Volume Xiv Part 24 (1/2)
Soon after Oedidee was gone, we observed six large canoes coming round Point Venus. Some people whom I had sent out, to watch the conduct of the neighbouring inhabitants, informed me they were laden with baggage, fruit, hogs, &c. There being room for suspecting that some person belonging to these canoes had committed the theft, I presently came to a resolution to intercept them; and having put off in a boat for that purpose, gave orders for another to follow. One of the canoes, which was some distance ahead of the rest, came directly for the s.h.i.+p. I went alongside this, and found two or three women in her whom I knew. They told me they were going on board the s.h.i.+p with something for me; and, on my enquiring of them for Otoo, was told he was then at the tents. Pleased with this news, I contradicted the orders I had given for intercepting the other canoes, thinking they might be coming on board also, as well as this one, which I left within a few yards of the s.h.i.+p, and rowed ash.o.r.e to speak with Otoo. But when I landed, I was told that he had not been there, nor knew they any thing of him. On my looking behind me, I saw all the canoes making off in the greatest haste; even the one I had left alongside the s.h.i.+p had evaded going on board, and was making her escape. Vexed at being thus outwitted, I resolved to pursue them; and as I pa.s.sed the s.h.i.+p, gave orders to send another boat for the same purpose. Five out of six we took, and brought alongside; but the first, which acted the finesse so well, got clear off. When we got on board with our prizes, I learnt that the people who had deceived me, used no endeavours to lay hold of the s.h.i.+p on the side they were up on, but let their canoe drop past, as if they meant to come under the stern, or on the other side; and that the moment they were past, they paddled off with all speed. Thus the canoe, in which were only a few women, was to have amused us with false stories as they actually did, while the others, in which were most of the effects, got off.
In one of the canoes we had taken, was a chief, a friend of Mr Forster's, who had hitherto called himself an _Earee_, and would have been much offended if any one had called his t.i.tle in question; also three women, his wife and daughter, and the mother of the late Toutaha. These, together with the canoes, I resolved to detain, and to send the chief to Otoo, thinking he would have weight enough with him to obtain the return of the musket, as his own property was at stake. He was, however, very unwilling to go on this emba.s.sy, and made various excuses, one of which was his being of too low a rank for this honourable employment; saying he was no _Earee_, but a _Manahouna_, and, therefore, was not a fit person to be sent; that an _Earee_ ought to be sent to speak to an _Earee_; and as there were no _Earees_ but Otoo and myself, it would be much more proper for me to go. All his arguments would have availed him little, if Tee and Oedidee had not at this time come on board, and given a new turn to the affair, by declaring that the man who stole the musket was from Tiarabou, and had gone with it to that kingdom, so that it was not in the power of Otoo to recover it. I very much doubted their veracity, till they asked me to send a boat to Waheatoua, the king of Tiarabou, and offered to go themselves in her, and get it. I asked why this could not be done without my sending a boat? They said, it would not otherwise be given to them.
This story of theirs, although it did not quite satisfy me, nevertheless carried with it a probability of truth; for which reason I thought it better to drop the affair altogether, rather than to punish a nation for a crime I was not sure any of its members had committed. I therefore suffered my new amba.s.sador to depart with his two canoes without executing his commission. The other three canoes belonged to Maritata, a Tiarabou chief, who had been some days about the tents; and there was good reason to believe it was one of his people that carried off the musket. I intended to have detained them; but as Tee and Oedidee both a.s.sured me that Maritata and his people were quite innocent, I suffered them to be taken away also, and desired Tee to tell Otoo, that I should give myself no farther concern about the musket, since I was satisfied none of his people had stolen it.
Indeed, I thought it was irrecoverably lost; but, in the dusk of the evening it was brought to the tents, together with some other things we had lost, which we knew nothing of, by three men who had pursued the thief, and taken them from him. I know not if they took this trouble of their own accord, or by the order of Otoo. I rewarded them, and made no other enquiry about it. These men, as well as some others present, a.s.sured me that it was one of Maritata's people who had committed this theft; which vexed me that I had let his canoes so easily slip through my fingers. Here, I believe, both Tee and Oedidee designedly deceived me.
When the musket and other things were brought in, every one then present, or who came after, pretended to have had some hand in recovering them, and claimed a reward accordingly. But there was no one who acted this farce so well as Nuno, a man of some note, and well known to us when I was here in 1769. This man came, with all the savage fury imaginable in his countenance, and a large club in his hand, with which he beat about him, in order to shew us how he alone had killed the thief; when, at the same time, we all knew that he had not been out of his house the whole time.
Thus ended this troublesome day; and next morning early, Tee, Otoo's faithful amba.s.sador, came again on board, to acquaint me that Otoo was gone to Oparree, and desired I would send a person (one of the natives as I understood), to tell him that I was still his _Tiyo_. I asked him why he did not do this himself, as I had desired. He made some excuse; but, I believe the truth was, he had not seen him. In short, I found it was necessary for me to go myself; for, while we thus spent our time in messages, we remained without fruit, a stop being put to all exchanges of this nature; that is, the natives brought nothing to market. Accordingly, a party of us set out with Tee in our company, and proceeded to the very utmost limits of Oparree, where, after waiting some considerable time, and several messages having pa.s.sed, the king at last made his appearance. After we were seated under the shade of some trees, as usual, and the first salutations were over, he desired me to _parou_ (that is, to speak).
Accordingly, I began with blaming him for being frightened and alarmed at what had happened, since I had always professed myself his friend, and I was not angry with him or any of his people, but with those of Tiarabou, who were the thieves. I was then asked, how I came to fire at the canoes?
Chance on this occasion furnished me with a good excuse. I told them, that they belonged to Maritata, a Tiarabou man, one of whose people had stolen the musket, and occasioned all this disturbance; and if I had them in my power I would destroy them, or any other belonging to Tiarabou. This declaration pleased them, as I expected, from the natural aversion the one kingdom has to the other. What I said was enforced by presents, which perhaps had the greatest weight with them. Thus were things once more restored to their former state; and Otoo promised on his part, that the next day we should be supplied with fruit, &c. as usual.
We then returned with him to his proper residence at Oparree, and there took a view of some of his dock-yards (for such they well deserve to be called) and large canoes; some lately built, and others building; two of which were the largest I had ever seen in this sea; or indeed any where else, under that name. This done, we returned on board, with Tee in our company; who, after he had dined with us, went to inform old Happi, the king's father, that all matters were again accommodated.
This old chief was at this time in the neighbourhood of Matavai; and it should seem, from what followed, that he was not pleased with the conditions; for that same evening all the women, which were not a few, were sent for out of the s.h.i.+p, and people stationed on different parts of the sh.o.r.e, to prevent any from coming off; and the next morning no supplies whatever being brought, on my enquiring into the reason, I was told Happi was _mataoued_. Chagrined at this disappointment as I was, I forbore taking any step, from a supposition that Tee had not seen him, or that Otoo's orders had not yet reached Matavai. A supply of fruit sent us from Oparree, and some brought us by our friends, served us for the present, and made us less anxious about it. Thus matters stood till the afternoon, when Otoo himself came to the tents with a large supply. Thither I went, and expostulated with him for not permitting the people in our neighbourhood to bring us fruit as usual, insisting on his giving immediate orders about it; which he either did or had done before. For presently after, more was brought us than we could well manage. This was not to be wondered at, for the people had every thing in readiness to bring, the moment they were permitted, and I believe thought themselves as much injured by the restriction as we did.
Otoo desiring to see some of the great guns fire from the s.h.i.+p, I ordered twelve to be shotted and fired towards the sea. As he had never seen a cannon fired before, the sight gave him as much pain as pleasure. In the evening, we entertained him with fire-works, which gave him great satisfaction.
Thus ended all our differences, on which I beg leave to suggest the following remarks. I have had occasion before, in this journal, to observe that these people were continually watching opportunities to rob us. This their governors either encouraged, or had not power to prevent; but most probably the former, because the offender was always screened.[6] That they should commit such daring thefts was the more extraordinary, as they frequently run the risk of being shot in the attempt; and if the article that they stole was of any consequence, they knew they should be obliged to make rest.i.tution. The moment a theft of this kind was committed, it spread like the wind over the whole neighbourhood. They judged of the consequences from what they had got. If it were a trifle, and such an article as we usually gave them, little or no notice was taken of it; but if the contrary, every one took the alarm, and moved off with his moveables in all haste. The chief then was _mataoued_, giving orders to bring us no supplies, and flying to some distant part. All this was sometimes done so suddenly, that we obtained, by these appearances, the first intelligence of our being robbed. Whether we obliged them to make rest.i.tution or no, the chief must be reconciled before any of the people were permitted to bring in refreshments. They knew very well we could not do without them, and therefore they never failed strictly to observe this rule, without ever considering, that all their war-canoes, on which the strength of their nation depends, their houses, and even the very fruit they refused to supply us with, were entirely in our power. It is hard to say how they would act, were one to destroy any of these things. Except the detaining some of their canoes for a while, I never touched the least article of their property. Of the two extremes I always chose that which appeared the most equitable and mild. A trifling present to the chief always succeeded to my wish, and very often put things upon a better footing than they had been before. That they were the first aggressors had very little influence on my conduct in this respect, because no difference happened but when it was so. My people very rarely or never broke through the rules I thought it necessary to prescribe. Had I observed a different conduct, I must have been a loser by it in the end; and all I could expect, after destroying some part of their property, would have been the empty honour of obliging them to make the first overture towards an accommodation. But who knows if this would have been the event? Three things made them our fast friends.
Their own good-nature and benevolent disposition; gentle treatment on our part; and the dread of our fire-arms. By our ceasing to observe the second; the first would have worn out of course; and the too frequent use of the latter would have excited a spirit of revenge, and perhaps have taught them that fire-arms were not such terrible things as they had imagined. They were very sensible of the superiority of their numbers; and no one knows what an enraged mult.i.tude might do.
[1] ”Towha paid more attention to the mult.i.tude of new objects on board, to the strength and size of the timbers, masts, and ropes, than any Otaheitean we had ever seen, and found our tackle so exceedingly superior to that which is usual in his country, that he expressed a wish to possess several articles, especially cables and anchors. He was now dressed like the rest of the people, and naked to the waist, being in the king's presence. His appearance was so much altered from what it had been the day before, that I had some difficulty to recollect him. He appeared now very l.u.s.ty, and had a most portly paunch, which it was impossible to discern under the long s.p.a.cious robes of war. His hair was of a fine silvery grey; and his countenance was the most engaging and truly good-natured which I ever beheld in these islands. The king and he staid and dined with us this day, eating with a very hearty appet.i.te of all that was set before them.
Otoo had entirely lost his uneasy, distrustful air; he seemed to be at home, and took a great pleasure in instructing Towha in our manners.
He taught him to make use of the knife and fork, to eat salt to his meat, and to drink wine. He himself did not refuse to drink a gla.s.s of this generous liquor, and joked with Towha upon its red colour, telling him it was blood. The honest admiral having tasted our grog, which is a mixture of brandy and water, desired to taste of the brandy itself, which he called _e vai no Bretannee_, British water, and drank off a small gla.s.s full, without making a wry face. Both he and his Otaheitean majesty were extremely cheerful and happy, and appeared to like our way of living, and our cookery of their own excellent provisions.”--G.F.
[2] Of this day's date we find an incident which very strikingly ill.u.s.trates the consequences to the morals of the Otaheiteans, resulting from their acquaintance with strangers. ”That our red feathers had infused a general and irresistible longing into the minds of all the people, will appear from the following circ.u.mstance. I have observed, in the former part of this narrative, that the women of the families of chiefs never admitted the visits of Europeans; and also that whatever liberties some unmarried girls might with impunity allow themselves, the married state had always been held sacred and unspotted at Otaheite. But such was the force of the temptation, that a chief actually offered his wife to Captain Cook, and the lady, by her husband's order, attempted to captivate him, by an artful display of her charms, seemingly in such a careless manner, as many a woman would be at a loss to imitate. I was sorry, for the sake of human nature, that this proposal came from a man, whose general character was in other respects very fair. It was Potatow who could descend to such meanness, from the high spirit of grandeur which he had formerly shewn. We expressed great indignation at his conduct, and rebuked him for his frailty.”--G.F.
From this specimen of frailty, may be readily inferred the dissoluteness of those females, who had neither rank nor marriage to render chast.i.ty a virtue. But, alas! one need not visit the South Seas, to become acquainted with the possible extent of human infirmity. A cynic might, without such travel, be tempted to parody the words of Sir Robert Walpole, and say, that every woman had her price. The proposition is a harsh one, and the more so as obviously irrefutable. It does, however, read this most important lesson, that there is much greater safety in avoiding temptation, than in trusting to any power of resistance. They, it is to be feared, who are least sensible of this truth, and who feel most indignant at its being stated, stand most in need of its salutary influence.--E.
[3] Forster the father met with a serious accident during this excursion. In descending from the hills, rendered exceedingly slippery from the recent rains, he had the misfortune to fall, which both bruised his leg in a very severe manner, and also occasioned a rupture.--E.
[4] ”The number of common women on board our s.h.i.+ps considerably increased, since we had begun to deal in red feathers. Their mirth was often extravagant and noisy; and sometimes their ideas were so original as to give great amus.e.m.e.nt. We had a very weak s...o...b..tic patient when we arrived at Otaheite; this man being somewhat recovered by means of fresh vegetable food, and animated by the example of the crew, wooed one of these girls; about dusk he led her to his birth, and lighted a candle. She looked her lover in the face, and finding he had lost an eye, she took him by the hand, and conducted him upon deck again to a girl that was one-eyed likewise, giving him to understand, that that person was a fit partner for him, but that for her part she did not choose to put up with a blind lover.”--G.F.
[5] When here before, Captain Cook could not obtain this very singular article; but, at this time, according to Mr G.F., not less than ten complete mourning-dresses were purchased by different persons, who brought them to England. Captain Cook gave one to the British Museum, and Mr Forster another to the University of Oxford. A sailor sold a third on his return home for twenty-five guineas, but to whom Mr G.F.
does not mention.--E.
[6] It is still more probable that both reasons concur. The higher orders, besides, it is certain, were far enough from being disinclined to exhibit their ingenuity in pilfering. We have seen instances of this sort before. Mr G.F. relates one of some interest, as presented in the king's own sister, a woman about twenty-seven years old, and who possessed great authority over her s.e.x. Her high rank did not elevate her above some very vulgar propensities, of which, covetousness, though abundantly conspicuous, was not the most considerable. The only apology Mr G.F. makes for her, has little specific excellence to commend it. ”In a country,” says he, ”where the impulses of nature are followed without restraint, it would be extraordinary if an exception should be made, and still more so, if it should be confined to those who are accustomed to have their will in most other respects. The pa.s.sions of mankind are similar every where; the same instincts are active in the slave and the prince; consequently the history of their effects must ever be the same in every country.” It is both mortifying and consolatory to think, that the utmost height to which ambition may aspire, will not exempt one from the polluting agency of ”mire and dirt.” Death, we see, is not the only leveller in the world.--E.
SECTION XIII.
_Preparations to leave the Island. Another Naval Review, and various other Incidents; with some Account of the Island, its Naval Force, and Number of Inhabitants._
In the morning of the 11th, a very large supply of fruit was brought us from all parts. Some of it came from Towha, the admiral, sent as usual by his servants, with orders to receive nothing in return. But he desired I would go and see him at Attahourou, as he was ill and could not come to me.
As I could not well undertake this journey, I sent Oedidee along with Towha's servants, with a present suitable to that which I had in so genteel a manner received from him. As the most essential repairs of the s.h.i.+p were nearly finished, I resolved to leave Otaheite in a few days; and accordingly ordered every thing to be got off from the sh.o.r.e, that the natives might see we were about to depart.