A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 15 (of 18) by Robert Kerr

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By another prudent regulation in their government, they have an officer
over the police, or something like it. This department, when we were
amongst them, was administered by Feenou, whose business, we were told,
it was to punish all offenders, whether against the state, or against
individuals. He was also generalissimo, and commanded the warriors when
called out upon service; but by all accounts this is very seldom. The
king frequently took some pains to inform us of Feenou's office; and,
among other things, told us, that if he himself should become a bad man,
Feenou would kill him. What I understood by this expression of being a
bad man, was, that if he did not govern according to law, or custom,
Feenou would be ordered, by the other great men, or the people at large,
to put him to death. There should seem to be no doubt, that a sovereign
thus liable to be controuled, and punished for an abuse of power, cannot
be called a despotic monarch.

When we consider the number of islands that compose this little state,
and the distance at which some of them lie from the seat of government,
attempts to throw off the yoke, and to acquire independency, it should
seem, might be apprehended. But they tell us that this never happens.
One reason why they are not thus disturbed, by domestic quarrels, may be
this: That all the powerful chiefs, as we have already mentioned, reside
at Tongataboo. They also secure the dependence of the other islands, by
the celerity of their operations; for if, at any time, a troublesome and
popular man should start up in any of them, Feenou, or whoever holds his
office, is immediately dispatched thither to kill him. By this means,
they crush a rebellion in its very infancy.

The orders, or classes, amongst their chiefs, or those who call
themselves such, seemed to be almost as numerous as amongst us; but
there are few, in comparison, that are lords of large districts of
territory, the rest holding their lands under those principal barons, as
they may be called. I was indeed told, that when a man of property dies,
everything he leaves behind him falls to the king; but that it is usual
to give it to the eldest son of the deceased, with an obligation to make
a provision out of it for the rest of the children. It is not the custom
here, as at Otaheite, for the son, the moment he is born, to take from
the father the homage and title, but he succeeds to them at his decease,
so that their form of government is not only monarchical, but
hereditary.

The order of succession to the crown has not been of late interrupted;
for we know, from a particular circumstance, that the Futtafaihes
(Poulaho being only an addition to distinguish the king from the rest of
the family) have reigned in a direct line, for at least one hundred and
thirty-five years. Upon enquiring, whether any account had been
preserved amongst them, of the arrival of Tasman's ships, we found that
this history had been handed down to them from their ancestors, with an
accuracy which marks, that oral tradition may sometimes be depended
upon. For they described the two ships as resembling ours, mentioning
the place where they had anchored, their having staid but a few days,
and their moving from that station to Annamooka. And by way of informing
us how long ago this had happened, they told us the name of the
Futtafaihe who was then king, and of those who had succeeded, down to
Poulaho, who is the fifth since that period, the first being an old man
at the time of the arrival of the ships.

From what has been said of the present king, it would be natural to
suppose, that he had the highest rank of any person in the islands. But,
to our great surprise, we found it is not so; for Latoolibooloo, the
person who was pointed out to me as king, when I first visited
Tongataboo, and three women, are, in some respects, superior to Poulaho
himself. On our enquiring who these extraordinary personages were, whom
they distinguish by the name and title of Tammaha?[191] we were
told, that the late king, Poulaho's father, had a sister of equal rank,
and elder than himself; that she, by a man that came from the island of
Feejee, had a son and two daughters, and that these three persons, as
well as their mother, rank above Futtafaihe the king.

[Footnote 191: The reader need not be reminded that Tamoloa, which
signifies a chief, in the dialect of Hamao, and Tammaha, become the
same word, by the change of a single letter, the articulation of which
is not very strongly marked.--D.]

We endeavoured, in vain, to trace the reason of this singular
pre-eminence of the _Tammahas_, for we could learn nothing besides this
account of their pedigree. The mother, and one of the daughters called
Tooeela-kaipa, live at Vavaoo. Latoolibooloo, the son, and the other
daughter, whose name is Moungoula-kaipa, reside at Tongataboo. The
latter is the woman who is mentioned to have dined with me on the 21st
of June. This gave occasion to our discovering her superiority over the
king, who would not eat in her presence, though she made no scruple to
do so before him, and received from him the customary obeisance, by
touching her foot. We never had an opportunity of seeing him pay this
mark of respect to Latoolibooloo, but we have observed him leave off
eating, and have his victuals put aside, when the latter came into the
same house. Latoolibooloo assumed the privilege of taking any thing from
the people, even if it belonged to the king; and yet, in the ceremony
called _Natche_, he assisted only in the same manner as the other
principal men. He was looked upon, by his countrymen, as a madman; and
many of his actions seemed to confirm this judgment. At Eooa, they
shewed me a good deal of land said to belong to him; and I saw there a
son of his, a child, whom they distinguished by the same title as his
father. The son of the greatest prince in Europe could not be more
humoured and caressed than this little _Tammaha_ was.

The language of the Friendly Islands has the greatest affinity
imaginable to that of New Zealand, of Wateeoo, and Mangeea; and,
consequently, to that of Otaheite and the Society Islands. There are
also many of their words the same with those used by the natives of
Cocos Island, as appears from the vocabulary collected there by Le Maire
and Schouten.[192] The mode of pronunciation differs, indeed,
considerably, in many instances, from that both of New Zealand and
Otaheite, but still a great number of words are either exactly the same,
or so little changed, that their common original may be satisfactorily
traced. The language, as spoken at the Friendly Islands, is sufficiently
copious for all the ideas of the people; and we had many proofs of its
being easily adapted to all musical purposes, both in song and in
recitative, besides being harmonious enough in common conversation. Its
component parts, as far as our scanty acquaintance with it enabled us to
judge, are not numerous; and, in some of its rules, it agrees with other
known languages. As for instance, we could easily discern the several
degrees of comparison, as used in the Latin, but none of the inflections
of nouns and verbs.

[Footnote 192: See this vocabulary, at the end of vol. ii. of
Dalrymple's Collection of Voyages. And yet, though Tasman's people used
the words of this vocabulary in speaking to the natives of Tongataboo,
(his Amsterdam,) we are told, in the accounts of his voyage, that they
did not understand one another;--a circumstance worth observing, as it
shews how cautious we should be, upon the scanty evidence afforded by
such transient visits as Tasman's, and, indeed, as those of most of the
subsequent navigators of the Pacific Ocean, to found any argument about
the affinity, or want of affinity, of the languages of the different
islands. No one, now, will venture to say, that a Cocos man, and one of
Tongataboo, could not understand each other. Some of the words of Horn
Island, another of Schouten's discoveries, also belong to the dialect of
Tongataboo.--See Dalrymple, as above.--D.]

We were able to collect several hundreds of the words; and, amongst
these, are terms that express numbers as far as a hundred thousand,
beyond which they never would reckon. It is probable, indeed, that they
are not able to go farther; for, after having got thus far, we observed,
that they commonly used a word which expresses an indefinite number. A
short specimen, selected from the larger vocabulary, is here inserted,
with the corresponding words, of the same signification, as used at
Otaheite, on the opposite column; which, while it will give, as we may
say, ocular demonstration of their being dialects of the same language,
will, at the same time, point out the particular letters, by the
insertion, omission, or alteration of which, the variations of the two
dialects, from each other, have been effected.

It must be observed, however, that our vocabularies of this sort must
necessarily be liable to great mistakes. The ideas of those, from whom
we were to learn the words, were so different from ours, that it was
difficult to fix them to the object of enquiry. Or, if this could be
obtained, to learn an unknown tongue from an instructor who did not know
a single word of any language that his scholar was conversant with,
could not promise to produce much. But even when these difficulties
were surmounted, there still remained a fruitful source of mistake, I
mean, inaccuracy in catching exactly the true sound of a word, to which
our ears had never been accustomed, from persons whose mode of
pronunciation was, in general, so indistinct, that it seldom happened
that any two of us, in writing down the fame word, from the same mouth,
made use of the same vowels in representing it. Nay, we even, very
commonly, differed about consonants, the sounds of which are least
liable to ambiguity. Besides all this, we found, by experience, that we
had been led into strange corruptions of some of the most common words,
either from the natives endeavouring to imitate us, or from our having
misunderstood them. Thus, _cheeto_ was universally used by us, to
express a thief, though totally different from the real word, in the
language of Tongataboo. The mistake arose from a prior one, into which
we had run, when at New Zealand. For though the word that signifies
thief there, be absolutely the same that belongs to the dialect of the
Friendly Islands, (being _kaeehaa_ at both places,) yet by some blunder,
we had used the word _teete_, first at New Zealand, and afterwards at
Tongataboo, on our arrival there. The natives, endeavouring to imitate
us as nearly as they could, and so fabricating the word _cheeto_; this,
by a complication of mistakes, was adopted by us as their own. Great
care has been taken to make the following table as correct as
possible:--

English. _Friendly Islands. Otaheite_.
_The sun_, Elaa, Eraa.
_Fire_, Eafoi, Eahoi.
_Thunder_, Fatoore, Pateere.
_Rain_, Ooha, Eooa.
_The wind_, Matangee, Mataee.
_Warm_, Mafanna, Mahanna.
_The clouds_, Ao, Eao.
_Land_, Fonooa, Fenooa.
_Water_, Avy, Evy.
_Sleep_, Mohe, Moe.
_A man_, Tangata, Taata.
_A woman_, Vefaine, Waheine.
_A young girl_, Taheine, Toonea.

_A servant_, or _person Tooa, Toutou, _or_ teou.
of mean rank_,

_The dawn_, or Aho Aou.
_daybreak_,

English. _Friendly Islands. Otaheite_.
_The hair_, Fooroo, Eroroo.
_The tongue_, Elelo, Erero.
_The ear_, Tareenga, Tareea.
_The beard_, Koomoo, Ooma.
_The sea_, Tahee, Taee.
_A boat_, or _canoe_, Wakka, Evaa.
_Black_, Oole, Ere.
_Red_, Goola, Oora, oora.
_A lance_, or _spear_, Tao, Tao.
_A parent_, Motooa, Madooa.
_What is that_? Kohaeea? Yahaeea?
_To hold fast_, Amou, Mou.

_To wipe_ or _clean_ Horo, Haroee.
_any thing_,

_To rise up_, Etoo, Atoo.
_To cry_, or _shed tears_, Tangee, Taee.
_To eat_, or _chew_, Eky, Ey.
_Yes_, Ai, Ai.
_No_, Kaee, Aee.
_You_, Koe, Oe.
_I_, Ou, Wou.
_Ten_, Ongofooroo, Ahooroo.

Having now concluded my remarks on these islands and people, I shall
take my final leave of them, after giving some account of the
astronomical and nautical observations that were made during our stay.

And, first, I must take notice, that the difference of longitude,
between Annamooka and Tongataboo, is somewhat less than was marked in
the chart and narrative of my last voyage. This error might easily
arise, as the longitude of each was then found without any connection
with the other. But now the distance between them is determined to a
degree of precision, that excludes all possibility of mistake, which the
following table will illustrate:--

The latitude of the observatory at Tongataboo,
by the mean of several observations 21 deg. 8' 19"S.

The longitude, by the mean of one hundred
and thirty-one sets of lunar observations,
amounting to above a
thousand observed distances, between
the moon, son, and stars 184 deg. 55' 88"E.

The difference of longitude, made by
the time-keeper, between the above
observatory and that at Anamooka 0 16 0

Hence, the longitude of Annamooka is 185 11 18 E.
By the time {Greenwich rate 186 12 27
keeper it is {New Zealand rate 184 37 0
Its latitude 20 15 0

N.B. The observatory at Tongataboo was near the middle of the N. side of
the island, and that at Annamooka on its W. side.

The time-keeper was too slow for mean time at Greenwich, on the first of
July at noon, by 12h 34m 23',2; and her daily rate, at that time, was
losing on mean time 1',783 per day. This rate will now be used for
finding the longitude by the time-keeper, and 184 deg. 55' 18", or 12h 19m
41',2, will be taken as the true longitude of Tongataboo, E. from.
Greenwich.

By the mean of several observations, the S. end of the needle was found
to dip,

At Leefooga, one of the Hepaee islands 36 deg. 55'
Tongataboo 39 1 1/2
The variation of the compass was found to be

At Annamooka, on board 0 deg. 30' 3 1/2"E,
Anchor off Kotoo, between Annamooka
and Hepaee 0 12 29 1/2
Anchor off Leefooga 10 11 40
Tongataboo, on board 9 44 5 1/2
Ditto, on shore 10 12 58

I can assign no reason why the variation is so much less at and near
Annamooka, than at either of the two places. I can only say, that there
is no fault in the observations; and that the variation ought to be more
at Annamooka than the above, as it has been found to be so to the
northward, southward, eastward, and westward of it. But disagreements in
the variation, greater than this, even in the same needle, have been
often observed. And I should not have taken notice of this instance, but
from a belief that the cause, whatever it is, exists in the place, and
not in the needles, for Mr Bayley found the same, or rather more
difference.

The tides are more considerable at these islands, than at any other of
my discoveries in this ocean, that lie within the tropics. At Annamooka
it is high water, on the full and change days, nearly at six o'clock;
and the tide rises and falls there, upon a perpendicular, about six
feet. In the harbour of Tongataboo, it is high water on the full and
change days, at fifty minutes past six. The tide rises and falls on
those days, four feet nine inches, and three feet six inches at the
Quadratures. In the channels between the islands, which lie in this
harbour, it flows near tide and half-tide, that is, the flood continues
to run up near three hours, after it is high water by the shore, and the
ebb continues to run down, after it is flood by the shore. It is only in
these channels, and in a few other places near the shores, that the
motion of the water or tide is perceivable, so that I can only guess at
the quarter from which the flood comes. In the road of Annamooka, it
sets W.S.W., and the ebb the contrary; but it falls into the harbour of
Tongataboo from the N.W., passes through the two narrow channels, on
each side of Hoolaiva, where it runs with considerable rapidity, and
then spends itself in the _lagoon_. The ebb returns the same way, and
runs with rather greater force. The N.W. tide is met, at the entrance of
the _lagoon_, by one from the E.; but this, as I have before observed,
was found to be very inconsiderable.[193]

[Footnote 193: Tongataboo has been visited several times by Europeans
since Cook's last voyage, viz. by Perouse, in 1787; by Captain Edwards,
in 1791; by D'Entrecasteaux, in 1793; and by some of the missionaries,
in 1797. From the accounts furnished by some of these visits, several
particulars might have been added to what has now been delivered. But
they are comparatively unimportant, and did not seem to warrant any
specific regard. Besides, if they had been more considerable, it would
have been improper to anticipate what belongs to another part of our
work. On the whole, however, the information given by Captain Cook, and
his associate Mr Anderson, will ever be esteemed a faithful and very
valuable description of an interesting island and people.--E.]

A
VOCABULARY
OF THE
LANGUAGE OF THE FRIENDLY ISLES,

May, &c. 1777.

* * * * *

_Friendly Isles_. English.
Ve faine, _A woman_.
Maiee, _Bread-fruit_.
Fukkaton, _Barter_.
Woa, _Admiration_.
My, fogge, _Good_.
Attahoa, _A bead; a necklace_.
Koehau, or Kohaeea? _What is that? or what is the
name of it_?
Magoo, _Give me_.
Le laiee, _Good_.
Hou, _Come here_.
Moree, _A shaddock_.
Omee, _Give me_.
Hobba, _A sort of plantain_.
Koajee, _or_ Kaoojee, _Done; finished_.
Koeea, _Yes; it is so_.
Amou, _Got; to holdfast_.
Horo, horo, _A handkerchief, or wiper_.
Ongofooroo, _Ten_.
Gehai, _or_ geefai, _There; and that_.

_Friendly Isles_. English.
Kato, _A basket_.
Egeeai, _A mat they wear round them_.
Fooroo, _or_ fooloo, _Hair_.
Fooee vy, _The leg_.
Tooa, vy, _Upperpart of the foot_.
Fooloo, fooloo, matta, _The eyebrow_.
Emamae, _Painted plantains_.
Evatta vatta, _The breast_.
Eboore, _Ditto_.
Etooa, _The back_.
Erongootoo, _The lips_.
Elelo, _The tongue_.
Edainga, _The thigh_.
Eraimoo, _The hips_.
Evae, veene, _The arm pit_.
Too, _The finger_.
Vakka, vakka, _The side_.
Hekaite, _The belly_.
Tareenga, _The ear_.
Horo, _To wipe_.
Kouta, _Beating with two sticks_.
Fangoo, fangoo, _A flute_.
Motoo, _To break_.
Koooma, _Burnt circular marks_.
Taffa, _Raised marks burnt_.
Kowy, _The cheeks_.
Koomoo, koomoo, _The beard_.
Peeto, _The navel_,
Eoo, _The nipple_.
Etarre, _To cough_,
Hengatoo, _Cloth_.
Efangoo, _To sneeze_.
Eanoo, _To spit_.
Etoogee, _To beat_, or _strike_.
Etooee, _The elbow_.
Efeelo, _A small rope_, or _thread_.
Haro, _or_ halo, _Go; begone_.
Egeea, _The throat_.
Eky, _To eat_, or _chew_.
Evagoo, _To scratch_.
Ma matta, _Let me look_, or _see_.
Egeea, _The neck_.

_Friendly Isles_. English.
Enofoa, haioo, _A seat_.
Etoo, _To rise up_.
Mamao, _To yawn_.
Ehapee, _A box_, or _chest_.
Moe, _or_ mohe, _Sleep_.
Tangooroo, _To snore_.
Ekatta, _To laugh_.
Akka, _To kick_, or _stamp_.
Feedjee, _A fillup_.
Ekakava, _Sweat_.
Eeoho, _To bellow_, or _cry_.
Epooo, _A post_, or _staunchion.
Etolle, _A hatchet_.
Maalava, _To breathe_.
Haila, _To pant_.
Oooo, _To bite_.
Taffa, _To cut_.
Moevae, _The heel_.
Eeegoo, _The tail of a dog_.
Mapoo, _To whistle_,
Aipa, _A fishing-hook_.
Ainga, _A sort of paint_.
Evaika, _A rail_.
Kooroo kooroo, _A green dove_.
Ekoopamea, cheele, _A net_.
Efooo, _A gimlet, or shark's tooth used
for that purpose_.
Aiee, _A fan_.
Emaimeea, _or_ meemeea, _A reed, or small organ_.
Eneeoo, _A cocoa-nut_.
Eoono, _Tortoise shell_.
Enoo, _A belt_.
Afooneema, _The palm of the hand_.
Moemoeea, _A ceremony of putting the foot
of one on the head, and turning
the hand several times_, &c.
Pooa, tareenga, _A sort of plantains_.
Kahaoo hoonga, _An arrow_, or _reed_.
Atoe farre, _The roof of a house_.
Etovee, _A club_.
Emamma, _A ring_.
Eao, _A hat_.

_Friendly Isles_ English.
Tehou, _A hundred_.
Keeroo, _A thousand_.
Laoo varee, _Ten thousand_.
Laoo noa, _A hundred thousand, or the
greatest number they can reckon_.
Poooree, _Night; darkness_.
Maheena, _A month_.
Fukkataane, _To sit cross-legged_.
Kaffa, _A rope, or cord of cocoa-nut
core_.
Heegee, _To lift up_.
Togoo, _To set down_,
Fetooa tagee, _To tie_.
Vevaite, _To untie_,
Tollo, tolla, _Cocoa-nut skin_.
Eooma, _The shoulder_.
Fooo, _A nail_ (of iron).
Atoo, _To give_.
Epallo, _A rat_.
Elafo, _To throw away_.
Haaile, _To go_.
Haaile atoo, _To go away_.
Haaile my, _To come_.
Elooa, _To puke_.
Matangee, _Wind_.
Mamma, _or_ mamma, reeva, _Light_.
Tahee, _The sea_.
Paho paho, _To paddle_.
Hakaoo, _or_ toree, _Wood_; _a tree_.
Ehoreeoo, _To scoop water out of a boat_.
Booloo booloo, _A sail_.
Fanna, _or_ fanna tooeeoroongo _A Mast_
Toula, _A hook_.
Tamadje, _A child_.
Tangee, _To weep_.
Elango, _A fly_.
Haingoo, toolaiee, _A tropic-bird_.
Epalla _A bird's tail_.
Kapukou, _A wing_.
Hepoona, _To fly_.