A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 13 by Robert Kerr

R >> Robert Kerr >> A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 13

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49

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.[6]

[Footnote 6: It is very remarkable that something like this tattowing
was practised among the Thracians of old, and was actually considered as
an indication of nobility. So says Herodotus in Terps. 6. The notion is
no way irrational, that early and semi-civilized people had no other way
of distinguishing ranks, than by making visible differences on the skin.
The original inhabitants of Britain, it is probable, meant the same
thing by their use of colouring substances. Though it is probable enough
too, that another purpose was also accomplished thereby, viz.
preservation in some degree from the inclemency of the climate. By some
authors, it has been imagined, that such painting rendered them more
terrible to their enemies, which was the reason for the practice. The
Indians of North Carolina, according to the curious account of them by
Surveyor-General Lawson, Lond. 1714, had still another reason for
something similar. Speaking of their use of varnish, pipe-clay,
lamp-black, &c. &c. for colouring their bodies before going out to war,
he says, "when these creatures are thus painted, they make the most
frightful figures that can be imitated by man, and seem more like devils
than human creatures. You may be sure that they are about some mischief
when you see them thus painted; for in all the hostilities which have
ever been acted against the English at any time, in several of the
plantations of America, the savages always appeared in this disguise,
whereby they might never after be discovered, or known by any of the
Christians that should happen to see them after they had made their
escape; for it is impossible even to know an Indian under these colours,
although he has been at your house a thousand times, and you know him at
other times as well as you do any person living."--Mr Bryan Edwards
mentions something of the Charaibes like this. "Not satisfied with the
workmanship of nature, they called in the assistance of art, to make
themselves more formidable. They painted their faces and bodies with
arnotto so extravagantly, that their natural complexion, which was
really that of a Spanish olive, was not easily to be distinguished under
the surface of crimson. However, as this mode of painting themselves was
practised by both sexes, perhaps it was at first introduced as a defence
against the venomous insects, so common in tropical climates, or
possibly they considered the brilliancy of the colour as highly
ornamental." These Charaibes had other ways of deforming themselves,
some of which resembled what we shall find described in the course of
this work. They made deep cuts on their cheeks, and stained them black;
and painted white and black circles round their eyes. The tatooing which
Mr Barrow speaks of, as practised in part of Africa where he travelled,
one should incline to imagine very different from what is in fashion at
Otaheite, which, according to our text, affords any other than
pleasurable sensations to the person undergoing this operation. The
reader may judge for himself, at least so far as idea goes. "A greater
degree of amusement (than what their music and dancing yield) seems to
be derived by the women from the practice of _tatooing_, or, marking the
body, by raising the epidermis from the cuticle; a custom that has been
found to exist among most of the uncivilized nations inhibiting warm
countries, and which probably owes its origin to a total want of mental
resources, and of the employment of time. By slightly irritating, it
conveys to the body pleasurable sensations. In Kafferland it has passed
into a general fashion. No woman is without a tatooed skin; and their
ingenuity is chiefly exercised between the breast and on the arms." Such
a description corresponds with the notion of some frequently renewed
beautfyings of the toilet, rather than that of the infliction of deep
and indelible marks, as are prescribed in the Otaheitan ritual. Thus we
may see here, as in other instances, that different motives give rise to
similar practices.--E.]

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
cloke, 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 got 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 winch 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 enclosed 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 serve 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 shed.[7]

[Footnote 7: If the Otaheitans were little benefited by the attempts of
Europeans to rear cattle among them, as we have seen, they were
certainly indebted for the introduction of another race of animals, not
at all likely to degenerate or die out in a climate so much more
congenial to their nature, than the comparatively inclement regions of
our hemisphere, where, notwithstanding the activity of hostile hands,
they are known to propagate with most vexatious activity. "Their
houses," says the missionary account, "are full of fleas, which harbour
in the floor, and are very troublesome, though the natives are much less
affected by them than we are; they say they were brought to them by the
Europeans. One of our missionaries writes, he has been obliged to get up
at midnight, and to run into the sea to cool himself, and to get rid of
the swarm of disagreeable companions." The poor missionary was worse off
among the fleas, than even Mr Barrow in the midst of the musquitoes,
from which, it does not seem, that he ever had occasion to seek refuge,
in any such untimely ablution.--E.]

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 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.[8]

[Footnote 8: Let us for once hear the missionary account, in palliation
at least, of such clamant enormities. "They have no partitions in their
houses; but it may be affirmed, they have in many instances more refined
ideas of decency than ourselves; and one long a resident, scruples not
to declare, that he never saw any appetite, hunger and thirst excepted,
gratified in public. It is too true, that for the sake of gaining our
extraordinary curiosities, and to please our brutes, they have appeared
immodest in the extreme. Yet they lay the charge wholly at our door, and
say, that Englishmen are ashamed of nothing, and that we have led them
to public acts of indecency never before practised among themselves.
Iron here, more precious than gold, bears down every barrier of
restraint. Honesty and modesty yield to the force of temptation." A
remark may be made here of some consequence. In estimating the momentum
of temptations, we ought to consider not only their direct strength, but
also what is known or believed of the extent of their influence on the
society to which people belong. A man, it is certain, will much more
readily acquiesce in those which he has reason to think common to his
fellow creatures, than in others exclusively directed to himself. In the
one case he anticipates sympathy, should he transgress; in the other, he
is deterred by the apprehension of being singular in guilt. The
Otaheitans were in the former predicament, and accordingly were perhaps
universally accessible to the charms of nails and hatchets and beads.
Whereas, it is probable, that had even similar solicitations been
attempted in any instances unknown to each other, they would perhaps
have been resisted. But vice once known to be established in society,
becomes daily more prolific of its kind, and, like the Fama of Virgil,
_vires acquirit eundo_. It is but fair to give these islanders the full
benefit of this principle, when we sit in assize on them. Pray who can
tell what would be the consequence of a visit from some of the
inhabitants of Saturn, or the Georgium Sidus, should they open up their
ultramundane treasures in sight of the British court? Is it conceivable,
that the lovers of embroidery, and lace and diamonds would resist the
witcheries of the strangers?--or that the marvellous effects of their
liberality in distribution, should be confined within the walls of St
James's? He that can wisely answer these questions, is at liberty to
return a verdict in the trial of the Otaheitans.--E.]

Of the food eaten here the greater part is vegetable. Here are no tame
animals except hogs, dogs, and poultry, as I have observed before, and
these are by no means plenty. When a chief kills a hog, if is almost
equally divided among his dependants; and as they are very numerous, the
share of each individual at these feasts, which are not frequent, must
necessarily be small. Dogs and fowls fall somewhat more frequently to
the share of the common people. I cannot much commend the flavour of
their fowls; but we all agreed, that a South Sea dog was little inferior
to an English lamb; their excellence is probably owing to their being
kept up, and fed wholly upon vegetables. The sea affords them a great
variety of fish. The smaller fish, when they catch any, are generally
eaten raw, as we eat oysters; and nothing that the sea produces comes
amiss to them: They are fond of lobsters, crabs, and other shell-fish,
which are found upon the coast; and they will eat not only sea-insects,
but what the seamen call _blubbers_, though some of them are so tough,
that they are obliged, to suffer them to become putrid before they can
be chewed. Of the many vegetables that have been mentioned already as
serving them for food, the principal is the bread-fruit, to procure
which costs them no trouble or labour but climbing a tree: The tree
which produces it, does not indeed shoot up spontaneously; but if a man
plants ten of them in his lifetime, which he may do in about an hour, he
will as completely fulfil his duty to his own and future generations, as
the natives of our less temperate climate can do by ploughing in the
cold of winter, and reaping in the summer's heat, as often as these
seasons return; even if, after he has procured bread for his present
household, he should convert a surplus into money, and lay it up for his
children.

It is true, indeed, that the bread-fruit is not always in season; but
cocoa-nuts, bananas, plantains, and a great variety of other fruits,
supply the deficiency.

It may well be supposed, that cookery is but little studied by these
people as an art; and, indeed, they have but two ways of applying fire
to dress their food, broiling and baking; the operation of broiling is
so simple that it requires no description, and their baking has been
described already, in the account of an entertainment prepared for us by
Tupia. Hogs and large fish are extremely well dressed in the same
manner; and, in our opinion, were more juicy, and more equally done,
than by any art of cookery now practised in Europe. Bread-fruit is also
cooked in an oven of the same kind, which renders it soft, and something
like a boiled potatoe; not quite so farinaceous as a good one, but more
so than those of the middling sort.

Of the-bread-fruit they also make three dishes, by putting either water
or the milk of the cocoa-nut to it, then beating it to a paste with a
stone pestle, and afterwards mixing it with ripe plantains, bananas, or
the sour paste which they call _mahie_.

The mahie, which has been mentioned as a succedaneum for ripe
bread-fruit, before the season for gathering a fresh crop comes on, is
thus made:

The fruit is gathered just before it is perfectly ripe, and being laid
in heaps, is closely covered with leaves; in this state it undergoes a
fermentation, and becomes disagreeably sweet: The core is then taken out
entire, which is done by gently pulling the stalk, and the rest of the
fruit is thrown into a hole which is dug for that purpose, generally in
the houses, and neatly lined in the bottom and sides with grass; the
whole is then covered with leaves, and heavy stones laid upon them: In
this state it undergoes a second fermentation, and becomes sour, after
which it will suffer no change for many months: It is taken out of the
hole as it is wanted for use, and being made into balls, it is wrapped
up in leaves and baked; after it is dressed, it will keep five or
six-weeks. It is eaten both cold and hot, and the natives seldom make a
meal without it, though to us the taste was as disagreeable as that of a
pickled olive generally is the first time it is eaten.

As the making of this mahie depends, like brewing, upon fermentation,
so, like brewing, it sometimes fails, without their being able to
ascertain the cause; it is very natural, therefore, that the making it
should be connected with superstitious notions and ceremonies: It
generally falls to the lot of the old women, who will suffer no creature
to touch any thing belonging to it, but those whom they employ as
assistants, nor even to go into that part of the house where the
operation is carrying on. Mr Banks happened to spoil a large quantity of
it only by inadvertently touching a leaf which lay upon it. The old
woman, who then presided over these mysteries, told him, that the
process would fail; and immediately uncovered the hole in a fit of
vexation and despair. Mr Banks regretted the mischief he had done, but
was somewhat consoled by the opportunity which it gave him of examining
the preparation, which perhaps, but for such an accident, would never
have offered.[9]

[Footnote 9: "This paste," we are told in the missionary account, "makes
a most nutritious and sweet pudding, and all the children of the family
and their relations feast on it eagerly. During this festive season they
seldom quit the house, and continue wrapped up in cloth: And it is
surprising to see them in a month become so fair and fat, that they can
scarcely breathe. The children afterwards grow amazingly. The baked
bread-fruit in this state very much in taste resembles gingerbread."
This delicate and wholesome provision, it is said, is not confined to
the chiefs and wealthier people, as all who will be at the pains to
provide an oven, may readily be supplied with bread-fruit from their
neighbours. Such is the generosity of these interesting people, that
all of a man's own rank are at all times ready to contribute largely to
his support, on his making known his need. In how many respects are
these islanders worthy of being held up as examples for us!--E.]

Such is their food, to which salt-water is the universal sauce, no meal
being eaten without it: Those who live near the sea have it fetched as
it is wanted; those who live at some distance keep it in large bamboos,
which are set up in their houses for use. Salt-water, however, is not
their only sauce; they make another of the kernels of cocoa-nuts, which
being fermented till they dissolve into a paste somewhat resembling
butter, are beaten up with salt-water. The flavour of this is very
strong, and was, when we first tasted it, exceedingly nauseous; a little
use, however, reconciled some of our people to it so much, that they
preferred it to our own sauces, especially with fish. The natives seemed
to consider it as a dainty, and do not use it at their common meals;
possibly because they think it ill management to use cocoa-nuts so
lavishly, or perhaps when we were at the island, they were scarcely ripe
enough for the purpose.

For drink, they have in general nothing but water, or the juice of the
cocoa-nut; the art of producing liquors that intoxicate, by
fermentation, being happily unknown among them; neither have they any
narcotic which they chew, as the natives of some other countries do
opium, beetle-root, and tobacco. Some of them drank freely of our
liquors, and in a few instances became very drunk; but the persons to
whom this happened were so far from desiring to repeat the debauch, that
they would never touch any of our liquors afterwards. We were, however,
informed, that they became drunk by drinking a juice that is expressed
from the leaves of a plant which they call _ava ava_. This plant was not
in season when we were there, so that we saw no instances of its
effects; and as they considered drunkenness as a disgrace, they probably
would have concealed from us any instances which might have happened
during our stay. This vice is almost peculiar to the chiefs, and
considerable persons, who vie with each other in drinking the greatest
number of draughts, each draught being about a pint. They keep this
intoxicating juice with great care from their women.[10]