Chapter XI: Book I: Chap. I (7)

The principal object of ambition among these people is to have a magnificent morai, and this was a striking memorial of the rank and power of Oberea. It has been remarked, that we did not find her invested with the same authority that she exercised when the Dolphin was at this place, and we now learnt the reason of it. Our way from her house to the morai lay along the sea-side, and we observed every where under our feet a great number of human bones, chiefly ribs and vertebræ. Upon enquiring into the cause of so singular an appearance, we were told, that in the then last month of _Owarahew_, which answered to our December, 1768, about four or five months before our arrival, the people of Tiarrabou, the S. E. peninsula which we had just visited, made a descent at this place, and killed a great number of people, whose bones were those that we saw upon the shore: that, upon this occasion, Oberea, and Oamo, who then administered the government for his son, had fled to the mountains; and that the conquerors burnt all the houses, which were very large, and carried away the hogs, and what other animals they found. We learnt also, that the turkey and goose, which we had seen when we were with Mathiabo, the stealer of cloaks, were among the spoils: this accounted for their being found among people with whom the Dolphin had little or no communication; and upon mentioning the jaw-bones, which we had seen hanging from a board in a long house, we were told, that they also had been carried away as trophies, the people here carrying away the jaw-bones of their enemies, as the Indians of North America do the scalps.

After having thus gratified our curiosity, we returned to our quarters, where we passed the night in perfect security and quiet. By the next evening we arrived at Atahourou, the residence of our friend Tootahah, where, the last time we passed the night under his protection, we had been obliged to leave the best part of our clothes behind us. This adventure, however, seemed now to be forgotten on both sides. Our friends received us with great pleasure, and gave us a good supper and a good lodging, where we suffered neither loss nor disturbance.

The next day, Saturday, July the 1st, we got back to our fort at Matavai, having found the circuit of the island, including both peninsulas, to be about thirty leagues. Upon our complaining of the want of bread-fruit, we were told, that the produce of the last season was nearly exhausted; and that what was seen sprouting upon the trees, would not be fit to use in less than three months: this accounted for our having been able to procure so little of it in our route.

While the bread-fruit is ripening upon the flats, the inhabitants are supplied in some measure from the trees which they have planted upon the hills to preserve a succession; but the quantity is not sufficient to prevent scarcity: they live therefore upon the sour paste, which they call _Mahie_, upon wild plantains, and ahee-nuts, which at this time are in perfection. How it happened that the Dolphin, which was here at this season, found such plenty of bread-fruit upon the trees I cannot tell, except the season in which they ripen varies.

At our return, our Indian friends crowded about us, and none of them came empty-handed. Though I had determined to restore the canoes which had been detained to their owners, it had not yet been done; but I now released them as they were applied for. Upon this occasion I could not but remark with concern, that these people were capable of practising petty frauds against each other, with a deliberate dishonesty, which gave me a much worse opinion of them than I had ever entertained from the robberies they committed, under the strong temptation to which a sudden opportunity of enriching themselves with the inestimable metal and manufactures of Europe exposed them.

Among others who applied to me for the release of a canoe, was one POTATTOW, a man of some consequence, well known to us all. I consented, supposing the vessel to be his own, or that he applied on the behalf of a friend: he went immediately to the beach, and took possession of one of the boats, which, with the assistance of his people, he began to carry off. Upon this, however, it was eagerly claimed by the right owners, who, supported by the other Indians, clamorously reproached him for invading their property, and prepared to take the canoe from him by force. Upon this, he desired to be heard, and told them, that the canoe did, indeed, once belong to those who claimed it; but that I, having seized it as a forfeit, had sold it to him for a pig. This silenced the clamour: the owners, knowing that from my power there was no appeal, acquiesced; and Potattow would have carried off his prize, if the dispute had not fortunately been overheard by some of our people, who reported it to me. I gave orders immediately that the Indians should be undeceived; upon which the right owners took possession of their canoe, and Potattow was so conscious of his guilt, that neither he nor his wife, who was privy to his knavery, could look us in the face for some time afterwards.

CHAP. XVI.

AN EXPEDITION OF MR. BANKS TO TRACE THE RIVER: MARKS OF SUBTERRANEOUS
FIRE: PREPARATIONS FOR LEAVING THE ISLAND: AN ACCOUNT OF TUPIA.

ON the 3d, Mr. Banks set out early in the morning with some Indian guides, to trace our river up the valley from which it issues, and examine how far its banks were inhabited. For about six miles they met with houses, not far distant from each other, on each side of the river, and the valley was every where about four hundred yards wide from the foot of the hill on one side to the foot of that on the other; but they were now shown a house which they were told was the last that they would see. When they came up to it, the master of it offered them refreshments of cocoa-nuts and other fruits, of which they accepted. After a short stay, they walked forward for a considerable time: in bad way it is not easy to compute distances, but they imagined that they had walked about six miles farther, following the course of the river, when they frequently passed under vaults, formed by fragments of the rock, in which they were told people who were benighted frequently passed the night. Soon after they found the river banked by steep rocks, from which a cascade, falling with great violence, formed a pool, so steep, that the Indians said they could not pass it. They seemed, indeed, not much to be acquainted with the valley beyond this place, their business lying chiefly upon the declivity of the rocks on each side, and the plains which extended on their summits, where they found plenty of wild plantain, which they called _Vae_. The way up these rocks from the banks of the river was in every respect dreadful: the sides were nearly perpendicular, and in some places one hundred feet high: they were also rendered exceedingly slippery by the water of innumerable springs which issued from the fissures on the surface: yet up these precipices a way was to be traced by a succession of long pieces of the bark of the _Hibiscus tiliaceus_, which served as a rope for the climber to take hold of, and assisted him in scrambling from one ledge to another, though upon these ledges there was footing only for an Indian or a goat. One of these ropes was nearly thirty feet in length, and their guides offered to assist them in mounting this pass, but recommended another at a little distance lower down, as less difficult and dangerous. They took a view of this “better way,” but found it so bad that they did not choose to attempt it, as there was nothing at the top to reward their toil and hazard, but a grove of the wild plantain or vae tree, which they had often seen before.

During this excursion, Mr. Banks had an excellent opportunity to examine the rocks, which were almost every where naked, for minerals; but he found not the least appearance of any. The stones every where, like those of Madeira, showed manifest tokens of having been burnt; nor is there a single specimen of any stone, among all those that were collected in the island, upon which there are not manifest and indubitable marks of fire; except, perhaps, some small pieces of the hatchet-stone, and even of that, other fragments were collected which were burnt almost to a pumice. Traces of fire are also manifest in the very clay upon the hills; and it may, therefore, not unreasonably be supposed, that this and the neighbouring islands are either shattered remains of a continent, which some have supposed to be necessary in this part of the globe, to preserve an equilibrium of its parts, which were left behind when the rest sunk by the mining of a subterraneous fire, so as to give a passage to the sea over it; or were torn from rocks, which, from the creation of the world, had been the bed of the sea, and thrown up in heaps, to a height which the waters never reach. One or other of these suppositions will perhaps be thought the more probable, as the water does not gradually grow shallow as the shore is approached, and the islands are almost every where surrounded by reefs, which appear to be rude and broken, as some violent concussion would naturally leave the solid substance of the earth. It may also be remarked upon this occasion, that the most probable cause of earthquakes seems to be the sudden rushing in of water upon some vast mass of subterraneous fire, by the instantaneous rarefaction of which into vapour the mine is sprung, and various substances, in all stages of vitrification, with shells, and other marine productions, that are now found fossil, and the strata that covered the furnace, are thrown up; while those parts of the land which were supported upon the broken shell give way, and sink into the gulf. With this theory the phænomena of all earthquakes seem to agree: pools of water are frequently left where land has subsided; and various substances, which manifestly appear to have suffered by the action of fire, are thrown up. It is indeed true, that fire cannot subsist without air; but this cannot be urged against there being fire below that part of the earth which forms the bed of the sea; because there may be innumerable fissures by which a communication between those parts and the external air may be kept up, even upon the highest mountains, and at the greatest distance from the sea-shore.

On the 4th, Mr. Banks employed himself in planting a great quantity of the seeds of water melons, oranges, lemons, limes, and other plants and trees which he had collected at Rio de Janeiro. For these he prepared ground on each side of the fort, with as many varieties of soil as he could choose; and there is little doubt but that they will succeed. He also gave liberally of these seeds to the Indians, and planted many of them in the woods: some of the melon seeds having been planted soon after our arrival, the natives showed him several of the plants which appeared to be in the most flourishing condition, and were continually asking him for more.

We now began to prepare for our departure, by bending the sails and performing other necessary operations on board the ship, our water being already on board, and the provisions examined. In the mean time we had another visit from Oamo, Oberea, and their son and daughter; the Indians expressing their respect by uncovering the upper parts of their body as they had done before. The daughter, whose name we understood to be TOIMATA, was very desirous to see the fort, but her father would by no means suffer her to come in. Tearee, the son of Waheatua, the sovereign of Tiarrabou, the south-east peninsula, was also with us at this time; and we received intelligence of the landing of another guest, whose company was neither expected nor desired: this was no other than the ingenious gentleman who contrived to steal our quadrant. We were told, that he intended to try his fortune again in the night; but the Indians all offered very zealously to assist us against him, desiring that, for this purpose, they might be permitted to lie in the fort. This had so good an effect, that the thief relinquished his enterprise in despair.

On the 7th, the carpenters were employed in taking down the gates and pallisadoes of our little fortification, for firewood on board the ship; and one of the Indians had dexterity enough to steal the staple and hook upon which the gate turned: he was immediately pursued, and after a chace of six miles, he appeared to have been passed, having concealed himself among some rushes in the brook; the rushes were searched, and though the thief had escaped, a scraper was found which had been stolen from the ship some time before; and soon after our old friend Tubourai Tamaide brought us the staple.

On the 8th and 9th, we continued to dismantle our fort, and our friends still flocked about us; some, I believe, sorry at the approach of our departure, and others desirous to make as much as they could of us while we staid.

We were in hopes that we should now leave the island, without giving or receiving any other offence; but it unfortunately happened otherwise. Two foreign seamen having been out with my permission, one of them was robbed of his knife, and endeavouring to recover it, probably with circumstances of great provocation, the Indians attacked him, and dangerously wounded him with a stone; they wounded his companion also slightly in the head, and then fled into the mountains. As I should have been sorry to take any farther notice of the affair, I was not displeased that the offenders had escaped; but I was immediately involved in a quarrel which I very much regretted, and which yet it was not possible to avoid.

In the middle of the night between the 8th and 9th, Clement Webb and Samuel Gibson, two of the marines, both young men, went privately from the fort, and in the morning were not to be found. As public notice had been given, that all hands were to go on board on the next day, and that the ship would sail on the morrow of that day or the day following, I began to fear that the absentees intended to stay behind. I knew that I could take no effectual steps to recover them, without endangering the harmony and good-will which at present subsisted among us; and therefore determined to wait a day for the chance of their return.

On Monday morning the 10th, the marines, to my great concern, not being returned, an enquiry was made after them of the Indians, who frankly told us, that they did not intend to return, and had taken refuge in the mountains, where it was impossible for our people to find them. They were then requested to assist in the search, and after some deliberation, two of them undertook to conduct such persons as I should think proper to send after them to the place of their retreat. As they were known to be without arms, I thought two would be sufficient, and accordingly dispatched a petty officer, and the corporal of the marines, with the Indian guides, to fetch them back. As the recovery of these men was a matter of great importance, as I had no time to lose, and as the Indians spoke doubtfully of their return, telling us, that they had each of them taken a wife, and were become inhabitants of the country, it was intimated to several of the chiefs who were in the fort with their women, among whom were Tubourai Tamaide, Tomio, and Oberea, that they would not be permitted to leave it till our deserters were brought back. This precaution I thought the more necessary, as, by concealing them a few days, they might compel me to go without them; and I had the pleasure to observe, that they received the intimation with very little signs either of fear or discontent; assuring me that my people should be secured and sent back as soon as possible. While this was doing at the fort, I sent Mr. Hicks in the pinnace to fetch Tootahah on board the ship, which he did, without alarming either him or his people. If the Indian guides proved faithful and in earnest, I had reason to expect the return of my people with the deserters before evening. Being disappointed, my suspicions increased; and night coming on, I thought it was not safe to let the people whom I had detained as hostages continue at the fort, and I therefore ordered Tubourai Tamaide, Oberea, and some others, to be taken on board the ship. This spread a general alarm, and several of them, especially the women, expressed their apprehensions with great emotion and many tears when they were put into the boat. I went on board with them, and Mr. Banks remained on shore, with some others whom I thought it of less consequence to secure.

About nine o’clock, Webb was brought back by some of the natives, who declared, that Gibson, and the petty officer and corporal, would be detained till Tootahah should be set at liberty. The tables were now turned upon me; but I had proceeded too far to retreat. I immediately dispatched Mr. Hicks in the long-boat, with a strong party of men, to rescue the prisoners, and told Tootahah that it behoved him to send some of his people with them, with orders to afford them effectual assistance, and to demand the release of my men in his name, for that I should expect him to answer for the contrary. He readily complied: this party recovered my men without the least opposition; and about seven o’clock in the morning returned with them to the ship, though they had not been able to recover the arms which had been taken from them when they were seized: these, however, were brought on board in less than half an hour, and the chiefs were immediately set at liberty.

When I questioned the petty officer concerning what had happened on shore, he told me, that neither the natives who went with him, nor those whom they met in their way, would give them any intelligence of the deserters; but, on the contrary, became very troublesome: that, as he was returning for further orders to the ship, he and his comrade were suddenly seized by a number of armed men, who having learnt that Tootahah was confined, had concealed themselves in a wood for that purpose, and who, having taken them at a disadvantage, forced their weapons out of their hands, and declared, that they would detain them till their chief should be set at liberty. He said, however, that the Indians were not unanimous in this measure; that some were for setting them at liberty, and others for detaining them; that an eager dispute ensued, and that from words they came to blows, but that the party for detaining them at length prevailed; that soon after Webb and Gibson were brought in by a party of the natives, as prisoners, that they also might be secured as hostages for the chief; but that it was, after some debate, resolved to send Webb to inform me of their resolution, to assure me that his companions were safe, and direct me where I might send my answer. Thus it appears, that, whatever were the disadvantages of seizing the chiefs, I should never have recovered my men by any other method. When the chiefs were set on shore from the ship, those at the fort were also set at liberty, and, after staying with Mr. Banks about an hour, they all went away. Upon this occasion, as they had done upon another of the same kind, they expressed their joy by an undeserved liberality, strongly urging us to accept of four hogs. These we absolutely refused as a present, and they as absolutely refusing to be paid for them, the hogs did not change masters. Upon examining the deserters, we found that the account which the Indians had given of them was true: they had strongly attached themselves to two girls, and it was their intention to conceal themselves till the ship had sailed, and take up their residence upon the island. This night every thing was got off from the shore, and every body slept on board.

Among the natives who were almost constantly with us, was Tupia, whose name has been often mentioned in this narrative. He had been, as I have before observed, the first minister of Oberea, when she was in the height of her power: he was also the chief Tahowa or priest of the island, consequently well acquainted with the religion of the country, as well with respect to its ceremonies as principles. He had also great experience and knowledge in navigation, and was particularly acquainted with the number and situation of the neighbouring islands. This man had often expressed a desire to go with us, and on the 12th in the morning, having, with the other natives, left us the day before, he came on board, with a boy about thirteen years of age, his servant, and urged us to let him proceed with us on our voyage. To have such a person on board was certainly desirable for many reasons; by learning his language, and teaching him ours, we should be able to acquire a much better knowledge of the customs, policy, and religion of the people, than our short stay among them could give us, I therefore gladly agreed to receive them on board. As we were prevented from sailing to-day, by having found it necessary to make new stocks to our small and best bower anchors, the old ones having been totally destroyed by the worms, Tupia said, he would go once more on shore, and make a signal for the boat to fetch him off in the evening. He went accordingly, and took with him a miniature picture of Mr. Banks, to shew his friends, and several little things to give them as parting presents.

After dinner, Mr. Banks being desirous to procure a drawing of the Morai belonging to Tootahah at Eparré, I attended him thither, accompanied by Dr. Solander, in the pinnace. As soon as we landed, many of our friends came to meet us, though some absented themselves in resentment of what had happened the day before. We immediately proceeded to Tootahah’s house, where we were joined by Oberea, with several others who had not come out to meet us, and a perfect reconciliation was soon brought about; in consequence of which they promised to visit us early the next day, to take a last farewell of us, as we told them we should certainly set sail in the afternoon. At this place also we found Tupia, who returned with us, and slept this night on board the ship for the first time.

On the next morning, Thursday the 13th of July, the ship was very early crowded with our friends, and surrounded by a multitude of canoes, which were filled with the natives of an inferior class. Between eleven and twelve we weighed anchor, and as soon as the ship was under sail, the Indians on board took their leaves, and wept, with a decent and silent sorrow, in which there was something very striking and tender: the people in the canoes, on the contrary, seemed to vie with each other in the loudness of their lamentations, which we considered rather as affectation than grief. Tupia sustained himself in this scene with a firmness and resolution truly admirable: he wept, indeed, but the effort that he made to conceal his tears, concurred, with them, to do him honour. He sent his last present, a shirt, by Otheothea, to Potomai, Tootahah’s favourite mistress, and then went with Mr. Banks to the mast-head, waving to the canoes as long as they continued in sight.

Thus we took leave of Otaheite, and its inhabitants, after a stay of just three months; for much the greater part of the time we lived together in the most cordial friendship, and a perpetual reciprocation of good offices. The accidental differences which now and then happened, could not be more sincerely regretted on their part than they were on ours: the principal causes were such as necessarily resulted from our situation and circumstances, in conjunction with the infirmities of human nature, from our not being able perfectly to understand each other, and from the disposition of the inhabitants to theft, which we could not at all times bear with or prevent. They had not, however, except in one instance, been attended with any fatal consequence; and to that accident were owing the measures that I took to prevent others of the same kind. I hoped, indeed, to have availed myself of the impression which had been made upon them by the lives that had been sacrificed in their contest with the Dolphin, so as that the intercourse between us should have been carried on wholly without bloodshed; and by this hope all my measures were directed during the whole of my continuance at the island; and I sincerely wish, that whoever shall next visit it, may be still more fortunate. Our traffic here was carried on with as much order as in the best regulated market in Europe. It was managed principally by Mr. Banks, who was indefatigable in procuring provisions and refreshments while they were to be had; but during the latter part of our time they became scarce, partly by the increased consumption at the fort and ship, and partly by the coming on of the season in which cocoa-nuts and bread-fruit fail. All kind of fruit we purchased for beads and nails; but no nails less than fortypenny were current: after a very short time we could never get a pig of more than ten or twelve pounds for less than a hatchet; because, though these people set a high value upon spike-nails, yet these being an article with which many people in the ship were provided, the women found a much more easy way of procuring them than by bringing down provisions.

The best articles for traffic here are axes, hatches, spikes, large nails, looking-glasses, knives, and beads; for some of which, every thing that the natives have may be procured. They are indeed fond of fine linen cloth, both white and printed; but an axe worth half-a-crown will fetch more than a piece of cloth worth twenty shillings.

CHAP. XVII.

A PARTICULAR DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND; ITS PRODUCE AND INHABITANTS;
THEIR DRESS, HABITATIONS, FOOD, DOMESTIC LIFE, AND AMUSEMENTS.

WE found the longitude of Port-Royal bay, in this island, as settled by Captain Wallis, who discovered it on the 9th of June, 1767, to be within half a degree of the truth. We found Point Venus, the northern extremity of the island, and the eastern point of the bay, to lie in the longitude of 149° 13ʹ, this being the mean result of a great number of observations made upon the spot. The island is surrounded by a reef of coral rock, which forms several excellent bays and harbours, some of which have been particularly described, where there is room and depth of water for any number of the largest ships. Port-Royal bay, called by the natives Matavai, which is not inferior to any in Otaheite, may easily be known by a very high mountain in the middle of the island, which bears due south from Point Venus. To sail into it, either keep the west point of the reef that lies before Point Venus close on board, or give it a birth of near half a mile, in order to avoid a small shoal of coral rocks, on which there is but two fathom and a half of water. The best anchoring is on the eastern side of the bay, where there is sixteen and fourteen fathom upon an ousey bottom. The shore of the bay is a fine sandy beach, behind which runs a river of fresh water, so that any number of ships may water here without incommoding each other; but the only wood for firing, upon the whole island, is that of fruit trees, which must be purchased of the natives, or all hope of living upon good terms with them given up. There are some harbours to the westward of this bay which have not been mentioned; but, as they are contiguous to it, and laid down in the plan, a description of them is unnecessary.

The face of the country, except that part of it which borders upon the sea, is very uneven; it rises in ridges that run up into the middle of the island, and there form mountains, which may be seen at the distance of sixty miles: between the foot of these ridges and the sea is a border of low land, surrounding the whole island, except in a few places where the ridges rise directly from the sea: the border of low land is in different parts of different breadths, but no where more than a mile and a half. The soil, except upon the very tops of the ridges, is extremely rich and fertile, watered by a great number of rivulets of excellent water, and covered with fruit trees of various kinds, some of which are of a stately growth and thick foliage, so as to form one continued wood; and even the tops of the ridges, though in general they are bare, and burnt up by the sun, are, in some parts, not without their produce.

The low land that lies between the foot of the ridges and the sea, and some of the valleys, are the only parts of the island that are inhabited, and here it is populous: the houses do not form villages or towns, but are ranged along the whole border at the distance of about fifty yards from each other, with little plantations of plantains, the tree which furnishes them with cloth. The whole island, according to Tupia’s account, who certainly knew, could furnish six thousand seven hundred and eighty fighting men, from which the number of inhabitants may easily be computed.

The produce of this island is bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, bananas, of thirteen sorts, the best we had ever eaten; plantains; a fruit not unlike an apple, which, when ripe, is very pleasant; sweet potatoes, yams, cocoas, a kind of _Arum_; a fruit known here by the name of _Jambu_, and reckoned most delicious; sugar-cane, which the inhabitants eat raw; a root of the salop kind, called by the inhabitants _Pea_; a plant called _Ethee_, of which the root only is eaten; a fruit that grows in a pod, like that of a large kidney-bean, which, when it is roasted, eats very much like a chesnut, by the natives called _Ahee_; a tree called _Wharra_, called in the East Indies _Pandanes_, which produces fruit, something like the pine-apple; a shrub called _Nono_; the _Morinda_, which also produces fruit; a species of fern, of which the root is eaten, and sometimes the leaves; and a plant called _Theve_, of which the root also is eaten: but the fruits of the _Nono_, the fern, and the _Theve_, are eaten only by the inferior people, and in times of scarcity. All these, which serve the inhabitants for food, the earth produces spontaneously, or with so little culture, that they seem to be exempted from the first general curse, that “man should eat his bread in the sweat of his brow.” They have also the Chinese paper mulberry, _morus papyrifera_, which they call _Aouta_; a tree resembling the wild fig-tree of the West Indies; another species of fig, which they call _Matte_; the _cordia sebestina orientalis_, which they call _Etou_; a kind of Cyperus grass, which they call _Moo_; a species of _tournefortia_, which they call _Taheinoo_; another of the _convolvulus poluce_, which they call _Eurhe_; the _solanum centifolium_, which they call _Ebooa_; the _calophyllum mophylum_, which they call _Tamannu_; the _hibiscus tiliaceus_, called _Poerou_, a frutescent nettle; the _urtica argentea_, called _Erowa_; with many other plants which cannot here be particularly mentioned: those that have been named already will be referred to in the subsequent part of this work.

They have no European fruit, garden stuff, pulse, or legumes, nor grain of any kind.

Of tame animals they have only hogs, dogs, and poultry; neither is there a wild animal in the island, except ducks, pigeons, paroquets, with a few other birds, and rats, there being no other quadruped, nor any serpent. But the sea supplies them with great variety of most excellent fish, to eat which is their chief luxury, and to catch it their principal labour.

As to the people they are of the largest size of Europeans. The men are tall, strong, well-limbed, and finely shaped. The tallest that we saw was a man upon a neighbouring island, called HUAHEINE, who measured six feet three inches and a half. The women of the superior rank are also in general above our middle stature, but those of the inferior class are rather below it, and some of them are very small. This defect in size probably proceeds from their early commerce with men, the only thing in which they differ from their superiors, that could possibly affect their growth.

Their natural complexion is that kind of clear olive, or _brunette_, which many people in Europe prefer to the finest white and red. In those that are exposed to the wind and sun, it is considerably deepened, but in others that live under shelter, especially the superior class of women, it continues of its native hue, and the skin is most delicately smooth and soft: they have no tint in their cheeks, which we distinguish by the name of colour. The shape of the face is comely, the cheek-bones are not high, neither are the eyes hollow, nor the brow prominent: the only feature that does not correspond with our ideas of beauty is the nose, which, in general, is somewhat flat; but their eyes, especially those of the women, are full of expression, sometimes sparkling with fire, and sometimes melting with softness; their teeth also are, almost without exception, most beautifully even and white, and their breath perfectly without taint.

The hair is almost universally black, and rather coarse: the men have beards, which they wear in many fashions, always, however, plucking out great part of them, and keeping the rest perfectly clean and neat. Both sexes also eradicate every hair from under their arms, and accused us of great uncleanliness for not doing the same. In their motions there is at once vigour and ease; their walk is graceful, their deportment liberal, and their behaviour to strangers and to each other affable and courteous. In their dispositions, also, they seemed to be brave, open, and candid, without either suspicion or treachery, cruelty or revenge; so that we placed the same confidence in them as in our best friends, many of us, particularly Mr. Banks, sleeping frequently in their houses in the woods, without a companion, and consequently wholly in their power. They were, however, all thieves; and when that is allowed, they need not much fear a competition with the people of any other nation upon earth. During our stay in this island, we saw about five or six persons, like one that was met by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander on the 24th of April, in their walk to the eastward, whose skins were of a dead white, like the nose of a white horse; with white hair, beard, brows, and eye-lashes; red, tender eyes; a short sight, and scurfy skins, covered with a kind of white down; but we found that no two of these belonged to the same family, and therefore concluded, that they were not a species, but unhappy individuals, rendered anomalous by disease.

It is a custom in most countries where the inhabitants have long hair, for the men to cut it short, and the women to pride themselves in its length. Here, however, the contrary custom prevails; the women always cut it short round their ears, and the men, except the fishers, who are almost continually in the water, suffer it to flow in large waves over their shoulders, or tie it up in a bunch on the top of their heads.

They have a custom, also, of anointing their heads, with what they call _Monoe_, an oil expressed from the cocoa-nut, in which some sweet herbs or flowers have been infused: as the oil is generally rancid, the smell is at first very disagreeable to a European; and as they live in a hot country, and have no such thing as a comb, they are not able to keep their heads free from lice, which the children and common people sometimes pick out and eat; a hateful custom, wholly different from their manners in every other particular; for they are delicate and cleanly almost without example; and those to whom we distributed combs soon delivered themselves from vermin, with a diligence which showed that they were not more odious to us than to them.

They have a custom of staining their bodies, nearly in the same manner as is practised in many other parts of the world, which they call _Tattowing_. They prick the skin, so as just not to fetch blood, with a small instrument, something in the form of a hoe; that part which answers to the blade is made of a bone or shell, scraped very thin, and is from a quarter of an inch to an inch and a half wide; the edge is cut into sharp teeth or points, from the number of three to twenty, according to its size: when this is to be used, they dip the teeth into a mixture of a kind of lamp-black, formed of the smoke that rises from an oily nut which they burn instead of candles, and water; the teeth, thus prepared, are placed upon the skin, and the handle to which they are fastened being struck, by quick smart blows, with a stick fitted to the purpose, they pierce it, and at the same time carry into the puncture the black composition, which leaves an indelible stain. The operation is painful, and it is some days before the wounds are healed. It is performed upon the youth of both sexes when they are about twelve or fourteen years of age, on several parts of the body, and in various figures, according to the fancy of the parent, or perhaps the rank of the party. The women are generally marked with this stain, in the form of a Z, on every joint of their fingers and toes, and frequently round the outside of their feet: the men are also marked with the same figure, and both men and women have squares, circles, crescents, and ill-designed representations of men, birds, or dogs, and various other devices impressed upon their legs, and arms, some of which, we were told, had significations, though we could never learn what they were. But the part on which these ornaments are lavished with the greatest profusion is the breech: this, in both sexes, is covered with a deep black; above which, arches are drawn one over another as high as the short ribs. They are often a quarter of an inch broad, and the edges are not straight lines, but indented. These arches are their pride, and are shown both by men and women with a mixture of ostentation and pleasure; whether as an ornament, or a proof of their fortitude and resolution in bearing pain, we could not determine. The face in general is left unmarked: for we saw but one instance to the contrary. Some old men had the greatest part of their bodies covered with large patches of black, deeply indented at the edges, like a rude imitation of flame; but we were told, that they came from a low island, called NOOUOORA, and were not natives of Otaheite.

Mr. Banks saw the operation of _tattowing_ performed upon the backside of a girl about thirteen years old. The instrument used upon this occasion had thirty teeth, and every stroke, of which at least a hundred were made in a minute, drew an ichor or serum a little tinged with blood. The girl bore it with most stoical resolution for about a quarter of an hour; but the pain of so many hundred punctures as she had received in that time then became intolerable: she first complained in murmurs, then wept, and at last burst into loud lamentations, earnestly imploring the operator to desist. He was, however, inexorable; and when she began to struggle, she was held down by two women, who sometimes soothed and sometimes chid her, and now and then, when she was most unruly, gave her a smart blow. Mr. Banks staid in a neighbouring house an hour, and the operation was not over when he went away; yet it was performed but upon one side, the other having been done some time before; and the arches upon the loins, in which they most pride themselves, and which give more pain than all the rest, were still to be done.

It is strange that these people should value themselves upon what is no distinction; for I never saw a native of this island, either man or woman, in a state of maturity, in whom these marks were wanting: possibly they may have their rise in superstition, especially as they produce no visible advantage, and are not made without great pain; but though we enquired of many hundreds, we could never get any account of the matter.

Their clothing consists of cloth or matting of different kinds, which will be described among their other manufactures. The cloth which will not bear wetting they wear in dry weather, and the matting when it rains: they are put on in many different ways, just as their fancy leads them; for in their garments nothing is cut into shape, nor are any two pieces sewed together. The dress of the better sort of women consists of three or four pieces: one piece, about two yards wide, and eleven yards long, they wrap several times round their waist, so as to hang down like a petticoat as low as the middle of the leg, and this they call _Parou_: two or three other pieces, about two yards and a half long, and one wide, each having a hole cut in the middle, they place one upon another, and then putting the head through the holes, they bring the long ends down before and behind; the others remain open at the sides, and give liberty to the arms: this, which they call the _Tebuta_, is gathered round the waist, and confined with a girdle or sash of thinner cloth, which is long enough to go many times round them, and exactly resembles the garment worn by the inhabitants of Peru and Chili, which the Spaniards call _Poncho_. The dress of the men is the same, except that, instead of suffering the cloth that is wound about the hips to hang down like a petticoat, they bring it between their legs so as to have some resemblance to breeches, and it is then called _Maro_. This is the dress of all ranks of people, and being universally the same as to form, the gentlemen and ladies distinguish themselves from the lower people by the quantity; some of them will wrap round them several pieces of cloth, eight or ten yards long, and two or three broad; and some throw a large piece loosely over their shoulders, in the manner of a cloak; or perhaps two pieces, if they are very great personages, and are desirous to appear in state. The inferior sort, who have only a small allowance of cloth from the tribes or families to which they belong, are obliged to be more thinly clad. In the heat of the day, they appear almost naked, the women having only a scanty petticoat, and the men nothing but the sash that is passed between their legs and fastened round the waist. As finery is always troublesome, and particularly in a hot country, where it consists in putting one covering upon another, the women of rank always uncover themselves as low as the waist in the evening, throwing off all that they wear on the upper part of the body, with the same negligence and ease as our ladies would lay by a cardinal or double handkerchief. And the chiefs, even when they visited us, though they had as much cloth round their middle as would clothe a dozen people, had frequently the rest of the body quite naked.

Upon their legs and feet, they wear no covering; but they shade their faces from the sun with little bonnets, either of matting or of cocoa-nut leaves, which they make occasionally in a few minutes. This, however, is not all their head-dress; the women sometimes wear little turbans, and sometimes a dress which they value much more, and which, indeed, is much more becoming, called _Tomou_: the _tomou_ consists of human hair, plaited in threads, scarcely thicker than sewing silk. Mr. Banks has pieces of it above a mile in length, without a knot. These they wind round the head in such a manner as produces a very pretty effect, and in a very great quantity; for I have seen five or six such pieces wound about the head of one woman: among these threads they stick flowers of various kinds, particularly the Cape-jessamine, of which they have great plenty, as it is always planted near their houses. The men sometimes stick the tail-feather of the Tropic-bird upright in their hair, which, as I have observed before, is often tied in a bunch upon the top of their heads: sometimes they wear a kind of whimsical garland, made of flowers of various kinds, stuck into a piece of the rind of a plantain; or of scarlet peas, stuck with gum upon a piece of wood: and sometimes they wear a kind of wig, made of the hair of men or dogs, or perhaps of cocoa-nut strings, woven upon one thread, which is tied under their hair, so that these artificial honours of their head may hang down behind. Their personal ornaments, besides flowers, are few; both sexes wear ear-rings but they are placed only on one side: when we came they consisted of small pieces of shell, stone, berries, red peas, or some small pearls, three in a string; but our beads very soon supplanted them all.

The children go quite naked: the girls till they are three or four years old; and the boys till they are six or seven.

The houses, or rather dwellings, of these people, have been occasionally mentioned before: they are all built in the wood, between the sea and the mountains, and no more ground is cleared for each house than just sufficient to prevent the dropping of the branches from rotting the thatch with which they are covered; from the house, therefore, the inhabitant steps immediately under the shade, which is the most delightful that can be imagined. It consists of groves of bread-fruit and cocoa-nuts, without underwood, which are intersected, in all directions, by the paths that lead from one house to the other. Nothing can be more grateful than this shade in so warm a climate, nor any thing more beautiful than these walks. As there is no underwood, the shade cools without impeding the air; and the houses, having no walls, receive the gale from whatever point it blows. I shall now give a particular description of a house of a middling size, from which, as the structure is universally the same, a perfect idea may be formed both of those that are bigger and those that are less.

The ground which it covers is an oblong square, four-and-twenty feet long, and eleven wide; over this a roof is raised, upon three rows of pillars or posts, parallel to each other, one on each side, and the other in the middle. This roof consists of two flat sides inclining to each other, and terminating in a ridge, exactly like the roofs of our thatched houses in England. The utmost height within is about nine feet, and the eaves on each side reach to within about three feet and a half of the ground: below this, and through the whole height, at each end, it is open, no part of it being inclosed with a wall. The roof is thatched with palm-leaves, and the floor is covered, some inches deep, with soft hay; over this are laid mats, so that the whole is one cushion, upon which they sit in the day, and sleep in the night. In some houses, however, there is one stool, which is wholly appropriated to the master of the family; besides this, they have no furniture, except a few little blocks of wood, the upper side of which is hollowed into a curve, and which serves them for pillows.

The house is indeed principally used as a dormitory; for, except it rains, they eat in the open air, under the shade of the next tree. The clothes that they wear in the day serve them for covering in the night: the floor is the common bed of the whole household, and is not divided by any partition. The master of the house and his wife sleep in the middle, next to them the married people, next to them the unmarried women, and next to them, at a little distance, the unmarried men: the servants, or _Toutous_, as they are called, sleep in the open air, except it rains, and in that case they come just within the shade.

There are, however, houses of another kind belonging to the chiefs, in which there is some degree of privacy. These are much smaller, and so constructed as to be carried about in their canoes from place to place, and set up occasionally like a tent: they are enclosed on the sides with cocoa-nut leaves, but not so close as to exclude the air, and the chief and his wife sleep in them alone.

There are houses also of a much larger size, not built either for the accommodation of a single chief, or a single family; but as common receptacles for all the people of a district. Some of them are two hundred feet long, thirty broad, and, under the ridge, twenty feet high: these are built and maintained at the common expence of the district, for the accommodation of which they are intended; and have on one side of them a large area, inclosed with low pallisadoes.

These houses, like those of separate families, have no walls. Privacy, indeed, is little wanted among people who have not even the idea of indecency, and who gratify every appetite and passion before witnesses, with no more sense of impropriety than we feel when we satisfy our hunger at a social board with our family or friends. Those who have no idea of indecency with respect to actions, can have none with respect to words; it is, therefore, scarcely necessary to observe, that, in the conversation of these people, that which is the principal source of their pleasure is always the principal topic; and that every thing is mentioned without any restraint or emotion, and in the most direct terms, by both sexes.