacify them. Individuals of his crew often ventured to pass the nights alone and unarmed upon the island: they were every where received with the greatest hospitality, and overwhelmed with marks of friendship. The simple inhabitants, wholly devoid of envy, rejoiced in each other's good fortune, and when one received a present, all seemed equally gratified. Their feelings readily broke out either into smiles or tears: even men were often seen to weep; and their joys and sorrows were as fugitive as those of children. Nor are their minds more stable: notwithstanding the great curiosity with which they gazed at and required an explanation of every object in the ship, it was as impossible, says the elder Forster, to rivet their attention for any time, as to make quicksilver stand still.

They seemed incapable of either mental or bodily effort, and their time was passed in indolence and enjoyment. They were, however, skilful in manufacturing a soft paper from the barks of trees; nets and lines from the fibres of the cocoa-nut; and hooks from muscle-shells; in weaving their rush mats, and especially in building canoes and war-boats. The latter, large enough to contain forty men and upwards, were made of planks laboriously split from the trunks of trees with sharp stones, for want of better implements, fastened together with cocoa threads, and well caulked. The value they set on our axes and nails may therefore be easily imagined.

Like all islanders, they are expert seamen, but especially dexterous in swimming and diving. They fetch any thing with ease from the bottom of the sea, even at very considerable depths. The upsetting of a boat causes them no uneasiness; men and women swim round it till they succeed in righting it again; and then, baling out the water, continue their voyage with the utmost unconcern.

These voyages, sometimes extending to considerable distances, have made the observation of the stars, their only guides, absolutely necessary to them. They have thus attained some astronomical knowledge.

They distinguish the planets from the fixed stars, and call the former by particular names. They divide the year into thirteen months of twenty-nine days each, with the exception of one, which has less, apparently for the purpose of reconciling this lunar with a solar year. The day and night are each divided into six parts of two hours each, which they measure exactly in the day by the position of the sun, and at night by the stars. Medical men have considered them to possess much skill in surgery, from the kindly healing of wounds which, by their scars, have evidently been severe.

The Tahaitians are particularly distinguished by their superior civilization from all other savages, among whom indeed they scarcely deserve to be ranked. Their language sounds agreeably, and is not difficult to learn. The vowels occur much more frequently than the consonants, our c, g, k, s, and p, being entirely wanting. Cook and his companions made considerable progress in it; and one of them says--"It is rich in figurative modes of expression; and I am convinced that a nearer acquaintance with it would place it on a level with the most distinguished for boldness and power of imagery."

By means of this knowledge of their language, however imperfect, many details concerning the religion of the Tahaitians were gained. The elder Forster enters rather at large into the subject.

They believed in one supreme God, _Athua-rahai_, creator and governor of the world, and of all other gods. They gave him a consort, who however was not of the same nature, but of a material and very firm substance, and therefore called _O-te-Papa_, that is to say, _Rock_. From this pair proceeded a goddess of the moon, the gods of the stars, the winds, and the sea, and the protecting deities of the several islands. After the chief god had created the sun, he conveyed his consort, the mighty Rock, from the West to the East over the sea: in their progress, some portions of her substance separated from her, and formed the islands.

Besides the gods of the second rank, they believed also in inferior deities, and in a wicked genius, who killed men suddenly at the requisition of the priests--an article of faith which this order doubtless found very convenient. They also supposed that a genius dwelt in every man, thinking and feeling in him, and separated himself from the body after death, but without removing from it; often inhabiting the wooden images which are erected in the burial-places, but sometimes stealing at night into their habitations, and killing the sleepers, whose hearts and entrails he devoured. This belief in ghosts is perhaps not more universal in Tahaiti than among civilized nations.

According to another of Cook's companions, the supreme God united departed souls with his own existence, which was signified by the phrase, "He eats them." This was purification, after which the soul, or the genius, reached the abode of eternal happiness. If a man, for some months before his death, had kept himself apart from women, he did not require this purification, but went direct to Heaven. The pride of the Yeris prompted them to believe in a Heaven peculiar to themselves, where they should associate only with their equals in birth.

The Tahaitians of rank had each a _Marai_ sacred to themselves, and which served for their religious assemblies. The greatest and most solemn of these meetings were held at the Marai of the Kings. Here the priests harangued the people; and here was performed the rite which stained the otherwise amiable character of these islanders--the offering of human sacrifices! Cook was once present at one of these detestable oblations, and describes it circumstantially. Its object was to propitiate the assistance of the Gods, in a war about to be undertaken.

The victim was always of the lower class. He was first killed, and the ceremonies were afterwards performed by the priests, and many prayers recited, in presence of the King and people. One of the formalities was the presentation of the left eye to the King, which however he did not receive. From this, Cook infers that the Tahaitians had at some period been eaters of human flesh, and that this morsel was offered to the King as a delicacy. If this conjecture be well-founded, which I think it is not, so horrible an appetite must have long since disappeared, as not a trace of it now remains. It is besides altogether contrary to the character and manners of the people. So, indeed, is the oblation of human victims; but this horrible rite had certainly been introduced by the priests, for the purpose of attracting towards their office an increased degree of veneration and awe. The burial of the dead was accompanied by many religious ceremonies, but with the birth of a child, or the celebration of marriage, their religion was no way concerned.

If a woman bore her lover a child, which he acknowledged to be his, the marriage was concluded without further ceremony, but was easily dissolved and a new connexion formed.

A married man would sometimes entertain a concubine, but never had more than one wife. The kings only formed an exception to this rule. The last monarch married at the same time the four daughters of a neighbouring king, and during our visit they were all living and respected as his widows. One only of them had brought him children; and when during the latter years of his government he became a convert to the Christian religion, this one only passed for his lawful consort.

In both peninsulas of Tahaiti the form of government was monarchical, and each had its own king, assisted by a council of Yeris, whom he consulted on all important occasions. These were held in great veneration among the people. No one, not even a female or a Yeri of the highest rank, might appear before them without uncovering the upper part of the body--a token of respect which was usually paid only to the Gods in prayer or in passing a Marai. Before the princesses, the female sex only uncovered themselves. All his subjects were much attached to the sovereign, who reigned under a most singular law of succession.

As soon as a son was born to him, the sovereignty passed from the king to the infant, in whose name, and during whose minority only, the father continued to exercise the Regency.

The several districts were governed by deputies chosen from the class of Yeris, who were also the sole administrators of justice; which amongst this well-disposed people was generally very mild. The punishments in a great measure depend on the injured party, and consist chiefly in stripes. A native assured me that thieves are sometimes hung on a tree; but they more frequently escape with a few strokes, or sometimes altogether with impunity.

The two kingdoms of Tahaiti were often in a state of mutual warfare, though they sometimes fought as allies against a common enemy. Cook and his companions saw the preparations for a war with the neighbouring island of Eimeo, and were present at a review of his naval force by the King O Tu. From the number of warriors who manned this fleet, the elder Forster estimated the entire population at not less than a hundred and thirty thousand souls. According to his opinion, Tahaiti was capable of containing and supporting an infinitely greater number of inhabitants, and he therefore conjectured that in a short time it would be found greatly increased. Experience has unfortunately proved this inference to be erroneous, as will appear in the sequel.

Notwithstanding their usually gentle character, they treated their prisoners of war with barbarity, but in their defence may be urged the well-known fact, that in the heat of battle an unwonted rage will sometimes take possession of the best disposed minds, even amongst civilized nations; and it was only while this unnatural excitement lasted that the conduct of the Tahaitians laid them open to the imputation of cruelty.

Both sexes and all ranks were given to stealing; and so dexterous were they in plundering the Europeans, that notwithstanding the utmost vigilance and precaution, few days passed without something being stolen. The young, beautiful, and noble Marorai stole, as the younger Forster relates, a pair of sheets from the cabin of an officer, where she had remained unnoticed during the general confusion occasioned by the ship running aground. Even the princesses appropriated trifles whenever they had an opportunity. Our experience, however, proves that the lessons they have received from their Christian pastors on the disgracefulness of theft have had a practically good effect.

Neither can I deny that the morals of the Tahaitians were very exceptionable in another point, in which also the influence of the Missionaries has been beneficially exerted. If the modesty which conceals the mysteries of love among civilized nations be the offspring only of their intellectual culture, it is not surprising that a wholly uninstructed people should be insensible to such a feeling, and in its unconsciousness should even have established public solemnities which would strike us as excessively indelicate.

The coarse hospitality of the Tahaitians went so far as to present to a welcome guest, a sister, a daughter, or even a wife; and they have been known to sell them for pearls, pieces of glass, or implements of iron. The women who distributed their favours indiscriminately, were almost always of the lowest class; but a most licentious association called Ehrioi, including both sexes, existed among the higher. Renouncing matrimony, and the hopes of progeny, its members rambled about the island leading the most dissolute lives; and if a child was born among them, the laws of the society compelled its murder, or the expulsion of the mother. The men were all warriors, and stood in high estimation among the people. The Ehrioi themselves were proud of the title, and even the King O Tu belonged to this profligate institution, to which, fortunately, the Missionaries have put an end.