Part 18

I shall, towards the end of this chapter, give an account of what I have been able to discover, concerning their form of government, the extent of the power of their petty sovereigns, the kind of distinction existing between the men of note and the common people; and, lastly, the ties which unite together, under the same authority, this multitude of robust men, whose wants are so few. I shall only observe here, that in matters of consequence, the lord of the district does not give his decision without the advice of a council. I have mentioned above, that a deliberation of the people of note in the nation was required on the subject of our establishing a camp on shore. I must add too, that the chief seems to be implicitly obeyed by every body; and that the men of note have likewise people to serve them, and over whom they have an authority.

[Sidenote: Customs on the subject of their dead.]

It is very difficult to give an account of their religion. We have seen wooden statues among them, which we took for idols; but how did they worship them? The only religious ceremony, which we have been witnesses to, concerns the dead. They preserve their corpses a long while, extended on a kind of scaffold, covered by a shed. The infection which they spread does not prevent the women from going to weep around the corpse, during part of the day, and from anointing the cold relicks of their affection with cocoa-nut oil. Those women, with whom we were acquainted, would sometimes allow us to come near these places, which are consecrated to the manes of the deceased; they told us _emoé_, he sleeps. When nothing but the skeletons remain, they carry them into their houses, and I do not know how long they keep them there. I only know, because I have seen it, that then a man of consideration among the people comes to exercise his sacred rites there; and that in these awful ceremonies, he wears ornaments which are much in request.

[Sidenote: Superstition of the islanders.]

We have asked Aotourou many questions concerning his religion; and believe, we understood that, in general his countrymen are very superstitious; that the priests have the highest authority amongst them; that besides a superior being, named _Eri-t-Era_, king of the sun or of light, and whom they do not represent by any material image, they have several divinities; some beneficent, others mischievous; that the name of these divinities or genii is _Eatoua_; that they suppose, that at each important action of human life, there presides a good and an evil genius; and that they decide its good or bad success. What we understand with certainty is, that when the moon has a certain aspect, which they call _Malama Tamai_, or moon in state of war[102], (an aspect in which we have not been able to distinguish any characteristic mark, by which it could be defined) they sacrifice human victims. Of all their customs, one which most surprised me, is that of saluting those who sneeze by saying, _Evaroua-t-eatoua_, that the good _eatoua_ may awaken thee, or that the evil _eatoua_ may not lull thee asleep. These are marks which prove, that they have the same origin with the people of the old continent. Upon the whole, scepticism is reasonable, especially when we treat of the religion of different nations; as there is no subject in which it is more easy to be deceived by appearances.

[Sidenote: Polygamy.]

Polygamy seems established amongst them; at least it is so amongst the chief people. As love is their only passion, the great number of women is the only luxury of the opulent. Their children are taken care of, both by their fathers and their mothers. It is not the custom at Taiti, that the men occupied only with their fishery and their wars, leave to the weaker sex the toilsome works of husbandry and agriculture. Here a gentle indolence falls to the share of the women; and the endeavours to please, are their most serious occupation. I cannot say whether their marriage is a civil contract, or whether it is consecrated by religion; whether it is indissoluble, or subject to the laws of divorce. Be this as it will, the wives owe their husbands a blind submission; they would wash with their blood any infidelity committed without their husbands’ consent. That, it is true, is easily obtained; and jealousy is so unknown a passion here, that the husband is commonly the first who persuades his wife to yield to another. An unmarried woman suffers no constraint on that account; every thing invites her to follow the inclination of her heart, or the instinct of her sensuality; and public applause honours her defeat: nor does it appear, that how great soever the number of her previous lovers may have been, it should prove an obstacle to her meeting with a husband afterwards. Then wherefore should she resist the influence of the climate, or the seduction of examples? The very air which the people breathe, their songs, their dances, almost constantly attended with indecent postures, all conspire to call to mind the sweets of love, all engage to give themselves up to them. They dance to the sound of a kind of drum, and when they sing, they accompany their voices with a very soft kind of flute, with three or four holes, which, as I have observed above, they blow with their nose. They likewise practise a kind of wrestling; which, at the same time, is both exercise and play to them.

[Sidenote: Character of the islanders.]

Thus accustomed to live continually immersed in pleasure, the people of Taiti have acquired a witty and humorous temper, which is the offspring of ease and of joy. They likewise contracted from the same source a character of fickleness, which constantly amazed us. Every thing strikes them, yet nothing fixes their attention: amidst all the new objects, which we presented to them, we could never succeed in making them attend for two minutes together to any one. It seems as if the least reflection is a toilsome labour for them, and that they are still more averse to the exercises of the mind, than to those of the body.

[Sidenote: Account of some of their works.]

I shall not, however, accuse them of want of understanding. Their skill and ingenuity in the few necessary instances of industry, which notwithstanding the abundance of the country, and the temperature of the climate they cannot dispense with, would be sufficient to destroy such assertion. It is amazing with how much art their fishing tackle is contrived; their hooks are made of mother-of-pearl, as neatly wrought as if they were made by the help of our tools; their nets are exactly like ours; and knit with threads, taken from the great American _Aloes_. We admired the construction of their extensive houses, and the disposition of the leaves of the _Thatch-palm_, with which they are covered.

[Sidenote: Construction of their boats.]

They have two sorts of periaguas; some are little, and without much ornament; being made of a single stem of a tree hollowed out; the others are much larger, and wrought with much art. A hollow tree forms the bottom of the periagua; from the head, to two-thirds of the intended length, another tree forms the back part, which is bent, and greatly elevated; in so much, that the extremity of the stern rises five or fix feet above the water. These two pieces are joined together, as an arch of a circle; and as they have no nails to fasten them together with, they pierce the extremity of both pieces in several places, and by the means of strings, (made of the filaments which surround cocoa-nuts) they tie them together. The sides of the periagua are raised by two boards, about one foot broad, sewed to the bottom, and to each other, with the preceding sort of strings. They fill the seams with the fibrous substance round cocoa-nuts; but do not cover or pay them with any coating. A plank, which covers the head of the periagua, and projects about five or six feet beyond it, prevents its plunging entirely into the water, when there is a great sea. To make these light boats less subject to overset, they fix an out-rigger to one of its sides. This is nothing more than a pretty long piece of wood, supported by two cross pieces, of about four or five feet in length; the other end of which is fastened to the periagua. When she is sailing, a plank projects along the side, opposite to the out-rigger; a rope is fastened to it, which supports the mast, and it likewise makes the periagua stiffer, by placing a man or a weight at the end of the plank.

Their ingenuity appears still more to advantage in the means they employ to render these vessels proper to transport them to the neighbouring isles, with which they have a communication, having no other guides than the stars on such navigations. They fasten two great periaguas together alongside of each other, (leaving about four feet distance between them) by means, of some cross pieces of wood tied very fast to the starboard of one and larboard of the other boat. Over the stern of these two vessels thus joined, they place a hut, of a very light construction, covered by a roof of reeds. This apartment shelters them from the sun and rain, and at the same time affords them a proper place for keeping their provisions dry. These double periaguas can contain a great number of persons, and are never in danger of oversetting. We have always seen the chiefs make use of them; they are navigated both by a sail and by oars, as the single periaguas: the sails are composed of mats, extended on a square frame, formed by canes, of which one of the angles is rounded.

The Taiti people have no other tool for all these works than a chissel, the blade of which is made of a very hard black stone[103]. It is exactly of the same form as that of our carpenters, and they use it with great expertness: they use very sharp pieces of shells to bore holes into the wood.

[Sidenote: Their cloths.]

The manufacturing of that singular cloth, of which their dress is made up, is likewise one of their greatest arts. It is prepared from the rind of a shrub, which all the inhabitants cultivate around their houses. A square piece of hard wood, fluted on its four sides by furrows of different sizes, is made use of in beating the bark on a smooth board: they sprinkle some water on it during this operation, and thus they at last form a very equal fine cloth, of the nature of paper, but much more pliable, and less apt to be torn, to which they give a great breadth. They have several sorts of it, of a greater or less thickness, but all manufactured from the same substance: I am not acquainted with their methods of dying them.

[Sidenote: Account of the Taiti-man, whom I brought to France.]

I shall conclude this chapter in exculpating myself, for people oblige me to use this word, for having profited of the good will of Aotourou, and taken him on a voyage, which he certainly did not expect to be of such a length; and likewise, in giving an account of the information he has given me concerning his country, during the time that he has been with me.

[Sidenote: Reasons for which I took him.]

The zeal of this islander to follow us was unfeigned. The very first day of our arrival at Taiti, he manifested it to us in the most expressive manner, and the nation seemed to applaud his project. As we were forced to sail through an unknown ocean, and sure to owe all the assistance and refreshments on which our life depended, to the humanity of the people we should meet with, it was of great consequence to us to take a man on board from one of the most considerable islands in this ocean. It was to be supposed that he spoke the same language as his neighbours, that his manners were the same, and that his credit with them would be decisive in our favour, when he should inform them of our proceedings towards his countrymen, and our behaviour to him. Besides, supposing our country would profit of an union with a powerful people, living in the middle of the finest countries in the world, we could have no better pledge to cement such an alliance, than the eternal obligation which we were going to confer on this nation, by sending back their fellow-countryman well treated by us, and enriched by the useful knowledge which he would bring them. Would to God that the necessity and the zeal which inspired us, may not prove fatal to the bold Aotourou!

[Sidenote: His stay at Paris.]

I have spared neither money nor trouble to make his stay at Paris agreeable and useful to him. He has been there eleven months, during which he has not given any mark at all of being tired of his stay. The desire of seeing him has been very violent; idle curiosity, which has served only to give false ideas to men whose constant practice it is to traduce others, who never went beyond the capital, never examine any thing; and who being influenced by errors of all sorts, never cast an impartial eye upon any object; and yet pretend to decide with magisterial severity, and without appeal! How, said some of them to me, in this man’s country the people speak neither French, nor English, nor Spanish? What could I answer them? I was struck dumb; however, it was not on account of the surprize at hearing such a question asked. I was used to them, because I knew that at my arrival, many of those who even pass for people of abilities, maintained that I had not made the voyage round the world, because I had not been in China. Some other sharp critics conceived and propagated a very mean idea of the poor islander, because, after a stay of two years amongst Frenchmen, he could hardly speak a few words of the language. Do not we see every day, said they, that the Italians, English, and Germans learn the French in so short a time as one year at Paris? I could have answered them perhaps with some reason, that, besides the physical obstacle in the organs of speech of this islander, (which shall be mentioned in the sequel) which prevented his becoming conversant in our language, he was at least thirty years old; that his memory had never been exercised by any kind of study, nor had his mind ever been at work; that indeed an Italian, an Englishman, a German could in a year’s time speak a French jargon tolerably well, but that was not strange at all, as these strangers had a grammar like ours, as their moral, physical, political, and social ideas were the same with ours, and all expressed by certain words in their language as they are in French; that they had accordingly no more than a translation to fix in their memory, which had been exerted from their very infancy. The Taiti-man, on the contrary, only having a small number of ideas, relative on the one hand to a most simple and most limited society, and on the other, to wants which are reduced to the smallest number possible; he would have been obliged, first of all, as I may say, to create a world of previous ideas, in a mind which is as indolent as his body, before he could come so far as to adapt to them the words in our language, by which they are expressed. All this I might perhaps have answered: but this detail required some minutes of time, and I have always observed, that, loaded with questions as I was, whenever I was going to answer, the persons that had honoured me with them were already far from me. But it is common in a capital to meet with people who ask questions, not from an impulse of curiosity, or from a desire of acquiring knowledge, but as judges who are preparing to pronounce their judgment; and whether they hear the answer or no, it does not prevent them from giving their decision[104].

However, though Aotourou could hardly blabber out some words of our language, yet he went out by himself every day, and passed through the whole town without once missing or losing his way. He often made some purchases, and hardly ever paid for things beyond their real value. The only shew which pleased him, was the opera, for he was excessively fond of dancing. He knew perfectly well upon what days this kind of entertainment was played; he went thither by himself, paid at the door the same as every body else, and his favourite place was in the galleries behind the boxes[105]. Among the great number of persons who have been desirous of seeing him, he always distinguished those who were obliging towards him, and his grateful heart never forgot them. He was particularly attached to the duchess of Choiseul, who has loaded him with favours, and especially shewed marks of concern and friendship for him, to which he was infinitely more sensible than to presents. Therefore, he would, of his own accord, go to visit this generous benefactress as often as he heard that she was come to town.

[Sidenote: His departure from France.]

He left Paris in March, 1770, and embarked at Rochelle, on board the Brisson, which was to carry him to the Isle de France. [Sidenote: Steps taken to send him home.] During this voyage he has been trusted to the care of a merchant, who went a passenger in the same ship, which he had equipped in part. The ministry have sent orders to the governor and the intendant of the Isle of France, to send Aotourou home to his isle from thence. I have given a very minute account of the course that must be taken in order to go thither, and thirty-six thousand francs, (about fifteen hundred pounds sterling) which is the third part of my whole fortune, towards the equipment of the ship intended for this navigation. The duchess of Choiseul has been so humane as to consecrate a sum of money for bringing to Taiti a great number of the most necessary tools, a quantity of seeds, and a number of cattle; and the king of Spain has been pleased to permit that this ship might, if necessary, touch at the Philippines. O may Aotounou soon see his countrymen again!—I shall now give an account of what I have learnt in my conversations with him, concerning the customs of his country.

[Sidenote: Farther accounts of the customs of Taiti.]

I have already observed that the Taiti people acknowledge a supreme Being, who cannot be represented by any factitious image, and inferior divinities of two classes, represented by wooden figures. They pray at sun-rise and at sun-set; but they have besides a great number of superstitious practices, in order to conciliate the influence of the evil genii. The comet, visible at Paris in 1769, and which Aotourou has very well taken notice of, has given me an opportunity of learning that the people of Taiti know this kind of stars, which do not appear again, as Aotourou said, till after a great number of moons. They call comets _evetou-eave_, and do not combine any sinister ideas with their apparition. Those meteors, however, which are here called shooting stars, are known to the people of Taiti by the name of _epao_, and are by them thought to be evil genii _eatoua toa_.

The better instructed people of this nation (without being astronomers, as our gazettes have pretended) have, however, a name for every remarkable constellation; they know their diurnal motion, and direct their course at sea by them, from isle to isle. In these navigations, which sometimes extend three hundred leagues, they lose all sight of land. Their compass is the sun’s course in day-time, and the position of the stars during the nights, which are almost always fair between the tropics.

[Sidenote: Neighbouring isles.]

Aotourou has mentioned several isles to me; some of which are allies of, and others at war with Taiti. The friendly isles are Aimeo, Maoroua, Aca, Oumaitia, and Tapouamassou. The enemies isles are Papara, Aiatea, Otaa, Toumaraa, Oopoa. These isles are as big as Taiti.

The isle of Pare, which is very abundant in pearls, is sometimes in alliance, and sometimes at war with Taiti. Enoua-motou, and Toupai, are two little uninhabited isles, abounding with fruits, hogs, fowls, fish, and turtle; but the people believe, that they are the habitation of the genii; they are their domains; and unhappy are the boats which chance or curiosity has conducted to these sacred isles. Almost all those, who endeavour to land there, must lose their lives in the attempt. These isles ly at different distances from Taiti. The greatest distance, which Aotourou mentioned to me, was fifteen days sail. It was, doubtless, about the same distance that he supposed our country was at, when he resolved to go with us.

[Sidenote: Inequality of ranks.]

I have mentioned above, that the inhabitants of Taiti seemed to live in an enviable happiness. We took them to be almost equal in rank amongst themselves; or at least enjoying a liberty, which was only subject to the laws established for their common happiness. I was mistaken; the distinction of ranks is very great at Taiti, and the disproportion very tyrannical. The kings and grandees have power of life and death over their servants and slaves, and I am inclined to believe, they have the same barbarous prerogative with regard to the common people, whom they call _Tata-einou_, vile men; so much is certain, that the victims for human sacrifices are taken from this class of people. Flesh and fish are reserved for the tables of the great; the commonalty live upon mere fruits and pulse. Even the very manner of being lighted at night, shews the difference in the ranks; for the kind of wood, which is burnt for people of distinction, is not the same with that which the common people are allowed to make use of. Their kings, alone, are allowed to plant before their houses, the tree which we call the _Weeping-willow_, or _Babylonian-willow_[106]. It is known, that by bending the branches of this tree, and planting them in the ground, you can extend its shadow as far as you will, and in what direction you please; at Taiti, their shade affords the dining-hall of their kings.

The grandees have liveries for their servants. In proportion as the master’s rank is more or less elevated, their servants wear their sashes more or less high. This sash is fastened close under the arms, in the servants of the chiefs, and only covers the loins in those belonging to the lowest class of nobility. The ordinary hours of repast, are when the sun passes the meridian, and when he is set. The men do not eat with the women; the latter serving up the dishes, which the servants have prepared.

[Sidenote: Custom of going into mourning.]

At Taiti they wear mourning regularly, and call it _ceva_. The whole nation wear mourning for their kings. The mourning for the fathers is very long. The women mourn for their husbands; but the latter do not do the same for them. The marks of mourning, are a head-dress of feathers; the colour of which is consecrated to death, and a veil over the face. When the people in mourning go out of their houses, they are preceded by several slaves, who beat the castanets in a certain cadence; their doleful sound gives everybody notice to clear the way, whether out of respect for the grief of the persons in mourning, or because meeting them is feared as an unlucky and ominous accident. However at Taiti, as in every other part of the world, the most respectable customs are abused; Aotourou told me, that this practice of mourning was favourable to the private meetings; doubtless, as I believe, of lovers with wives, whose husbands are not very complaisant. The instrument, whose sound disperses every body, and the veil which covers the face, secure to the lovers both secrecy and impunity.

[Sidenote: Reciprocal assistance in their diseases.]