A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 12 by Robert Kerr

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These circumstances having strongly excited our curiosity, we enquired
who they were, and were informed, that Oamo was the husband of Oberea,
though they had been a long time separated by mutual consent; and that
the young woman and the boy were their children. We learnt also, that
the boy, whose name was _Terridiri_, was heir-apparent to the
sovereignty of the island, and that his sister was intended for his
wife, the marriage being deferred only till he should arrive at a proper
age. The sovereign at this time was a son of _Whappai_, whose name was
_Outou_, and who, as before has been observed, was a minor. Whappai,
Oamo, and Tootahah, were brothers: Whappai was the eldest, and Oamo the
second; so that, Whappai having no child but Outon, Terridiri, the son
of his next brother Oamo, was heir to the sovereignty. It will, perhaps,
seem strange that a boy should be sovereign during the life of his
father; but, according to the custom of the country, a child succeeds
to a fathers title and authority as soon as it is born: A regent is then
elected, and the father of the new sovereign is generally continued in
his authority, under that title, till his child is of age; but, at this
time, the choice had fallen upon Tootahah, the uncle, in consequence of
his having distinguished himself in a war. Oamo asked many questions
concerning England and its inhabitants, by which he appeared to have
great shrewdness and understanding.

SECTION XIV.

_An Account of the Circumnavigation of the Island, and various Incidents
that happened during the Expedition; with a Description of a
Burying-place and Place of Worship, called, a Morai._

On Monday the 26th, about three o'clock in the morning, I set out in the
pinnace, accompanied by Mr Banks, to make the circuit of the island,
with a view to sketch out the coast and harbours. We took our route to
the eastward, and about eight in the forenoon we went on shore, in a
district called _Oahounue_, which is governed by _Ahio_, a young chief,
whom we had often seen at the tents, and who favoured us with his
company to breakfast. Here also we found two other natives of our old
acquaintance, _Tituboalo_ and _Hoona_, who carried us to their houses,
near which we saw the body of the old woman, at whose funeral rites Mr
Banks had assisted, and which had been removed hither from the spot
where it was first deposited, this place having descended from her by
inheritance to Hoona, and it being necessary on that account that it
should lie here. We then proceeded on foot, the boat attending within
call, to the harbour in which Mr Bougainville lay, called _Ohidea_,
where the natives shewed us the ground upon which his people pitched
their tent, and the brook at which they watered, though no trace of them
remained, except the holes where the poles of the tent had been fixed,
and a small piece of potsheard, which Mr Banks found in looking
narrowly about the spot. We met, however, with _Orette_, a chief who
was their principal friend, and whose brother _Outorrou_ went away with
them.

This harbour lies on the west side of a great bay, under shelter of a
small island called _Boourou_, near which is another called _Taawirrii_;
the breach in the reefs is here very large, but the shelter for the
ships is not the best.

Soon after we had examined this place, we took boat, and asked Tituboalo
to go with us to the other side of the bay; but he refused, and advised
us not to go, for he said the country there was inhabited by people who
were not subject to Tootahah, and who would kill both him and us. Upon
receiving this intelligence, we did not, as may be imagined, relinquish
our enterprise; but we immediately loaded our pieces with ball: This was
so well understood by Tituboalo as a precaution which rendered us
formidable, that he now consented to be of our party.

Having rowed till it was dark, we reached a low neck of land, or
isthmus, at the bottom of the bay, that divides the island into two
peninsulas, each of which is a district or government wholly independent
of the other. From Port Royal, where the ship was at anchor, the coast
trends E. by S. and E.S.E. ten miles, then S. by E. and S. eleven miles
to the isthmus. In the first direction, the shore is in general open to
the sea, but in the last it is covered by reefs of rocks, which form
several good harbours, with safe anchorage, in 16, 18, 20, and 24 fathom
of water, with other conveniences. As we had not yet got into our
enemy's country, we determined to sleep on shore: We landed, and though
we found but few houses, we saw several double canoes, whose owners were
well known to us, and who provided us with supper and lodging; of which
Mr Banks was indebted for his share to Ooratooa, the lady who had paid
him her compliments in so singular a manner at the fort.

In the morning, we looked about the country, and found it to be a marshy
flat, about two miles over, across which the natives haul their canoes
to the corresponding bay on the other side. We then prepared to continue
our route for what Tituboalo called the other kingdom; he said that the
name of it was _Tiarrabou_, or _Otaheite Ete_; and that of the chief
who governed it, _Waheatua_: Upon this occasion also, we learnt that the
name of the peninsula where we had taken our station was _Opoureonu_, or
_Otaheite Nue_. Our new associate seemed to be now in better spirits
than he had been the day before; the people in Tiarrabou would not kill
us, he said, but he assured us that we should be able to procure no
victuals among them; and indeed we had seen no bread-fruit since we set
out.

After rowing a few miles, we landed in a district, which was the
dominion of a chief called _Maraitata_, the burying-place of men, whose
father's name was _Pahairedo_, the stealer of boats. Though these names
seemed to favour the account that had been given by Tituboalo, we soon
found that it was not true. Both the father and the son received us with
the greatest civility, gave us provisions, and, after some delay, sold
us a very large hog for a hatchet A crowd soon gathered round us, but we
saw only two people that we knew; neither did we observe a single bead
or ornament among them that had come from our ship, though we saw
several things which had been brought from Europe: In one of the houses
lay two twelve-pound shot, one of which was marked with the broad arrow
of England, though the people said they had them from the ships that lay
in Bougainville's harbour.

We proceeded on foot till we came to the district which was immediately
under the government of the principal chief, or king of the peninsula,
Waheatua. Waheatua had a son, but whether, according to the custom of
Opoureonu, he administered the government as regent, or in his own
right, is uncertain. This district consists of a large and fertile
plain, watered by a river so wide, that we were obliged to ferry over it
in a canoe; our Indian train, however, chose to swim, and took to the
water with the same facility as a pack of hounds. In this place we saw
no house that appeared to be inhabited, but the ruins of many, that had
been very large. We proceeded along the shore; which forms a bay, called
_Oaitipeha_, and at last we found the chief sitting near some pretty
canoe awnings, under which, we supposed, he and his attendants slept. He
was a thin old man, with a very white head and beard, and had with him a
comely woman, about five-and-twenty years old, whose name was
_Toudidde_. We had often heard the name of this woman, and, from report
and observation, we had reason to think that she was the _Oberea_ of
this peninsula. From this place, between which and the isthmus there are
other harbours, formed by the reefs that lie along the shore, where
shipping may lie in perfect security, and from whence the land trends
S.S.E. and S. to the S.E. part of the island, we were accompanied by
_Tearee_, the son of Waheatua, of whom we had purchased a hog, and the
country we passed through appeared to be more cultivated than any we had
seen in other parts of the island: The brooks were every where banked
into narrow channels with stone, and the shore had also a facing of
stone, where it was washed by the sea. The houses were neither large nor
numerous, but the canoes that were hauled up along the shore were almost
innumerable, and superior to any that we had seen before, both in size
and make; they were longer, the sterns were higher, and the awnings were
supported by pillars. At almost every point there was a sepulchral
building, and there were many of them also in land. They were of the
same figure as those in Opoureonu, but they were cleaner and better
kept, and decorated with many carved boards, which were set upright, and
on the top of which were various figures of birds and men: On one in
particular, there was the representation of a cock, which was painted
red and yellow, to imitate the feathers of that animal, and rude images
of men were, in some of them, placed one upon the head of another. But
in this part of the country, however fertile and cultivated, we did not
see a single bread-fruit; the trees were entirely bare, and the
inhabitants seemed to subsist principally upon nuts, which are not
unlike a chesnut, and which they call _Ahee_.

When we had walked till we were weary, we called up the boat, but both
our Indians, Tituboalo and Tuahow, were missing: They had, it seems,
stayed behind at Waheatua's, expecting us to return thither, in
consequence of a promise which had been extorted from us, and which we
had it not in our power to fulfil.

Tearee, however, and another, embarked with us, and we proceeded till we
came a-breast of a small island called _Otooareite_; it being then dark,
we determined to land, and our Indians conducted us to a place where
they said we might sleep: It was a deserted house, and near it was a
little cove, in which the boat might lie with great safety and
convenience. We were, however, in want of provisions, having been very
sparingly supplied since we set out; and Mr Banks immediately went into
the woods to see whether any could be procured. As it was dark, he met
with no people, and could find but one house that was inhabited: A
bread-fruit and a half, a few Ahees, and some fire, were all that it
afforded; upon which, with a duck or two, and a few curlieus, we made
our supper, which, if not scanty, was disagreeable, by the want of
bread, with which we had neglected to furnish ourselves, as we depended
upon meeting with bread-fruit, and took up our lodging under the awning
of a canoe belonging to Tearee, which followed us.

The next morning, after having spent some time in another fruitless
attempt to procure a supply of provisions, we proceeded round the
south-east point, part of which is not covered by any reef, but lies
open to the sea; and here the hill rises directly from the shore. At the
southermost part of the island, the shore is again covered by a reef,
which forms a good harbour; and the land about it is very fertile. We
made this route partly on foot, and partly in the boat: When we had
walked about three miles, we arrived at a place where we saw several
large canoes, and a number of people with them, whom we were agreeably
surprised to find were of our intimate acquaintance. Here, with much
difficulty, we procured some cocoa-nuts, and then embarked, taking with
us Tuahow, one of the Indians who had waited for us at Waheatua's, and
had returned the night before, long after it was dark.

When we came abreast of the south-east end of the island, we went
ashore, by the advice of our Indian guide, who told us that the country
was rich and good. The chief, whose name was _Mathiabo_, soon came down
to us, but seemed to be a total stranger both to us and to our trade:
His subjects, however, brought us plenty of cocoa-nuts, and about twenty
bread-fruit. The bread-fruit we bought at a very dear rate, but his
excellency sold us a pig for a glass bottle, which he preferred to every
thing else that we could give him. We found in his possession a goose
and a turkey-cock, which, we were informed, had been left upon the
island by the Dolphin: They were both enormously fat, and so tame that
they followed the Indians, who were fond of them to excess, wherever
they went.

In a long house in this neighbourhood, we saw what was altogether new to
us. At one end of it, fastened to a semicircular board, hung fifteen
human jaw-bones; they appeared to be fresh, and there was not one of
them that wanted a single tooth. A sight so extraordinary, strongly
excited our curiosity, and we made many enquiries about it: But at this
time could get no information, for the people either could not, or would
not understand us.

When we left this place, the chief, Mathiabo, desired leave to accompany
us, which was readily granted. He continued with us the remainder of the
day, and proved very useful, by piloting us over the shoals. In the
evening, we opened the bay on the north-west side of the island, which
answered to that on the south-east, so as at the isthmus, or
carrying-place, almost to intersect the island, as I have observed
before; and when we had coasted about two-thirds of it, we determined to
go on shore for the night. We saw a large house at some distance, which,
Mathiabo informed us, belonged to one of his friends; and soon after
several canoes came off to meet us, having on board some very handsome
women, who, by their behaviour, seemed to have been sent to entice us on
shore. As we had before resolved to take up our residence here for the
night, little invitation was necessary. We found that the house belonged
to the chief of the district, whose name was _Wiverou_: He received us
in a very friendly manner, and ordered his people to assist us in
dressing our provision, of which we had now got a tolerable stock. When
our supper was ready, we were conducted into that part of the house
where Wiverou was sitting, in order to eat it; Mathiabo supped with us,
and Wiverou calling for his supper at the same time, we eat our meal
very sociably, and with great good humour. When it was over, we began to
enquire where we were to sleep, and a part of the house was shewn us, of
which we were told we might take possession for that purpose. We then
sent for our clokes, and Mr Banks began to undress, as his custom was,
and, with a precaution which he had been taught by the loss of the
jackets at Atahourou, sent his clothes aboard the boat, proposing to
cover himself with a piece of Indian cloth. When Mathiabo perceived what
was doing, he also pretended to want a cloak; and, as he had behaved
very well, and done us some service, a cloke was ordered for him. We lay
down, and observed that Mathiabo was not with us; but we supposed that
he was gone to bathe, as the Indians always do before they sleep. We had
not waited long, however, when an Indian, who was a stranger to us, came
and told Mr Banks, that the cloke and Mathiabo had disappeared
together. This man had so far gained our confidence, that we did not at
first believe the report; but it being soon after confirmed by Tuahow,
our own Indian, we knew no time was to be lost. As it was impossible for
us to pursue the thief with any hope of success, without the assistance
of the people about us, Mr Banks started up, and telling our case,
required them to recover the cloak; and to enforce this requisition,
shewed one of his pocket-pistols, which he always kept about him. Upon
the sight of the pistol, the whole company took the alarm, and, instead
of assisting to catch the thief, or recover what had been stolen, began
with great precipitation to leave the place; one of them, however, was
seized, upon which he immediately offered to direct the chase: I set out
therefore with Mr Banks, and though we ran all the way, the alarm had
got before us, for in about ten minutes we met a man bringing back the
cloak, which the thief had relinquished in great terror; and as we did
not then think fit to continue the pursuit, he made his escape. When we
returned, we found the house, in which there had been between two and
three hundred people, entirely deserted. It being, however, soon known
that we had no resentment against any body but Mathiabo, the chief,
Wiverou, our host, with his wife and many others, returned, and took up
their lodgings with us for the night. In this place, however, we were
destined to more confusion and trouble, for about five o'clock in the
morning our sentry alarmed us, with an account that the boat was
missing: He had seen her, he said, about half an hour before, at her
grappling, which was not above fifty yards from the shore; but, upon
hearing the sound of oars, he had looked out again, and could see
nothing of her. At this account we started up greatly alarmed, and ran
to the water-side: The morning was clear and star-light, so that we
could see to a considerable distance, but there was no appearance of the
boat. Our situation was now such as might justify the most terrifying
apprehensions; as it was a dead calm, and we could not therefore suppose
her to have broken from her grappling, we had great reason to fear that
the Indians had attacked her, and finding the people asleep, had
succeeded in their enterprise: We were but four, with only one musquet
and two pocket-pistols, without a spare ball or charge of powder for
either. In this state of anxiety and distress we remained a considerable
time, expecting the Indians every moment to improve their advantage,
when, to our unspeakable satisfaction, we saw the boat return, which
had been driven from her grappling by the tide; a circumstance to which,
in our confusion and surprise, we did not advert.

As soon as the boat returned, we got our breakfast, and were impatient
to leave the place, lest some other vexatious accident should befall us.
It is situated on the north side of Tiarrabou, the south-east peninsula,
or division, of the island, and at the distance of about five miles
south east from the isthmus, having a large and commodious harbour,
inferior to none in the island, about which the land is very rich in
produce. Notwithstanding we had had little communication with this
division, the inhabitants everywhere received us in a friendly manner;
we found the whole of it fertile and populous, and to all appearance, in
a more flourishing stale than Opoureonu, though it is not above
one-fourth part as large.

The next district in which we landed, was the last in Tiarrabou, and
governed by a chief, whose name we understood to be _Omoe_. Omoe was
building a house, and being, therefore very desirous of procuring a
hatchet, he would have been glad to have purchased one with any thing
that he had in his possession; it happened, however, rather
unfortunately for him and us, that we had not one hatchet left in the
boat. We offered to trade with nails, but he would not part with any
thing in exchange for them; we therefore re-embarked, and put off our
boat, but the chief being unwilling to relinquish all hope of obtaining
something from us that would be of use to him, embarked in a canoe, with
his wife _Whanno-ouda_, and followed us. After some time, we took them
into the boat, and when we had rowed about a league, they desired we
would put ashore: We immediately complied with his request, and found
some of his people, who had brought down a very large hog. We were as
unwilling to lose the hog, as the chief was to part with us, and it was
indeed worth the best axe we had in the ship; we therefore hit upon an
expedient, and told him, that if he would bring his hog to the fort at
_Matavai_, the Indian name for Port Royal Bay, he should have a large
axe, and a nail into the bargain, for his trouble. To this proposal,
after having consulted with his wife, he agreed, and gave us a large
piece of his country-cloth as a pledge that he would perform his
agreement, which, however, he never did.

At this place we saw a very singular curiosity: It was the figure of a
man, constructed of basket-work, rudely made, but not ill designed; it
was something more than seven feet high, and rather too bulky in
proportion to its height. The wicker skeleton was completely covered
with feathers, which were white where the skin was to appear, and black
in the parts which it is their custom to paint or stain, and upon the
head, where there was to be a representation of hair: Upon the head also
were four protuberances, three in front and one behind, which we should
have called horns, but which the Indians dignified with the name of
_Tate Ete_, little men. The image was called _Manioe_, and was said to
be the only one of the kind in Otaheite. They attempted to give us an
explanation of its use and design, but we had not then acquired enough
of their language to understand them. We learnt, however, afterwards,
that it was a representation of Mauwe, one of their Eatuas, or gods of
the second class.

After having settled our affairs with Omoe, we proceeded on our return,
and soon reached Opoureonu, the north-west peninsula. After rowing a few
miles, we went on shore again, but the only thing we saw worth notice,
was a repository for the dead, uncommonly decorated: The pavement was
extremely neat, and upon it was raised a pyramid, about five feet high,
which was entirely covered with the fruits of two plants, peculiar to
the country. Near the pyramid was a small image of stone, of very rude
workmanship, and the first instance of carving in stone that we had seen
among these people. They appeared to set a high value upon it, for it
was covered from the weather by a shed, that had been erected on
purpose.

We proceeded in the boat, and passed through the only harbour, on the
south side of Opoureonu, that is fit for shipping. It is situated about
five miles to the westward of the isthmus, between two small islands
that lie near the shore, and about a mile distant from each other, and
affords good anchorage in eleven and twelve fathom water. We were now
not far from the district called _Paparra_, which belonged to our
friends Oamo and Oberea, where we proposed to sleep. We went on shore
about an hour before night, and found that they were both absent, having
left their habitations to pay us a visit at Matavai: This, however, did
not alter our purpose; we took up our quarters at the house of Oberea,
which, though small, was very neat, and at this time had no inhabitant
but her father, who received us with looks that bid us welcome. Having
taken possession, we were willing to improve the little day-light that
was left us, and therefore walked out to a point, upon which we had
seen, at a distance, trees that are here called _Etoa_, which generally
distinguish the places where these people bury the bones of their dead:
Their name for such burying-grounds, which are also places of worship,
is _Morai_.[93] We were soon struck with the sight of an enormous pile,
which, we were told, was the Morai of Oamo and Oberea, and the principal
piece of Indian architecture in the island. It was a pile of stone-work,
raised pyramidically, upon an oblong base, or square, two hundred and
sixty-seven feet long, and eighty-seven wide. It was built like the
small pyramidal mounts upon which we sometimes fix the pillar of a
sun-dial, where each side is a flight of steps; the steps, however, at
the sides, were broader than those at the ends, so that it terminated
not in a square of the same figure with the base, but in a ridge, like
the roof of a house: There were eleven of these steps, each of which was
four feet high, so that the height of the pile was forty-four feet; each
step was formed of one course of white coral-stone, which was neatly
squared and polished; the rest of the mass, for there was no hollow
within, consisted of round pebbles, which, from the regularity of their
figure, seemed to have been wrought. Some of the coral-stones were very
large; we measured one of them, and found it three feet and a half by
two feet and a half. The foundation was of rock stones, which were also
squared; and one of them measured four feet seven inches by two feet
four. Such a structure, raised without the assistance of iron-tools to
shape the stones, or mortar to join them, struck us with astonishment:
It seemed to be as compact and firm as it could have been made by any
workman in Europe, except that the steps, which range along its greatest
length, are not perfectly straight, but sink in a kind of hollow in the
middle, so that the whole surface, from end to end, is not a right line,
but a curve. The quarry stones, as we saw no quarry in the
neighbourhood, must have been brought from a considerable distance; and
there is no method of conveyance here but by hand: The coral must also
have been fished from under the water, where, though it may be found in
plenty, it lies at a considerable depth, never less than three feet.
Both the rock-stone and the coral could be squared only by tools made of
the same substance, which must have been a work of incredible labour;
but the polishing was more easily effected by means of the sharp coral
sand, which is found every-where upon the seashore in great abundance.
In the middle of the top stood the image of a bird, carved in wood; and
near it lay the broken one of a fish, carved in stone. The whole of this
pyramid made part of one side of a spacious area or square, nearly of
equal sides, being three hundred and sixty feet by three hundred and
fifty-four, which was walled in with stone, and paved with flat stones
in its whole extent; though there were growing in it, notwithstanding
the pavement, several of the trees which they call _Etoa_, and
plantains. About a hundred yards to the west of this building, was
another paved area or court, in which were several small stages raised
on wooden pillars, about seven feet high, which are called by the
Indians _Ewattus_, and seem to be a kind of altars, as upon these are
placed provisions of all kinds as offerings to their gods; we have since
seen whole hogs placed upon them, and we found here the skulls of above
fifty, besides the skulls of a great number of dogs.[94]