Having now finished all that occurs to me, with regard to these islands, which make so conspicuous a figure in the list of our discoveries, the reader will permit me to suspend the prosecution of my journal, while he peruses the following section, for which I am indebted to Mr Anderson. SECTION IX. Accounts of Otaheite still imperfect.-The prevailing Winds.Beauty of the Country-Cultivation.-Natural Curiosities. The Persons of the Natives.-Diseases.-General Character.-Love of Pleasure.-Language.-Surgery and Physic. Articles of Food.-Effects of drinking Ava.-Times and Manner of Eating-Connexions with the Females.-Circumcision.-System of Religion.-Notions about the Soul and a future Life.- Various Superstitions.-Traditions about the Creation.-An historical Legend - Honours paid to the King-Distinction of Ranks.-Punishment of Crimes. -Peculiarities of the neighbouring Islands.-Names of their Gods.-Names of Islands they visit.-Extent of their Navigation. To what has been said of Otaheite, in the accounts of the successive voyages of Captain Wallis, Mons. de Bougainville, and Captain Cook, it would, at first sight, seem superfluous to add any thing, as it might be supposed, that little could be now produced but a repetition of what has been told before. I am, however, far from being of that opinion; and will venture to affirm, though a very accurate description of the country, and of the most obvious customs of its inhabitants, has been already given, especially by Captain Cook, that much still remains untouched; that, in some instances, mistakes have been made, which later and repeated observation has been able to rectify; and that, even now, we are strangers to many of the most important institutions that prevail amongst these people. The truth is, our visits, though frequent, have been but transient; many of us had no inclination to make enquiries; more of us were unable to direct our enquiries properly; and we all laboured, though not to the same degree, under the disadvantages attending an imperfect knowledge of the language of those, from whom alone we could receive any information. information. The Spaniards had it more in their power to surmount this bar to instruction; some of them having resided at Otaheite much longer than any other European visitors. As, with their superior advantages, they could not but have had an opportunity of obtaining the fullest information on most subjects relating to this island, their account of it would, probably, convey more authentic and accurate intelligence, than, with our best endeavours, any of us could possibly obtain. But, as I look upon it to be very uncertain, if not very unlikely, that we shall ever have any communication from that quarter, I have here put together what additional intelligence, about Otaheite, and its neighbouring islands, I was able to procure, either from Omai, while on board the ship, or by conversing with the other natives, while we remained among them. The wind, for the greatest part of the year, blows from between E.S.E., and E.N.E. This is the true trade-wind, or what the natives call Maaraee; and it sometimes blows with considerable force. When this is the case, the weather is often cloudy, with showers of rain; but, when the wind is more moderate, it is clear, settled, and serene. If the wind should eer farther to the southward, and become S.E., or S.S.E., it then blows more gently, with a smooth sea, and is called Maooai. In those months, when the sun is nearly vertical, that is, in December and January, the winds and weather are both very variable; but it frequently blows from W.N.W., or N.W. This wind is what they call Toerou; and is generally attended by dark, cloudy weather, and frequently by rain. It sometimes blows strong, though generally moderate; but seldom lasts longer than five or six days without interruption; and is the only wind in which the people of the islands to leeward come to this in their canoes. If it happens to be still more northerly, it blows with less strength, and has the different appellation of Era-potaia; which they feign to be the wife of the Toerou; who, according to their mythology, is a male. The wind from S.W., and W.S.W., is still more frequent than the former; and, though it is, in general, gentle, and interrupted by calms, or breezes from the eastward, yet it sometimes blows in brisk squalls. The weather attending it is commonly dark, cloudy, and rainy, with a close, hot air; and often accompanied by a great deal of lightning and thunder. It is called Etoa, and often succeeds the Toerou; Toerou; as does also the Farooa, which is still more southerly; and, from its violence, blows down houses and trees, especially the cocoa-palms, from their loftiness; but it is only of a short duration. The natives seem not to have a very accurate knowledge of these changes, and yet pretend to have drawn some general conclusions from their effects; for they say, when the sea has a hollow sound, and dashes slowly on the shore, or rather on the reef without, that it portends good weather, but, if it has a sharp sound, and the waves succeed each other fast, that the reverse will happen. Perhaps there is scarcely a spot in the universe that affords a more luxuriant prospect than the S.E. part of Otaheite. The hills are high and steep; and, in many places, craggy. But they are covered to the very summits with trees and shrubs, in such a manner, that the spectator can scarcely help thinking, that the very rocks possess the property of producing and supporting their verdant clothing. The flat land which bounds those hills toward the sea, and the interjacent valleys also, teem with various productions that grow with the most exuberant vigour, and at once fill the mind of the beholder with the idea, that no place upon earth can out-do this, in the strength and beauty of vegetation. Nature has been no less liberal in distributing rivulets, which are found in every valley; and as they approach the sea, often divide into two or three branches, fertilizing the flat lands through which they run. The habitations of the natives are scattered without order upon these flats; and many of them appearing toward the shore, presented a delightful scene, viewed from our ships; especially as the sea within the reef, which bounds the coast, is perfectly still, and affords a safe navigation at all times for the inhabitants, who are often seen paddling in their canoes indolently along in passing from place to place, or in going to fish. On viewing these charming scenes, I have often regretted my inability to transmit to those who have had no opportunity of seeing them, such a description as might, in some measure, convey an impression similar to what must be felt by every one who has been fortunate enough to be upon the spot. It is doubtless the natural fertility of the country, combined with the mildness and serenity of the climate, that renders the natives so careless in their cultivation, that, in many many places, though overflowing with the richest produc tions, the smallest traces of it cannot be observed. The cloth-plant, which is raised by seeds brought from the mountains, and the ava, or intoxicating pepper, which they defend from the sun when very young, by covering them with leaves of the bread-fruit tree, are almost the only things to which they seem to pay any attention, and these they keep very clean. I have enquired very carefully into their manner of cultivating the bread-fruit tree, but was always answered that they never planted it. This, indeed, must be evident to every one who will examine the places where the young trees come up. It will be always observed that they spring. from the roots of the old ones, which run along near the surface of the ground; so that the bread-fruit trees may be reckoned those that would naturally cover the plains, even supposing that the island was not inhabited, in the same, manner that the white-barked trees, found at Van Diemen's. Land, constitute the forests there. And from this we may observe, that the inhabitant of Otaheite, instead of being obliged to plant his bread, will rather be under a necessity of preventing its progress; which, I suppose, is sometimes done, to give room for trees of another sort, to afford him, some variety in his food. The chief of these are the cocoa-nut and plantain ; the first of which can give no trouble, after it has raised itself a foot or two above the ground; but the plantain requires a little more care; for, after it is planted, it shoots up, and, in about three months, begins to bear fruit; during which time it gives young shoots, which supply a succession of fruit. For the old stocks are cut down as the fruit is taken. off. The products of the island, however, are not so remarkable for their variety, as great abundance; and curiosities of any kind are not numerous. Amongst these we may reckon a pond or lake of fresh water at the top of one of the highest mountains, to go to and return from which takes three or four days; it is remarkable for its depth, and has eels of an enormous size in it, which are sometimes caught by the natives, who go upon this water, in little floats of two or three wild plantain trees fastened together. This is esteemed one of the greatest natural curiosities of the country; insomuch, that travellers, who come from the other other islands, are commonly asked, amongst the first things, by their friends, at their return, if they have seen it? There is also a sort of water, of which there is only one small pond upon the island, as far distant as the lake, and, to appearance, very good, with a yellow sediment at the bottom; but it has a bad taste, and proves fatal to those who drink any quantity, or makes them break out in blotches if they bathe in it. Nothing could make a stronger impression, at first sight, on our arrival here, than the remarkable contrast between the robust make and dark colour of the people of Tongataboo, and a sort of delicacy and whiteness which distinguish the inhabitants of Otaheite. It was even some time before that difference could preponderate in favour of the Otaheiteans; and then only, perhaps, because we became accustomed to them, the marks which had recommended the others began to be forgotten. Their women, however, struck us as superior in every respect, and as possessing all those delicate characteristics which distinguish them from the other sex in many countries. The beard, which the men here wear long, and the hair, which is not cut so short as is the fashion at Tongataboo, made also a great difference; and we could not help thinking that on every occasion they shewed a greater degree of timidity and fickleness. The muscular appearance, so common amongst the Friendly Islanders, and which seems a consequence of their being accustomed to much action, is lost here, where the superior fertility of their country enables the inhabitants to lead a more indolent life; and its place is supplied by a plumpness and smoothness of the skin, which, though perhaps more consonant with our ideas of beauty, is no real advantage, as it seems attended with a kind of languor in all their motions, not observable in the others. This observation is fully verified in their boxing and wrestling, which may be called little better than the feeble efforts of children, if compared to the vigour with which these exercises are performed at the Friendly Islands. Personal endowments being in great esteem amongst them, they have recourse to several methods of improving them, according to their notions of beauty. In particular, it is a practice, especially among the Erreoes, or unmarried men of some consequence, to undergo a kind of physical operation to render them fair. This is done by remaining a month |