Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[graphic]

urds or other vessels, we could not learn; some resource this article, an indispensable necessary of life, for otherould answer no purpose. Upon our expressing a desire fence, one of the young men mounted a fighting stage, er went into the ditch: both he that was to defend the sung the war-song, and danced with the same frightful in more serious circumstances, to work themselves up which, among all uncivilized nations is the necessary e courage, a strength of mind that can surmount the imal spirits by which it is extinguished, seems to be rojects of more lasting importance, and a keener sense rmed or felt by men who have few pains or pleasures scarcely any purpose but to provide for the day that r, or revenge an insult: they will march against each hey find it necessary to work themselves into passion ere have been many instances of people who have hat they might execute a project which they formed le they continued so, they did not dare to undertake. osure, we saw about half an acre planted with gourds y cultivation in the bay: under the foot of the point e two rocks, one just broken off from the main, and It: they are both small, and seem more proper for there are houses and places of defence upon each of 8 of the same kind upon small islands, rocks, and oast, besides many fortified towns, which appeared

poor savages, who have made every village a fort, re being so little of their land in a state of cultivaally produce each other, it may perhaps appear, of cultivation, will account for their living in that the same invention and diligence which so admirably adapted to defence, almost withsame necessity, have furnished them with a his thrown by hand; they have no contrivance like a sling to assist them in throwing a stone; tion of slings, and bows and arrows, is much ople construct, and both these weapons are found ry other part of the world. Besides the long tioned already, they have a staff about five feet ert, sometimes only tapering to a point at one aped somewhat like the blade of an oar. They r than these, pointed at one end, and at the other ng lances are barbed, and they handle them with atch them with no weapon but a loaded musquet. ntry, and loading both the boats with celery, which ach, we returned from our excursion, and about five the ship. On the 15th, I sailed out of the bay, and at on board, in one of which was our friend Toiava, who said, e must repair to his Heppah or fort, because the friends of by Mr. Gore on the 9th had threatened to revenge his death. reproached as being our friend. Off the north point of the bay, islands, of various extent, which lay scattered to the north-west, in the main as far as I could see. I steered north-east for the northislands, but the wind coming to the north-west, I was obliged to

with ball at the offender while he was holding the cloth in his hand, and shot him dead. It would have been happy if the effect of a few small-shot had been tried upon this occasion, which, upon some others, had been successful.

When the Indian dropped, all the canoes put off to some distance; but as they did not go away, it was thought they might still meditate an attack. To secure, therefore, a safe passage for the boat, which it was necessary to send on shore, a round shot was fired over their heads, which effectually answered the purpose, and put them all to flight. When an account of what had happened was brought ashore, our Indians were alarmed, and, drawing all together, retreated in a body. After a short time, however, they returned, having heard a more particular account of the affair, and intimated that they thought the man who had been killed deserved his fate.

A little before sunset the Indians retired to eat their supper, and we went with them to be spectators of the repast. It consisted of fish of different kinds, among which were lobsters, and some birds, of a species unknown to us: these were either roasted or baked. To roast them they fastened them upon a small stick, which was stuck up in the ground inclining towards their fire; and to bake them they put them into a hole in the ground, with hot stones, in the same manner as the people of Otaheite.

Among the natives that were assembled upon this occasion, we saw a woman who, after their manner, was mourning for the death of her relation. She sat upon the ground near the rest, who, one only excepted, seemed not at all to regard her; the tears constantly trickled down her cheeks, and she repeated, in a low, but very mournful voice, words which even Tupia did not at all understand. At the end of every sentence she cut her arms, her face, or her breast, with a shell that she held in her hand, so that she was almost covered with blood, and was indeed one of the most affecting spectacles that can be conceived. The cuts, however, did not appear to be so deep as are sometimes made upon similar occasions, if we may judge by the scars which we saw upon the arms, thighs, breasts, and cheeks of many of them, which we were told were the remains of wounds which they had inflicted upon themselves as testimonies of their affection and sorrow.

The next day, I went with two boats, accompanied by Mr. Banks and the other gentlemen, to examine a large river that empties itself into the head of the bay. We rowed about four or five miles up, and could have gone much farther if the weather had been favourable. It was here wider than at the mouth, and divided into many streams by small flat islands, which are covered with mangroves, and overflowed at high-water. From these trees exudes a viscous substance which very much resembles resin; we found it first in small lumps upon the sea-beach, and now saw it sticking to the trees, by which we knew whence it came. We landed on the east side of the river, where we saw a tree upon which several shags had built their nests, and here, therefore, we determined to dine. Twenty of the shags were soon killed, and, being boiled upon the spot, afforded us an excellent meal. We then went upon the hills, from whence I thought I saw the head of the river. The shore on each side, as well as the islands in the middle, were covered with mangroves; and the sand-banks abounded in cockles and clams. In many places there were rock-oysters, and everywhere plenty of wild-fowl, principally shags, ducks, curlews, and the sea-pie, that has been described before. We also saw fish in the river, but of what kind we could not discover. The country on the east side of this river is, for the most part, barren and destitute of wood; but on the west it has a better aspect, and in some places is adorned with trees, but has in no part the appearance of cultivation. In the entrance of the river, and for two or three miles up, there is good anchoring in four and five fathom water, and places very convenient for laying a vessel on shore, where the tide rises and falls seven feet at the full and change of the moon. We could not determine whether any considerable stream of fresh water came into this river out of the country; but we saw a number of small rivulets issue from the adjacent hills. Near the mouth of this river, on the east side, we found a little Indian village, consisting of small temporary sheds, where we landed, and were received by the people with the utmost kindness and hospitality. They treated us with a flat shell-fish of a most delicious taste, somewhat like a cockle, which we ate hot from the coals. Near this place is a high point, or peninsula, projecting into the river, and upon it are the remains of

a fort, which they call Eppah, or Heppah. The best engineer in Europe could not have chosen a situation better adapted to enable a small number to defend themselves against a greater. The steepness of the cliffs renders it wholly inaccessible from the water, which encloses it on three sides; and, to the land, it is fortified by a ditch, and a bank raised on the inside. From the top of the bank to the bottom of the ditch is two-and-twenty feet; the ditch on the outside is fourteen feet deep, and its breadth is in proportion. The whole seemed to have been executed with great judgment; and there had been a row of pickets or

[graphic][merged small]

palisadoes, both on the top of the bank, and along the brink of the ditch on the outside : those on the outside had been driven very deep into the ground, and were inclined towards the ditch, so as to project over it; but of these the thickest posts only were left, and upon them there were evident marks of fire, so that the place had probably been taken and destroyed by an enemy. If any occasion should make it necessary for a ship to winter here, or stay any time, tents might be built in this place, which is sufficiently spacious, with great convenience, and might easily be made impregnable to the whole country.

On the eleventh, there was so much wind and rain that no canoe came off; but the longboat was sent to fetch oysters from one of the beds which had been discovered the day before the boat soon returned, deeply laden, and the oysters, which were as good as ever came from Colchester, and about the same size, were laid down under the booms, and the ship's company did nothing but eat them from the time they came on board till night, when, as may reasonably be supposed, great part of them were expended; this, however, gave us no concern, as we knew that not the boat only, but the ship, might have been loaded, almost in one tide, as the beds are dry at half ebb.

In the morning of Sunday the 12th, two canoes came off full of people whom we had never seen before, but who appeared to have heard of us by the caution which they used in approaching us. As we invited them to come alongside with all the tokens of friendship that we could show, they ventured up, and two of them came on board; the rest traded very fairly for what they had: a small canoe also came from the other side of the bay, and sold us some very large fish, which they gave us to understand they would have brought yesterday, having caught them the day before, but that the wind was so high they could not venture to sea.

After breakfast I went with the pinnace and yawl, accompanied by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, over to the north side of the bay, to take a view of the country, and two

L

:

fortified villages which we had discovered at a distance. We landed near the smallest of them, the situation of which was the most beautifully-romantic that can be imagined; it was built upon a small rock, detached from the main, and surrounded at high water. The whole body of this rock was perforated by a hollow or arch, which possessed much the largest part of it; the top of the arch was above sixty feet perpendicular above the sea, which at high water flowed through the bottom of it: the whole summit of the rock above the arch was fenced round after their manner; but the area was not large enough to contain more than five or six houses: it was accessible only by one very narrow and steep path, by which the inhabitants, at our approach, came down, and invited us into the place; but we refused, intending to visit a much more considerable fort of the same kind at about a mile's distance. We made some presents, however, to the women; and in the mean time we saw the inhabitants of the town which we were going to coming towards us in a body, men, women, and children, to the number of about one hundred when they came near enough to be heard, they waved their hands, and called out Horomai; after which they sat down among the bushes near the beach; these ceremonies, we were told, were certain signs of their friendly disposition. We advanced to the place where they were sitting, and when we came up, made them a few presents, and asked leave to visit their Heppah; they consented with joy in their countenances, and immediately led the way. It is called WHARRETOUWA, and is situated upon a high promontory or point, which projects into the sea on the north side, and near the head of the bay: two sides of it are washed by the sea, and these are altogether inaccessible; two other sides are to the land: up one of them, which is very steep, lies the avenue from the beach; the other is flat and open to the country upon the hill, which is a narrow ridge the whole is enclosed by a palisade about ten feet high, consisting of strong pales bound together with withes. The weak side next the land is also defended by a double ditch, the innermost of which has a bank and an additional palisade: the inner palisades are upon the bank next the town, but at such a distance from the top of the bank as to leave room for men to walk and use their arms, between them and the inner ditch; the outermost palisades are between the two ditches, and driven obliquely into the ground, so that their upper ends incline over the inner ditch: the depth of this ditch, from the bottom to the top or crown of the bank, is four-and-twenty feet. Close within the innermost palisade is a stage, twenty feet high, forty feet long, and six broad; it is supported by strong posts, and is intended as a station for those who defend the place, from which they may annoy the assailants by darts and stones, heaps of which lay ready for use. Another stage of the same kind commands the steep avenue from the beach, and stands also within the palisade; on` this side of the hill there are some little outworks and huts, not intended as advanced posts, but as the habitations of people who, for want of room, could not be accommodated within the works, but who were, notwithstanding, desirous of placing themselves under their protection. The palisades, as has been observed already, run round the whole brow of the hill, as well towards the sea as towards the land; but the ground within having originally been a mount, they have reduced it not to one level, but to several, rising in stages one above the other, like an amphitheatre, each of which is enclosed within its separate palisade; they communicate with each other by narrow lanes, which might easily be stopped up, so that if an enemy should force the outward palisade, he would have others to carry before the place could be wholly reduced, supposing these places to be obstinately defended one after the other. The only entrance is by a narrow passage, about twelve feet long, communicating with the steep ascent from the beach: it passes under one of the fighting stages, and, though we saw nothing like a door or gateway, it may be easily barricaded in a manner that will make the forcing it a very dangerous and difficult undertaking. Upon the whole, this must be considered as a place of great strength, in which a small number of resolute men may defend themselves against all the force which a people with no other arms than those that are in use here could bring against it. It seemed to be well furnished for a siege with everything but water; we saw great quantities of fern-root, which they eat as bread, and dried fish piled up in heaps; but we could not perceive that they had any fresh water nearer than a brook which runs close under the foot of the hill: whether they have any means of getting it from this place during a siege, or whether they have any method of

storing it within the works in gourds or other vessels, we could not learn; some resource they certainly have with respect to this article, an indispensable necessary of life, for otherwise the laying up dry provisions could answer no purpose. Upon our expressing a desire to see their method of attack and defence, one of the young men mounted a fighting stage, which they call Porava, and another went into the ditch: both he that was to defend the place, and he that was to assault it, sung the war-song, and danced with the same frightful gesticulations that we had seen used in more serious circumstances, to work themselves up into a degree of that mechanical fury, which, among all uncivilized nations is the necessary prelude to a battle; for dispassionate courage, a strength of mind that can surmount the sense of danger, without a flow of animal spirits by which it is extinguished, seems to be the prerogative of those who have projects of more lasting importance, and a keener sense of honour and disgrace than can be formed or felt by men who have few pains or pleasures besides those of mere animal life, and scarcely any purpose but to provide for the day that is passing over them, to obtain plunder, or revenge an insult: they will march against each other indeed in cool blood, though they find it necessary to work themselves into passion before they engage; as among us there have been many instances of people who have deliberately made themselves drunk, that they might execute a project which they formed when they were sober, but which, while they continued so, they did not dare to undertake. On the side of the hill, near this inclosure, we saw about half an acre planted with gourds and sweet potatoes, which was the only cultivation in the bay: under the foot of the point upon which this fortification stands, are two rocks, one just broken off from the main, and the other not perfectly detached from it: they are both small, and seem more proper for the habitations of birds than men ; yet there are houses and places of defence upon each of them. And we saw many other works of the same kind upon small islands, rocks, and ridges of hills, on different parts of the coast, besides many fortified towns, which appeared to be much superior to this.

The perpetual hostility in which these poor savages, who have made every village a fort, must necessarily live, will account for there being so little of their land in a state of cultivation; and, as mischiefs very often reciprocally produce each other, it may perhaps appear, that there being so little land in a state of cultivation, will account for their living in perpetual hostility. But it is very strange, that the same invention and diligence which have been used in the construction of places so admirably adapted to defence, almost without tools, should not, when urged by the same necessity, have furnished them with a single missile weapon except the lance, which is thrown by hand; they have no contrivance like a bow to discharge a dart, nor anything like a sling to assist them in throwing a stone; which is the more surprising, as the invention of slings, and bows and arrows, is much more obvious than of the works which these people construct, and both these weapons are found among much ruder nations, and in almost every other part of the world. Besides the long lance and Patoo-patoo, which have been mentioned already, they have a staff about five feet long, sometimes pointed like a serjeant's halbert, sometimes only tapering to a point at one end, and having the other end broad, and shaped somewhat like the blade of an oar. They have also another weapon, about a foot shorter than these, pointed at one end, and at the other shaped like an axe. The points of their long lances are barbed, and they handle them with such strength and agility, that we can match them with no weapon but a loaded musquet. After taking a slight view of the country, and loading both the boats with celery, which we found in great plenty near the beach, we returned from our excursion, and about five o'clock in the evening, got on board the ship. On the 15th, I sailed out of the bay, and at the same time had several canoes on board, in one of which was our friend Toiava, who said, that as soon as we were gone he must repair to his Heppah or fort, because the friends of the man who had been shot by Mr. Gore on the 9th had threatened to revenge his death. upon him, whom they had reproached as being our friend. Off the north point of the bay, I saw a great number of islands, of various extent, which lay scattered to the north-west, in a direction parallel with the main as far as I could see. I steered north-east for the northeasternmost of these islands, but the wind coming to the north-west, I was obliged to stand out to sea.

« ZurückWeiter »