Track
of the
ECLIPSE’S LONG BOAT
from
SANNACK to KODIAK
1807
of the
ECLIPSE’S LONG BOAT
from
SANNACK to KODIAK
1807
A
VOYAGE
ROUND THE WORLD,
FROM 1806 TO 1812;
IN WHICH
JAPAN, KAMSCHATKA, THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, AND
THE SANDWICH ISLANDS WERE VISITED;
JAPAN, KAMSCHATKA, THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, AND
THE SANDWICH ISLANDS WERE VISITED;
INCLUDING
A NARRATIVE OF THE AUTHOR’S SHIPWRECK ON THE
ISLAND OF SANNACK, AND HIS SUBSEQUENT
WRECK IN THE SHIP’S LONG-BOAT:
A NARRATIVE OF THE AUTHOR’S SHIPWRECK ON THE
ISLAND OF SANNACK, AND HIS SUBSEQUENT
WRECK IN THE SHIP’S LONG-BOAT:
WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE
PRESENT STATE OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS,
AND
A VOCABULARY OF THEIR LANGUAGE.
PRESENT STATE OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS,
AND
A VOCABULARY OF THEIR LANGUAGE.
BY ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL.
Third American Edition—Illustrated by a Chart.
CHARLESTON, (S. C.)
PRINTED BY DUKE & BROWNE, 9 BROAD-STREET.
1822.
About Kamehameha
CHAPTER X.
Account of the natives—Personal appearance—Ranks—Power of the king—Priests—Capital punishments—Mode of detecting theft—Religious belief—Places of worship and ceremonies—Macaheite—Houses—Food—Ava—Spirits distilled from the tee-root—State of the women—Marriages—Dress—Manufactures—Nets and lines—Modes of fishing—Trade—Price of provisions—Amusements—Funeral Rites—Military—Progress in civilization—Account of Tamaahmaah and family.
The manners and customs of the Sandwich islanders have been repeatedly described by much abler observers; but my long residence has given me opportunities of noticing many things which have escaped others; and to these I shall, as much as possible, confine my remarks.
The natives, although not tall, are stout and robust in their make, particularly those of the higher rank; their complexion is nut-brown, and they are extremely cleanly in their persons. They are distinguished by great ingenuity in all their arts and manufactures, as well as by a most persevering industry.
They are divided into two great classes: the Erees, or chiefs, and the Cannakamowree, or people. The former are the proprietors of the land, the latter are all under the dominion of some chief, for whom they work, or cultivate the ground, and by whom they are supported in old age. They are not, however, slaves, or attached to the soil, but at liberty to change masters when they think proper.
The supreme government is vested in the king, whose power seems to be completely absolute. He is assisted by the principal chiefs, whom he always keeps about his person; many of these have particular departments to attend to; one chief took charge of the household, and appointed the different surveys to be performed by every individual; another, named Coweeowranee, acted as paymaster; his province was to distribute wages and provisions amongst the people in the king’s service.
An elderly chief, of the name of Naai, took a general charge of the whole, and was, in fact, prime minister. He was commonly called Billy Pitt by the white people, and was by no means pleased when they addressed him by any other appellation.
The principal duties of the executive were, however, entrusted to the priests; by them the revenues were collected, and the laws enforced. Superstition is the most powerful engine by which the latter purpose is effected; actual punishment being rare. I knew only one instance of capital punishment; which was that of a man who had violated the sanctity of the morai. Having got drunk, he quitted it during taboo time, and entered the house of a woman. He was immediately seized, and carried back to the morai, where his eyes were put out. After remaining two days in this state, he was strangled, and his body exposed before the principal idol.
The method of detecting theft or robbery, affords a singular instance of the power of superstition over their minds. The party who has suffered the loss applies to one of the priests, to whom he presents a pig, and relates his story.
The following ceremony is then performed; the priest begins by rubbing two pieces of green wood upon each other, till, by the friction, a kind of powder, like snuff, is produced, which is so hot, that on being placed in dry grass, and blown upon, it takes fire;[124] with this, a large pile of wood is kindled, and allowed to burn a certain time. He then takes three nuts of an oily nature, called tootooee; having broken the shells, one of the kernels is thrown into the fire, at which time he says an anana, or prayer; and while the nut is crackling in the fire, repeats the words Muckeeroio kanaka ai kooee, that is, kill or shoot the fellow. The same ceremonies take place with each of the nuts, provided the thief does not appear before they are consumed.
This, however, but seldom happens; the culprit generally makes his appearence with the stolen property, which is restored to the owner, and the offence punished by a fine of four pigs. He is then dismissed, with strict injunctions not to commit the like crime in future, under pain of a more severe penalty. The pigs are taken to the morai, where they are offered up as sacrifices, and afterwards eaten by the priests.
Should it happen that the unfortunate criminal does not make his appearance during the awful ceremony, his fate is inevitable; had he the whole island to bestow, not one word of the prayer could be recalled, nor the anger of[125] the Etooah appeased. The circumstance is reported to the king, and proclamation made throughout the island, that a certain person has been robbed, and that those who are guilty have been prayed to death.
So firm is their belief in the power of these prayers, that the culprit pines away, refusing to take any sustenance, and at last falls a sacrifice to his credulity.
The priests also practice medicine. Bathing is their great specific. If the patient is too weak to be carried to the sea, he is washed with salt water. The oil extracted from a nut, called tootooee, is used as a purgative; and a black mineral substance, reduced to a powder, as an emetic. This is very powerful in its effects; half the quantity that can be laid on a sixpence forming a sufficient dose.
I have but few particulars to give of their religious opinions. Their principal god, to whom they attribute the creation of the world, is called Etooah; and they have seven or eight subordinate deities, whose images are in the morai, and to whom offerings are made as well as to the Etooah. Their names I cannot recollect.
They believe in a future state, where they will be rewarded or punished for their conduct in this life. Their belief in the efficacy of prayer has already been remarked. During the time I lived with the king, it was reported that some person had prayed him to death; in order to counteract the effects of this, the daughter of a chief prostrated herself before the house, and turning towards the setting sun, prayed with great fervency. I did not then understand the language, and imagined that she was addressing that luminary; but William Moxely explained that part to me. She said, How could the sun rise and set, or the moon perform her revolutions, if there were not some superior Being who regulated their motions.
They have a tradition of a general deluge. According to their account, the sea once overflowed the whole world, except Mouna Kaa, in Owhyhee, and swept away all the inhabitants but one pair, who saved themselves on that mountain, and are the parents of the present race of mankind.
Their morais, or places of worship, consist of one large house, or temple, with some smaller ones round it, in which are the im[127]ages of their inferior gods. The tabooed, or consecrated precincts, are marked out by four square posts, which stand thirty or forty yards from the building. In the inside of the principal house there is a screen or curtain of white cloth, hung across one end, within which the image of Etooah is placed. When sacrifices are offered, the priests and chiefs enter occasionally within this space, going in at one side and out at the other. Although present on one occasion, I did not enter this recess, partly because I was doubtful of the propriety of doing so, and also on account of the difficulty I had in moving myself, and the risk of getting my wounds injured among the crowd.
On the outside are placed several images made of wood, as ugly as can be well imagined, having their mouths all stuck round with dog’s teeth.
Their holidays took place about four times a month, and the ceremonies lasted from sunset on the day preceding, to sunrise on the following day; during which no person was permitted to pass the bounds of the morai. This time was spent in prayer, in sacrificing pigs, in eating the sacrifices, and in[128] conversation. I attended only once, and was not, at that time, sufficiently master of the language to understand the purport of the prayers.
The priest continued nearly three hours, in a very solemn manner, during which the most profound silence was observed; indeed, the smallest noise of any kind, either within the morai or in the neighbourhood, would have been a proof that the deity was offended, and the prayer must have ceased; a proclamation was, therefore, made by the public crier, whenever the king entered the morai, ordering every animal near it to be confined, otherwise they should be seized and offered up as sacrifices. Those present stood with their arms extended towards heaven for about three quarters of an hour at the beginning of the prayer, and the same length of time at its conclusion. I was not required to perform this part of the ceremony.
The number present did not exceed forty, and were all of the higher rank. Women are never permitted to attend on these occasions.
Human sacrifices are offered upon their going to war; but nothing of the kind took[129] place during my stay; unless in the case already mentioned, of the man punished for breaking the taboo, and whose body was exposed before the idol.
During the period called Macaheite, which lasts a whole month, and takes place in November, the priests are employed in collecting the taxes, which are paid by the chiefs in proportion to the extent of their territories; they consist of mats, feathers, and the produce of the country. The people celebrate this festival by dancing, wrestling, and other amusements.
The king remains in the morai for the whole period; before entering it, a singular ceremony takes place. He is obliged to stand till three spears are darted at him: He must catch the first with his hand, and with it ward off the other two. This is not a mere formality. The spear is thrown with the utmost force, and should the king lose his life, there is no help for it.[27]
At the Macaheite, which happened when I was on the island, the eldest son of Tamaahmaah, a youth about fifteen, was invested with royal honours, and entitled to the same marks of respect as his father. What share he had in the government I did not learn; but I observed no alteration in the exercise of the king’s authority.
The houses of the natives are of the simplest form; they are oblong, with very low side-walls, and high-thatched roofs; within, they are not divided into separate apartments, nor have they any tables or seats.
It is only by size that the houses of the chiefs are distinguished from those of the lower orders, for the same barn-like shape is universal. They are, however, kept very clean; and their household utensils, consisting of wooden dishes and calabashes, are hung, neatly arranged, upon the walls. While the floors of the meaner houses are bare, except the place for sleeping, where a few mats are spread, those of the higher orders are entirely covered over with mats, many of which are worked with great elegance into different patterns. At one end, a platform raised about three feet from the ground,[131] which extends the whole breadth of the apartment, is spread with a layer of rushes, and covered with mats. This forms the sleeping place for the upper part of the family; the attendants sleep at the opposite end.
As the two sexes never eat together, the chiefs have always a separate eating-house, and even the lower ranks have one to every six or seven families for the men. The women take their food in the same houses in which they sleep.
Few of the houses, except the largest, have any windows; the light being admitted by the door, which is seldom closed. The dwellings of the upper ranks are generally surrounded by a paling. In all of them the utmost attention to cleanliness prevails.
Their mode of cooking has been often described. Poey, or taro-pudding, which is the principal food of all ranks, is prepared by baking the root in a pit with hot stones, upon which water is poured. It is afterwards scraped, mashed, and mixed with cold water. When newly made, it is not unpalatable, but it soon turns sour.
Fish are often eaten raw, seasoned with salt water. When cooked, they are either[132] done in their usual manner, under ground, or broiled, by putting them, wrapt in leaves, upon the fire. When the leaves are burnt, they consider them ready.
They preserve pork by taking out the bones, and rubbing it well with salt; after which it is made up in rolls, and dried.
They frequently eat with their pork a kind of pudding made of taro-root, which is previously cut in slices, and dried in the sun; it keeps a great length of time, and is a good substitute for bread. In this state it is preferred by the white people. The natives preserve it for taking to sea, by mashing and forming it into a solid paste, when it is wrapped in leaves, and will keep fresh for five or six weeks.
The sugar-cane, which they chew, is also a general article of food.
Instead of candles, the tootooee-nut is used, which being of an oily nature, yields a considerable quantity of light. It grows upon a small tree, and is about the size of a horse-chesnut. When pulled, they are thrown into water, and those that sink are reckoned sound; they are then baked under ground, and their shells broken off, in which state[133] they are kept till required. When used as candles, they string twenty or thirty upon a slit of bamboo, each of which will burn five or six minutes; but they require constant trimming, and it is necessary to reverse the torch whenever a nut is consumed, that the one under it may catch fire. It must, therefore, be held by a person whose business it is to keep it always in order.
This nut, when pressed, yields an oil well adapted for mixing with paint. The black colour, by which their canoes are painted, is produced by burning the nuts after they are pressed, and by the cinders of the torches, which are carefully preserved for the purpose; these are reduced to powder, and mixed with oil.
Ava, with which the natives were formerly wont to intoxicate themselves, is now giving way to the use of ardent spirits. I never saw it used, except as a medicine to prevent corpulency, and is said to be an effectual remedy. It causes a white scurf to strike out upon the skin, somewhat like the dry scurvy.
The spirit distilled from the tea-root now usurps its place, and I fear the consequences will be still more pernicious.
That plant grows wild in the upper part of the country, and varies from the size of a carrot to that of a man’s thigh. It is put into a pit, amongst heated stones, and covered with plantain and taro leaves; through these a small hole is made, and water poured in; after which the whole is closed up again, and allowed to remain twenty-four hours. When the root has undergone this process, the juice tastes as sweet as molasses. It is then taken out, bruised, and put into a canoe to ferment; and in five or six days is ready for distillation.
Their stills are formed out of iron pots, which they procure from American ships, and which they enlarge to any size, by fixing several tier of calabashes above them, with their bottoms sawed off, and the joints well luted. From the uppermost, a wooden tube connects with a copper cone, round the inside of which is a ring with a pipe to carry off the spirit. The cone is fixed into a hole in the bottom of a tub filled with water, which serves as a condenser.
By this simple apparatus a spirit is produced, called lumi, or rum, and which is by no means harsh or unpalatable. Both whites[135] and natives are unfortunately too much addicted to it. Almost every one of the chiefs has his own still.
Smoking tobacco is another luxury of which the natives are very fond. The plant grows in abundance upon the islands, and they use it in a green state. In their tobacco pipes they display their usual taste and ingenuity. The tube is made of a hollow stem of a kind of vine, fixed to an iron bowl, which is inserted into hard wood. The stem is covered with rings of ivory and turtle-shell, placed alternately; the whole kept firmly together at the top by an ivory mouth-piece.
The women are subject to many restrictions from which the men are exempted. They are not allowed to attend the morai upon taboo days, nor at these times are they permitted to go out in a canoe. They are never permitted to eat with the men, except when at sea, and then not out of the same dish. Articles of delicacy, such as pork, turtle, shark, cocoa-nuts, bananas or plantains, are also forbidden. Dog’s flesh and fish were the only kinds of animal food lawful for them to eat; but since the introduction of sheep and[136] goats, which are not tabooed, the ladies have less reason to complain.
Notwithstanding the rigour with which these ceremonies are generally observed, the women very seldom scruple to break them, when it can be done in secret; they often swim off to ships at night during the taboo; and I have known them eat of the forbidden delicacies of pork and shark’s flesh. What would be the consequence of a discovery I know not; but I once saw the queen transgressing in this respect, and was strictly enjoined to secrecy, as she said it was as much as her life was worth.
Their ideas of marriage are very loose; either party may quit the other when they tire or disagree. The lower classes in general, content themselves with one wife; but they are by no means confined to that number, and the chiefs have frequently several. Tamaahmaah had two, besides a very handsome girl, the daughter of a chief, educating for him. One elderly chief, Coweeooranee, had no fewer than fifteen. They are very jealous of any improper connexion between natives and their wives; but the case is widely different with respect to their visitors, where[137] connexion of that kind is reckoned the surest proof of friendship, and they are always anxious to strengthen it by that tie.
The virtue of the king’s wives is, however, most scrupulously guarded; each of them having a male and a female attendant, whose duty it is to watch them on all occasions. Should it be discovered that any of the queens have been unfaithful, these attendants are punished with death, unless they have given the first intimation.
Immediately after child-birth, women are obliged to retire to the woods, where they remain ten days, and must not be seen by the men. The queen, who had a daughter whilst I was there, had a house for the purpose of retirement; but, in general, they have no other shelter but what the woods afford. They also retire in the same manner three days in every month.[28]
A simple garment, called pow, forms the principal part of the dress of the women; it consists of a piece of cloth about one yard broad and three in length, wrapped several times round the waist, with the end tucked in below, and reaching to the calf of the leg. In cold weather, they throw another piece of cloth, like a plaid, over their shoulders. Round the neck they often wear wreaths of the leaves of a fragrant plant called miri, resembling those of the vine.
An ivory ornament, called palava, is very generally worn, suspended by a hair necklace, neatly plaited into small cords. The hole through which it is passed is large enough to admit the thumb, and the plaits are so numerous as to fill it entirely.
The hair is combed back in front, and plastered over with a kind of lime made from burnt shells. This practice bleaches that on the forehead nearly white.
Their heads are adorned with wreaths of flowers taken from the stalk, and strung on the stem of a small creeping plant. They prefer purple, yellow, and white, and arrange them alternately three or four inches of each[139] colour. This is twined several times round the head, and has a very elegant appearance.
They are at great pains in ornamenting themselves, for which purpose every female is provided with a small mirror. All ranks pay the utmost attention to personal cleanliness.
The dress of the men consists merely of a small girdle, made of taper, called the maro. Upon great occasions, the chiefs wear elegant cloaks and helmets of red and yellow feathers.
The cloth called taper is entirely manufactured by women, and is made from a bark of a tree, which is first steeped in water, and then beat out with a piece of wood, grooved or furrowed like a crimping machine. The bark is laid upon another piece of wood, grooved like the former. As these two instruments are at right angles during the operation, the marks in the cloth are crossed like warp and woof.
It is colored with the juice of berries, laid on with a piece of turtle-shell, shaped like a knife, or with a brush, formed by chewing the end of a slip of bamboo. In this manner it is tinged brown, green, blue, and black; to produce a yellow, the cloth is dipt in a dye prepared by boiling the cone[140] of a tree in water. They often paint a variety of patterns, in which they display great taste and fancy.
This cloth, from its texture, is, when wetted, extremely apt to get damaged, in which state it tears like moist paper; great care, therefore, is always taken to keep it dry, or to have it carefully dried when it is wetted. When they swim off to ships, they hold their clothes out of the water in one hand, occasionally changing it as it becomes fatigued.
The mats with which the floors of the houses are covered, are also manufactured by the women. They are made of rushes, or a kind of broad-leaved grass, split at the stem, and are worked in a variety of patterns.
The natives are most dexterous fishers, and their implements are constructed with much ingenuity. The hooks are sometimes made of mother-of-pearl and tortoise-shell, but those procured from ships are coming into more general use.
Their nets and lines are spun from the fibre of a broad-leaved plant called ourana, similar in appearance to sedge or flags; it is pulled green, and the outside stripped off with a tortoise-shell knife, after which it is steeped in[141] water; the fibres are separated by the nail, and spun into lines, by rolling them between the hand and the thigh. The lines have sometimes two strands, and sometimes three, and are much stronger than those of hemp. They drag these lines after their canoes, and in this manner take bonettas, dolphins, and albicores. For the hooks of their own manufacture bait is not required, the mother-of-pearl shank serving the same end. When wire hooks are used, they wrap a piece of white cloth round them.
The nets in which they take the flying fish are made of twine of the same material.—They are about a hundred yards in length, by three or four yards in breadth, and have a large bag in the centre.
They are set like herring-nets, with the upper edge floated by buoys of light wood, whilst the lower edge is kept under water by weights of lead or iron. In order to prevent the fish from flying over, branches of trees are laid all along the head-line. When properly extended, a canoe at each end of the net, gradually advances, forming it into a circle, into which the fish are driven by a number of canoes, who fill up the open side, and[142] beat the surface violently with branches.—When the canoes at each end of the net meet, they gradually take it in, contracting the circle till the fish are forced into the bag in the centre.
In this manner prodigious numbers are taken. I have known them return, after a day’s fishing, with ten or twelve canoes deeply loaded. Sometimes the net is so full they cannot take it on board, and are obliged to drag it after them to the shore.
They have a singular method of catching fish by poison. This is done by means of an herb like heath, stripped of its bark, and bruised; with this they dive to the bottom, and place it beneath the stones, where the fish lie. The poison is so powerful, that in a short time they sicken, and come up to the surface.—When taken they are instantly gutted, in order that the poison in their stomach may not affect the quality of the fish.
The occupiers or proprietors of land are entitled to the privilege of fishing upon their own shores as far as the tallest man in the island can wade at low water, and they may exercise that right at all seasons; but beyond that the sea is tabooed, except at two periods in the[143] year, of six weeks each, during which unlimited fishing is allowed. At these times it is the general employment of the natives, and they cure enough to serve them through the tabooed season.
In every article of their manufacture these islanders display an extraordinary degree of neatness and ingenuity, considering the simplicity of the tools with which they work.
The tool in most general use is a kind of tomahawk, or adze, called toe; it was formerly made of hard polished stone, but is now universally made of iron. To form it, they lash a thin plate of iron, from one to four inches broad, and five or six long, to a branch which has a piece of the stem attached to it. Plane irons are much in request for this purpose; but the toe is frequently made of an old hoop.
This, with a piece of coral for a file, is almost the only tool used in the construction of their houses, canoes, and implements of wood.
The circular wooden dishes, containing from half a pint to five or six gallons, are formed with these simple tools, and are as neatly made as if they had been turned in a[144] lathe. It is astonishing how soon they acquire the useful arts from their visitors. Many of the natives are employed as carpenters, coopers, blacksmiths, and tailors, and do their work as perfectly as Europeans.
In the king’s forge there were none but native blacksmiths; they had been taught by the armourer of a ship, who quitted the island while I was there.
Almost all their dealings are conducted by barter; they know the value of dollars, and are willing to take them in exchange; but they seldom appear again in circulation, being always carefully hoarded up.
Vessels are supplied with fresh provisions, live-stock, salt, and other articles of outfit, for which they give in return cloth, fire-arms, and ammunition, the teeth of the sea-lion, carpenter’s tools, hardware, and, in general, European articles of every description.
Sandal-wood, pearls, and mother-of-pearl shells, are also the produce of these islands, and are frequently purchased for the China market.
It is probable that the Russians will, in future, derive from hence the principal supplies of provisions for their settlements on the Fox[145] islands, and northwest coast of America, and even Kamschatka.
With the island of Atooi the natives carry on a considerable trade. The inhabitants of Wahoo excel in making taper or cloth, whilst those of Atooi excel in canoes, paddles, and spears, and they very often make exchanges in these articles.
Owing to the number of ships that are constantly touching at these islands, provisions are by no means cheap. A pig is estimated by its length. The largest size, called poanana, or fathom pig, measures that length from the snout to the rump, and is valued at two axes; a junk of the thickest part of the sea-horse tooth, five or six inches long, a yard and a half of blue cloth, or five dollars.
Those that measure from the elbow to the opposite hand, are valued at one axe, or about half the price of the larger size. A sheep or goat may be had for a smaller piece of ivory; a maro, or a pair of fowls, for a knife, a pair of scissors, or small mirror.
From their earliest years, the natives spend much of their spare time in the water, and constant practice renders them so dexterous, that they seem as much at their ease in that[146] element as on land; they often swim several miles off to ships, sometimes resting upon a plank shaped like an anchor stock, and paddling with their hands, but more frequently without any assistance whatever.
Although sharks are numerous in these seas, I never heard of any accident from them, which I attribute to the dexterity with which they avoid their attacks.
Throwing the top shoots of the sugar-cane at each other, and catching them in their flight, is a favorite amusement, the practice of which tends to render them very expert in the use of the spear.
Dancing, wrestling, and foot races, are also common amusements, particularly at macaheite time.
The dances are principally performed by women, who form themselves into solid squares, ten or twelve each way, and keep time to the sound of the drum, accompanied by a song, in which they all join. In dancing they seldom move their feet, but throw themselves into a variety of attitudes, sometimes all squatting, and at other times springing up at the same instant. A man in front with strings of shells on his ankles and wrists, with[147] which he marks time, acts as fugel-man. On these occasions the women display all their finery, particularly in European clothes, if they are so fortunate as to possess any. They received great applause from the spectators, who frequently burst into immoderate fits of laughter, at particular parts of the song.
They have a game somewhat resembling draughts, but more complicated. It is played upon a board about twenty-two inches by fourteen, painted black, with white spots, on which the men are placed; these consist of black and white pebbles, eighteen upon each side, and the game is won by the capture of the adversary’s pieces.
Tamaahmaah excels at this game. I have seen him sit for hours playing with his chiefs, giving an occasional smile, but without uttering a word. I could not play, but William Moxely, who understood it well, told me that he had seen none who could beat the king.
The game of draughts is now introduced, and the natives play it uncommonly well.
Flying kites is another favorite amusement. They make them of taper, of the usual shape, but uncommon size, many of them being fifteen or sixteen feet in length, and six or[148] seven in breadth; they have often three or four hundred fathom of line, and are so difficult to hold, that they are obliged to tie them to trees.
The only employment I ever saw Tamena, the queen, engaged in, was making these kites.
A theatre was erected under the direction of James Beattie, the king’s block-maker, who had been at one time on the stage in England. The scenes representing a castle and a forest were constructed of different coloured pieces of taper, cut out and pasted together.
I was present on one occasion, at the performance of Oscar and Malvina. This piece was originally a pantomime, but here it had words written for it by Beattie. The part of Malvina was performed by the wife of Isaac Davis. As her knowledge of the English language was very limited, extending only to the words yes and no, her speeches were confined to these monosyllables. She, however, acted her part with great applause. The Fingalian heroes were represented by natives clothed in the Highland garb, also made out of taper, and armed with muskets.
The audience did not seem to understand the play well, but were greatly delighted with the after-piece, representing a naval engagement. The ships were armed with bamboo cannon, and each of them fired a broadside, by means of a train of thread dipped in saltpetre, which communicated with each gun, after which one of the vessels blew up. Unfortunately, the explosion set fire to the forest, and had nearly consumed the theatre.
The ceremonies that took place upon the death of a chief have been already described. The bodies of the dead are always disposed of secretly, and I never could learn where they were interred. My patroness, the queen, preserved the bones of her father, wrapt up in a piece of cloth. When she slept in her own house they were placed by her side; in her absence they were placed on a feather bed she had received from the captain of a ship, and which was only used for this purpose. When I asked her the reason of this singular custom, she replied, “it was because she loved her father so dearly.”
When the king goes to war, I understand that every man capable of bearing arms must[150] follow his chief; for which purpose they are all trained from their youth to the use of arms. I saw nothing like a regular armed force, except a guard of about fifty men, who constantly did duty at the king’s residence. There were about twenty of them on guard daily, but the only sentry which they posted was at the powder magazine. At night he regularly called out every hour, “All’s well.”
They were armed with muskets and bayonets, but had no uniform; their cartridge-boxes, which were made by the king’s workmen, are of wood, about thirteen inches long, rounded to the shape of the body, and covered with hide.
I have seen those guards at their exercise; rapidity, and not precision, seemed to be their great object. The men stood at extended order, and fired as fast as they could, beating the butt upon the ground, and coming to the recover without using the ramrod; each man gave the word “fire,” before he drew the trigger.
The natives of these islands have been accused of being cannibals; but as far as I could judge, either from my own observation, or from the enquiries I made, I believe[151] the accusation to be perfectly destitute of foundation. Isaac Davis, who had the best means of knowing, having resided there more than twenty years, and who had been present and borne a share in all their wars, declared to me most pointedly, that “it was all lies—that there never had been cannibals there since they were islands.”
From a perusal of the foregoing pages, it will be seen, that these islanders have acquired many of the useful arts, and are making rapid progress towards civilization. Much must be ascribed, no doubt, to their natural ingenuity and unwearied industry; but great part of the merit must also be ascribed to the unceasing exertions of Tamaahmaah, whose enlarged mind has enabled him to appreciate the advantages resulting from an intercourse with Europeans, and he has prosecuted that object with the utmost eagerness.
The unfortunate death of captain Cook, and the frequent murders committed by the natives on navigators, particularly in Wahoo, in which Lieutenant Hengist, and Mr. Gooch, astronomer of the Dædalus, Messrs. Brown and Gordon, masters of the ships Jackall and Prince Le Boo, lost their lives, gave such ideas[152] of the savage nature of the inhabitants, that for many years few ships would venture to touch at these islands.[29]
But since Tamaahmaah has established his power, he has regulated his conduct by such strict rules of justice, that strangers find themselves as safe in his port as in those of any civilized nation.
Although always anxious to induce white people to remain, he gives no encouragement to desertion, nor does he ever attempt to detain those who wish to depart.
In 1809 the king seemed about fifty years of age; he is a stout, well-made man, rather darker in the complexion than the natives usually are, and wants two of his front teeth. The expression of his countenance is agreeable, and he is mild and affable in his man[153]ners, and possesses great warmth of feeling; for I have seen him shed tears upon the departure of those to whom he was attached, and has the art of attaching others to himself. Although a conquerer, he is extremely popular among his subjects; and not without reason, for since he attained the supreme power, they have enjoyed repose and prosperity. He has amassed a considerable treasure in dollars, and possesses a large stock of European articles of every description, particularly arms and ammunition; these he has acquired by trading with the ships that call at the islands. He understands perfectly well how to make a bargain; but is unjustly accused of wishing to over-reach in his dealings. I never knew of his taking any undue advantages; on the contrary, he is distinguished for upright and honourable conduct in all his transactions.—War, not commerce, seems to be his principal motive in forming so extensive a navy. Being at peace, his fleet was laid up in ordinary during the whole time of my stay. When he chooses to fit it out, he will find no difficulty in manning his vessels. Independently of the number of white people he has constantly about him, and who are almost all sailors, he[154] will find, even among his own subjects, many good seamen. He encourages them to make voyages in the ships that are constantly touching at the islands, and many of them have been as far as China, the northwest coast of America, and even the United States. In a very short time they become useful hands, and continue so as long as they remain in warm climates; but they are not capable of standing the effects of cold.
During my stay the building of the navy was suspended, the king’s workmen being employed in erecting a house, in the European style, for his residence at Hanaroora. When I came away, the walls were as high as the top of the first story.
His family consisted of the two queens, who are sisters, and a young girl, the daughter of a chief, destined to the same rank. He had two sons alive, one about fifteen, and the other about ten years of age, and a daughter, born when I was upon the island.
The queen was delivered about midnight, and the event was instantly announced by a salute of sixteen guns, being a round of the battery in front of the house.
I was informed by Isaac Davis, that his eldest son had been put to death by his orders in consequence of criminal connexion with one of his wives. This took place before he fixed his residence at Wahoo.
His mode of life has already been described. He sometimes dressed himself in the European fashion, but more frequently laid aside his clothes, and gave them to an attendant, contenting himself with the maro. Another attendant carried a fan, made of feathers, for the purpose of brushing away the flies; whilst a third carried his spit-box, which was set round with human teeth, and had belonged, as I was told, to several of his predecessors.
It is said that he was at one time strongly addicted to the use of ardent spirits; but that, finding the evil consequences of the practice, he had resolution enough to abandon it. I never saw him pass the bounds of the strictest temperance.
His queen, Tamena, had not the same resolution; and although, when he was present, she durst not exceed, she generally availed herself of his absence in the morai to indulge her propensity for liquor, and seldom stopped short of intoxication. Two Aleutian women had[156] been left on the island, and were favorite companions of hers. It was a common amusement to make them drunk; but, by the end of the entertainment, her majesty was generally in the same situation.
Reference: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46468/46468-h/46468-h.htm#Page_121
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