a quantity be packed together, at the first salting, lest the pieces in the middle should heat, and, by that means, pre vent the salt from penetrating them. This once happened to us, when we killed a larger quantity than usual. Rainy sultry weather is unfavourable for salting meat in tropical climates. Perhaps the frequent visits Europeans have lately made to these islanders, may be one great inducement to their keeping up a large stock of hogs, as they have had experience enough to know, that, whenever we come, they may be sure of getting from us what they esteem a valuable consideration for them. At Otaheite they expect the return of the Spaniards every day, and they will look for the English two or three years hence, not only there, but at the other islands. It is to no purpose to tell them that you will not return; they think you must, though not one of them knows, or will give himself the trouble to enquire, the reason of your coming. I own I cannot avoid expressing it as my real opinion, that it would have been far better for these poor people, never to have known our superiority in the accommodations and arts that make life comfortable, than, after once knowing it, to be again left and abandoned to their original incapacity of improvement. Indeed, they cannot be restored to that happy mediocrity in which they lived before we discovered them, if the intercourse between us should be discontinued. It seems to me that it has become in a manner incumbent on the Europeans to visit them once in three or four years, in order to supply them with those conveniences which we have introduced among them, and have given them a predilection for. The want of such occasional supplies will probably be felt very heavily by them, when it may be too late to go back to their old less perfect contrivances, which they now despise, and have discontinued since the introduction of ours. For by the time that the iron tools, of which they are now possessed, are worn out, they will have almost lost the knowledge of their own. A stone-hatchet is, at present, as rare a thing amongst them, as an iron one was eight years ago; and a chisel of bone or stone is not to be seen. Spike-nails have supplied the place of these last, and they are weak enough to fancy that they have got an inexhaustible store of them; for these were not now at all sought after. Sometimes, however, however, nails much smaller than a spike would still be taken in exchange for fruit. Knives happened, at present, to be in great esteem at Ulietea, and axes and hatchets remained unrivalled by any other of our commodities at all the islands. With respect to articles of mere ornament, these people are as changeable as any of the polished nations of Europe; so that what pleases their fancy, while a fashion is in vogue, may be rejected, when another whim has supplanted it. But our iron tools are so strikingly useful, that they will, we may confidently pronounce, continue to prize them highly; and be completely miserable, if, neither possessing the materials, nor trained up to the art of fabricating them, they should cease to receive supplies of what may now be considered as having become necessary to their comfortable existence.3 Otaheite, though not comprehended in the number of what we have called the Society Islands, being inhabited by the same race of men, agreeing in the same leading features of character and manners, it was fortunate, that we happened to discover this principal island before the others; as the friendly and hospitable reception we there met with, of course, led us to make it the principal place of resort, in our successive visits to this part of the Pacific Ocean. By the frequency of this intercourse, we have had better opportunities of knowing something about it and its inhabitants, than about the other similar but less considerable islands in its vicinity. Of these, however, we have seen enough to satisfy us, that all that we observed and have related of Otaheite, may, with trifling variations, be applied to them. Too much seems to have been already known and published 3 Captain Cook's reasoning here is irresistibly convincing; yet it is very remarkable that no practical benefit resulted from it, in favour of the people whose cause he pleads. One can scarcely account, far less apologize, for the extraordinary fact, that nearly eleven years, from the date of this voyage, had elapsed, before any British vessel touched at Otaheite, and that even then the visit was an accidental one. Soon afterwards, however, Lieutenant Bligh was ordered to visit it, for the purpose, not of conferring benefits on it, but of procuring the bread-fruit tree, for our West India possessions. Of the changes which had happened in that interval, it would be improper to make any mention in this place. The reader nevertheless may be informed, that much of the evil, which Captain Cook had foreseen, really occurred. The want of iron tools especially was most severely felt.-E. lished in our former relations, about some of the modes of life that made Otaheite so agreeable an abode to many on board our ships; and, if I could now add any finishing strokes to a picture, the outlines of which have been already drawn with sufficient accuracy, I should still have hesitated to make this journal the place for exhibiting a view of licentious manners, which could only serve to disgust those for whose information I write. There are, however, many parts of the domestic, political, and religious institutions of these people, which, after all our visits to them, are but im→ perfectly understood. The foregoing narrative of the incidents that happened during our stay, will probably be thought to throw some additional light; and, for farther satisfaction, I refer to Mr Anderson's remarks. Amidst our various subordinate employments, while at these islands, the great objects of our duty were always attended to. No opportunity was lost of making astronomical and nautical observations; from which the following table was drawn up : Place. Matavai Point, Ota heite, Owharre Harbour, Huaheine, Ohamaneno Harbour, Ulietea, Latitude. Longitude. 17° 24 Variation of Dip of the 16° 42′ 208° 52′ 24′′ 5° 13" East 28° 28' 208° 25′ 22′′ 6° 19′ East 29° 5° 16° 45′ The longitude of the three several places is deduced from the mean of 145 sets of observations made on shore; some at one place, and some at another; and carried on to each of the stations by the time-keeper. As the situation of these places was very accurately settled, during my former voyages, the above observations were now made chiefly with a view of determining how far a number of lunar observations might be depended upon, and how near they would agree with those made upon the same spot in 1769, which fixed Matavai Point to be in 210° 27' 30". The difference, it appears, is only of 5′ 2′′; and, perhaps, no other method could have produced a more perfect agreement. Without pretending to say which of the two computations is the nearest the truth, the longitude of 210° 22′ 28′′, or, which is the same thing, 208° 25′ 22′′, will be the longitude we shall reckon from with the time-keeper, allowing it to be losing, on mean time, 1,"69 each day, as found by the mean of of all the observations made at these islands for that purpose. On our arrival at Otaheite, the error of the time-keeper in longitude was, Greenwich rate, 1° 18′ 58′′ by Tongataboo rate, 0° 16′ 40" Some observations were also made on the tide; particularly at Otaheite and Ulietea, with a view of ascertaining its greatest rise at the first place. When we were there, in my second voyage, Mr Wales thought he had discovered that it rose higher than I had observed it to do, when I first visited Otaheite, in 1769. But the observations we now made proved that it did not; that is, that it never rose higher than twelve or fourteen inches at most. And it was observed to be high-water nearly at noon, as well at the quadratures, as at the full and change of the moon. To verify this, the following observations were made at Ulietea: Having now finished all that occurs to me, with regard to these islands, which make so conspicuous a figure in the list of our discoveries, the reader will permit me to suspend the prosecution of my journal, while he peruses the follow ing section, for which I am indebted to Mr Anderson. SECTION IX. Accounts of Otaheite still imperfect.—The prevailing Winds.Beauty of the Country.-Cultivation.-Natural Curiosities. -The Persons of the Natives.-Diseases.-General Character.-Love of Pleasure.-Language.-Surgery and Physic. -Articles of Food.-Effects of drinking Ava-Times and Manner of Eating.-Connexions with the Females.-Circumcision.-System of Religion.-Notions about the Soul and a future Life.- Various Superstitions.-Traditions about the Creation. An historical Legend.- Honours paid to the King-Distinction of Ranks.-Punishment of Crimes. -Peculiarities of the neighbouring Islands.-Names of their Gods.-Names of Islands they visit.-Extent of their Navigation. To what has been said of Otaheite, in the accounts of the successive voyages of Captain Wallis, Mons. de Bougainville, and Captain Cook, it would, at first sight, seem superfluous to add any thing, as it might be supposed, that little could be now produced but a repetition of what has been told before. I am, however, far from being of that opinion; and will venture to affirm, though a very accurate description of the country, and of the most obvious customs of its inhabitants, has been already given, especially by Captain Cook, that much still remains untouched; that, in some instances, mistakes have been made, which later and repeated observation has been able to rectify; and that, even now, we are strangers to many of the most important institutions that prevail amongst these people. The truth is, our visits, though frequent, have been but transient; many of us had no inclination to make enquiries; more of us were unable to direct our enquiries properly; and we all laboured, though not to the same degree, under the disadvantages attending an imperfect knowledge of the language of those, from whom alone we could receive any information. |