Volume Xvii Part 3 (2/2)
That he collects tribute from the subordinate chiefs, we had a very striking proof in the instance of Kaoo, which has been already related in our transactions of the 2d and 3d of February.
I have before mentioned, that the two most powerful chiefs of these islands, are, Terreeoboo of Owhyhee, and Perreeorannee of Wohahoo; the rest of the smaller isles being subject to one or other of these; Mowee, and its dependencies, being at this time claimed, as we have just observed, by Terreeoboo, for Teewarro, his son and intended successor; Atooi and Oneeheow being governed by the grandsons of Perreorannee.
The following genealogy of the Owhyhee and Mowee kings, which I collected from the priests, during our residence at the _morai_, in Karakakooa Bay, contains all the information I could procure relative to the political history of these islands.
This account reaches to four chiefs, predecessors of the present; all of whom they represent to have lived to an old age. Their names and successions are as follows:
First, Poorahoo Awhykaia was king of Owhyhee, and had an only son called Neerooagooa. At this time Mowee was governed by Mokoakea, who had also an only son, named Papikaneeou.
Secondly, Neerooagooa had three sons, the eldest named Kahavee; and Papikaneeou, of the Mowee race, had an only son, named Kaowreeka.
Thirdly, Kahavee had an only son, Kayenewee a mummow; and Kaowreeka, the Mowee king, had two sons, Maiha-maiha, and Taheeterree; the latter of whom is now, by one party, acknowledged chief of Mowee.
Fourthly, Kayenewee a mummow had two sons, Terreeoboo and Kaihooa; and Maiha-maiha, king of Mowee, had no son, but left a daughter called Roaho.
Fifthly, Terreeoboo, the present king of Owhyhee, had a son, named Teewarro, by Rora-rora, the widow of Maiha-maiha, late king of Mowee; and this son has married Roaho, his half-sister, in whose right he claims Mowee and its appendages.
Taheeterree, the brother of the late king, supported by a considerable party, who were not willing that the possessions should go into another family, took up arms, and opposed the rights of his niece.
When we were first off Mowee, Terreeoboo was there with his warriors, to support the claims of his wife, his son, and daughter-in-law, and had fought a battle with the opposite party, in which Taheeterree was worsted.
We afterwards understood that matters had been compromised, and that Taheeterree is to have the possession of the three neighbouring islands during his life; that Teewarro is acknowledged the chief of Mowee, and will also succeed to the kingdom of Owhyhee on the death of Terreeoboo; and also to the sovereignty of the three Islands contiguous to Mowee, on the death of Taheeterree. Teewarro has been lately married to his half-sister, and, should he die without issue, the government of these islands descends to Maiha-maiha, whom we have often had occasion to mention, he being the son of Kaihooa, the deceased brother of Terreeoboo. Should he also die without issue, they could not tell who would succeed; for the two youngest sons of Terreeoboo, one of whom he appears to be exceedingly fond of, being born of a woman of no rank, would, from this circ.u.mstance, be debarred all right of succession. We had not an opportunity of seeing queen Rora-rora, whom Terreeoboo had left behind at Mowee; but we have already had occasion to take notice, that he was accompanied by Kanee-kabareea, the mother of the two youths, to whom he was much attached.
From this account of the genealogy of the Owhyhee and Mowee monarchs, it is pretty clear that the government is hereditary; which also makes it very probable, that the inferior t.i.tles, and property itself, descend in the same course. With regard to Perreeorannee, we could only learn that he is an _Ere-taboo_; that he was invading the possession of Taheeterree, but on what pretence we were not informed; and that his grandsons governed the islands to leeward.
The power of the _Erees_ over the inferior cla.s.ses of people appears to be very absolute. Many instances of this occurred daily during our stay amongst them, and have been already related. The people, on the other hand, pay them the most implicit obedience; and this state of servility has manifestly had a great effect in debasing both their minds and bodies. It is, however, remarkable, that the chiefs were never guilty, as far at least as came within my knowledge, of any acts of cruelty or injustice, or even of insolent behaviour toward them; though, at the same time, they exercised their power over one another in the most haughty and oppressive manner. Of this I shall give two instances. A chief of the lower order had behaved with great civility to the master of the s.h.i.+p, when he went to examine Karakakooa Bay, the day before the s.h.i.+p first arrived there; and, in return, I afterward carried him on board, and introduced him to Captain Cook, who invited him to dine with us. While we were at table, Pareea entered, whose face but too plainly manifested his indignation at seeing our guest in so honourable a situation. He immediately seized him by the hair of the head, and was proceeding to drag him out of the cabin, when the captain interfered, and, after a great deal of altercation, all the indulgence we could obtain, without coming to a quarrel with Pareea, was, that our guest should be suffered to remain, being seated upon the floor, whilst Pareea filled his place at the table. At another time, when Terreeoboo first came on board the Resolution, Maiha-maiha, who attended him, finding Pareea on deck, turned him out of the s.h.i.+p in the most ignominious manner; and yet Pareea we certainly knew to be a man of the first consequence.
How far the property of the lower cla.s.s is secured against the rapacity and despotism of the great chiefs, I cannot say, but it should seem that it is sufficiently protected against private theft, or mutual depredation; for not only their plantations, which are spread over the whole country, but also their houses, their hogs, and their cloth, were left unguarded, without the smallest apprehensions. I have already remarked, that they not only separate their possessions by walls in the plain country, but that, in the woods likewise, wherever the horse-plantains grow, they make use of small white flags, in the same manner, and for the same purpose of discriminating property, as they do bunches of leaves at Otaheite. All which circ.u.mstances, if they do not amount to proofs, are strong indications that the power of the chiefs, where property is concerned, is not arbitrary, but at least so far circ.u.mscribed and ascertained, as to make it worth the while for the inferior orders to cultivate the soil, and to occupy their possessions distinct from each other.
With respect to the administration of justice, all the information we could collect was very imperfect and confined. Whenever any of the lowest cla.s.s of people had a quarrel amongst themselves, the matter in dispute was referred to the decision of some chief, probably the chief of the district, or the person to whom they appertained. If an inferior chief had given cause of offence to one of a higher rank, the feelings of the latter at the moment seemed the only measure of his punishment. If he had the good fortune to escape the first transports of his superior's rage, he generally found means, through the mediation of some third person, to compound for his crime by a part or the whole of his property and effects. These were the only facts that came to our knowledge on this head.
The religion of these people resembles, in most of its princ.i.p.al features, that of the Society and Friendly Islands. Their _morais_, their _whattas_, their idols, their sacrifices, and their sacred songs, all of which they have in common with each other, are convincing proofs that their religious notions are derived from the same source. In the length and number of their ceremonies, this branch indeed far exceeds the rest; and though in all these countries there is a certain cla.s.s of men, to whose care the performance of their religious rites is committed, yet we never met with a regular society of priests, till we discovered the cloisters of Kakooa in Karakakooa Bay. The head of this order was called _Orono_; a t.i.tle which we imagined to imply something highly sacred, and which, in the person of Omeeah, was honoured almost to adoration. It is probable, that the privilege of entering into this order (at least as to the princ.i.p.al offices in it) is limited to certain families. Omeeah, the _Orono_, was the son of Kaoo, and the uncle of Kaireekeea, which last presided, during the absence of his grandfather, in all religious ceremonies at the _morai_. It was also remarked, that the child of Omeeah, an only son, about five years old, was never suffered to appear without a number of attendants, and such other marks of care and solicitude as we saw no other like instance of. This seemed to indicate that his life was an object of the greatest moment, and that he was destined to succeed to the high rank of his father.
It has been mentioned, that the t.i.tle of _Orono_, with all its honours, was given to Captain Cook; and it is also certain that they regarded us generally as a race of people superior to themselves, and used often to say that great _Eatoua_ dwelled in our country. The little image, which we have before described as the favourite idol on the _morai_ in Karakakooa Bay, they call _Koonooraekaiee_, and said it was Terreeoboo's G.o.d, and that he also resided amongst us.
There are found an infinite variety of these images both on the _morais_, and within and without their houses, to which they give different names; but it soon became obvious to us in how little estimation they were held, from their frequent expressions of contempt of them, and from their even offering them to sale for trifles. At the same time there seldom failed to be some one particular figure in favour, to which, whilst this preference lasted, all their adoration was addressed. This consisted in arraying it in red cloth, beating their drums, and singing hymns before it, laying bunches of red feathers, and different sorts of vegetables, at its feet, and exposing a pig or a dog to rot on the _whatta_, that stood near it.
In a bay to the southward of Karakakooa, a party of our gentlemen were conducted to a large house, in which they found the black figure of a man, resting on his fingers and toes, with his head inclined backward, the limbs well formed, and exactly proportioned, and the whole beautifully polished.
This figure the natives call _Maee_; and round it were placed thirteen others of rude and distorted shapes, which they said were the _Eatooas_ of several deceased chiefs, whose names they recounted. The place was full of _whattas_, on which lay the remains of their offerings. They likewise give a place in their houses to many ludicrous and some obscene idols, like the Priapus of the ancients.
It hath been remarked by former voyagers, that, both among the Society and Friendly Islanders, an adoration is paid to particular birds; and I am led to believe that the same custom prevails here; and that, probably, the raven is the object of it, from seeing two of these birds tame at the village of Kakooa, which they told me were _Eatooas_; and, refusing every thing I offered for them, cautioned me, at the same time, not to hurt or offend them.
Amongst their religious ceremonies may be reckoned the prayers and offerings made by the priests before their meals. Whilst the _ava_ is chewing, of which they always drink before they begin their repast, the person of the highest rank takes the lead in a sort of hymn, in which he is presently joined by one, two, or more of the company; the rest moving their bodies, and striking their hands gently together, in concert with the singers. When the _ava_ is ready, cups of it are handed about to those who did not join in the song, which they keep in their hands till it is ended; when, uniting in one loud response, they drink off their cup. The performers of the hymn are then served with _ava_, who drink it after a repet.i.tion of the same ceremony; and if there be present one of a very superior rank, a cup is, last of all, presented to him, which, after chanting some time alone, and being answered by the rest, and pouring a little out on the ground, he drinks off. A piece of the flesh that is dressed is next cut off, without any selection of the part of the animal, which, together with some of the vegetables, being deposited at the foot of the image of the _Eatooa_, and a hymn chanted, their meal commences. A ceremony of much the same kind is also performed by the chiefs, whenever they drink _ava_ between their meals.
Human sacrifices are more frequent here, according to the account of the natives themselves, than in any other islands we visited. These horrid rites are not only had recourse to upon the commencement of war, and preceding great battles and other signal enterprises, but the death of any considerable chief calls for a sacrifice of one or more _Towtows_, according to his rank; and we were told, that ten men were destined to suffer on the death of Terreeoboo. What may, if any thing possibly can, lessen, in some small degree, the horror of this practice is, that the unhappy victims have not the most distant intimation of their fate. Those who are fixed upon to fall, are set upon with clubs wherever they happen to be, and, after being dispatched, are brought dead to the place, where the remainder of the rites are completed. The reader will here call to his remembrance the skulls of the captives that had been sacrificed at the death of some great chief, and which were fixed on the rails round the top of the _morai_ at Kakooa. We got a farther piece of intelligence upon this subject at the village of Kowrowa; where, on our enquiring into the use of a small piece of ground, inclosed with a stone-fence, we were told that it was an _Here-eere_, or burying-ground of a chief; and there, added our informer, pointing to one of the corners, lie the _tangata_ and _waheene taboo_, or the man and woman who were sacrificed at his funeral.
To this cla.s.s of their customs may also be referred that of knocking out their fore-teeth. Scarce any of the lower people, and very few of the chiefs, were seen, who had not lost one or more of them; and we always understood that this voluntary punishment, like the cutting off the joints of the finger at the Friendly Islands, was not inflicted on themselves from the violence of grief on the death of their friends, but was designed as a propitiatory sacrifice to the _Eatooa_, to avert any danger or mischief to which they might be exposed.
<script>