eaten; plantains; a fruit not unlike an apple, which, when ripe, is very pleafant; fweet potatoes, yams, cocoas, a kind of Arum; a fruit known here by the name of Jambu, and reckoned moft delicious; fugarcane, which the inhabitants eat raw; a root of the Salop kind, called by the inhabitants Pea; a plant called Ethee, of which the root only is eaten; a fruit that grows in a pod, like that of a large kidney-bean, which, when it is roafted, eats very much like a chefnut, by the natives called Ahee; a tree called Wharra, called in the Eaft-Indies Pandanes, which produces fruit, fomething like the pine-apple; a fhrub called Nono; the Morinda, which also produces fruit; a fpecies of fern, of which the root is eaten, and fometimes the leaves; and a plant called Theve, of which the root also is eaten; but the fruits of the Nono, the fern, and the Theve, are only eaten by the inferior people, and in times of fcarcity. All thefe, which ferve the inhabitants for food, the earth produces fpontaneously, or with fo little culture that they feem to be exempted from the first general curse, that "man should eat his bread in "the sweat of his brow." They have alfo the Chinefe paper mulberry, morus papyrifera, which they call Aouta; a tree resembling the wild fig-tree of the West Indies; another fpecies of fig, which they call Matte; the cordia febeftina orientalis, which they call Etou; a kind of Cyprus grafs, which they call Moo; a fpecies of tournefortia, which they call Taheinoo; another of the convolvulus poluce, which they call Eurhe; the folanum centifolium, which they call Ebooa; the calophyllum mophylum, which they call Tamannu; the hibifcus tiliaceus,called Poerou, a frutefcent nettle; the urtica argentea, called Erowa; with many other plants, which cannot here be particularly mentioned, thofe that have been named already, will be referred to in the fubfequent part of this work. They have no European fruit, garden-stuff, pulse, or legumes, nor grain of any kind. Of tame animals they have only hogs, dogs, and poultry; neither is there a wild animal in the inland, except ducks, pigeons, paroquets, with a few other birds, and rats, there being no other quadruped, nor 1769. July. 1769. July. any ferpent. But the fea fupplies them with great variety of moft excellent fish, to eat which is their chief luxury, and to catch it their principal labour. Perfons. As to the people, they are of the largest fize of Europeans. The men are tall, ftrong, well-limbed, and finely fhaped. The tallest that we saw was a man upon a neighbouring ifland, called HUAHEINE, who meafured fix feet three inches and an half. The women of the superior rank are alfo in general above our middle ftature, but thofe of the inferior class are rather below it, and fome of them are very small. This defect in fize probably proceeds from their early commerce with men, the only thing in which they differ from their fuperiors, that could poffibly affect their growth. Their natural complexion is that kind of clear olive, or Brunette, which many people in Europe prefer to the finest white and red. In thofe that are exposed to the wind and fun, it is confiderably deepened, but in others that live under fhelter, especially the fuperior clafs of women, it continues of its native hue, and the fkin is most delicately smooth and foft; they have no tint in their cheeks, which we diftinguish by the name of colour. The shape of the face is comely, the cheek bones are not high, neither are the eyes hollow, nor the brow prominent; the only feature that does not correfpond with our ideas of beauty is the nofe, which, in general, is fomewhat flat; but their eyes, efpecially thofe of the women, are full of expreffion, fometimes fparkling with fire, and fometimes melting with softnefs; their teeth alfo are, almoft without exception, most beautifully even and white, and their breath perfectly without taint. The hair is almost universally black, and rather coarse; the men have beards, which they wear in many fashions, always, however, plucking out great part of them, and keeping the reft perfectly clean and neat. Both fexes alfo eradicate every hair from under their arms, and accused us of great uncleanness for not doing the fame. In their motions there is at once vigour and ease; their walk is graceful, their deportment liberal, and their behaviour to strangers and to each other affable and courteous. In their difpofitions also, they feemed feemed to be brave, open, and candid, without either fufpicion or treachery, cruelty or revenge; fo that we placed the fame confidence in them as in our best friends; many of us, particularly Mr. Banks, fleeping frequently in their houfes in the woods, without a companion, and confequently wholly in their power. They were, however, all thieves; and when that is allowed, they need not much fear a competition with the people of any other nation upon earth. During our stay in this island we saw about five or fix perfons, like one that was met by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander on the 24th of April, in their walk to the eastward, whofe fkins were of a dead white, like the nose of a white horfe; with white hair, beard, brows, and eye lashes ; red, tender eyes; a fhort fight, and fcurfy fkins, covered with a kind of white down; but we found that no two of these belonged to the fame family, and therefore concluded, that they were not a fpecies, but unhappy individuals, rendered anomalous by disease. It is a custom in most countries where the inhabitants have long hair, for the men to cut it short, and the women to pride themselves in its length. Here, however, the contrary cuftom prevails; the women always cut it fhort round their ears, and the men, except the fishers, who are almost continually in the water, fuffer it to flow in large waves over their shoulders, or tie it up in a bunch on the top of their heads. They have a custom also of anointing their heads with what they call Monoe, an oil expreffed from the cocoa-nut, in which fome fweet herbs or flowers have been infufed as the oil is generally rancid, the smelk is at first very difagreeable to an European; and as they live in a hot country, and have no fuch thing as a comb, they are not able to keep their heads free from lice, which the children and common people fometimes pick out and eat; a hateful custom, wholly different from their manners in every other particular, for they are delicate and cleanly, almoft without example, and those to whom we diftributed combs foon delivered themfelves from vermin, with a diligence which fhewed that they were not more odious to us than to them. 1769 1769. They have a custom of ftaining their bodies, nearly in the fame manner as is practised in many other parts of the world, which they call Tattowing. They prick the fkin, fo as just not to fetch blood, with a small inftrument, fomething in the form of a hoe; that part which answers to the blade is made of a bone or fhell, fcraped very thin, and is from a quarter of an inch to an inch and a half wide; the edge is cut into sharp teeth or points, from the number of three to twenty, according to its fize: when this is to be used, they dip the teeth into a mixture of a kind of lampblack, formed of the smoke that rifes from an oily nut, which they burn instead of candles, and water: the teeth, thus prepared, are placed upon the fkin, and the handle to which they are fastened being ftruck, by quick fmart blows, with a stick fitted to the purpose, they pierce it, and at the fame time carry into the puncture the black compofition, which leaves an indelible stain. The operation is painful, and it is fome days before the wounds are healed. It is performed upon the youth of both fexes, when they are about twelve or fourteen years of age, on feveral parts of the body, and in various figures, according to the fancy of the parent, or perhaps the rank of the party. The women are generally marked with this ftain, in the form of a Z, on every joint of their fingers and toes, and frequently round the outside of their feet; the men are alfo marked with the fame figure, and both men and women have fquares, circles, crefcents, and ill-defigned reprefentations of men, birds, or dogs, and various other devices, impreffed upon their legs and arms, fome of which, we were told, had fignifications, though we could never learn what they were. But the part on which thefe ornaments are lavished with the greatest profufion, is the breech; this, in both fexes, is covered with a deep black, above which, arches are drawn one over another as high as the fhort ribs. They are often a quarter of an inch broad, and the edges are not ftraight lines, but indented. These arches are their pride, and are shown both by men and women with a mixture of oftentation and pleafure; whether as an ornament, or a proof of their fortitude and refolution in bearing pain, we we could not determine. The face in general is left unmarked; for we faw but one inftance to the contrary. Some old men had the greatest part of their bodies covered with large patches of black, deeply indented at the edges, like a rude imitation of flames; but we were told, that they came from a low ifland called NoOuOORA, and were not natives of Otaheite. Mr. Banks faw the operation of Tattowing performed upon the backside of a girl about thirteen years old. The inftrument ufed upon this occafion had thirty teeth, and every stroke, of which at least an hundred were made in a minute, drew an ichor, or ferum, a little tinged with blood. The girl bore it with a most ftoical refolution for about a quarter of an hour; but the pain of fo many hundred punctures as he had received in that time then became intolerable: the first complained in murmurs, then wept, and at laft burft into loud lamentations, earneftly imploring the operator to defift: he was, however, inexorable, and when she began to struggle, fhe was held down by two women, who fometimes foothed, and fometimes chid her; and now and then, when he was most unruly, gave her a fmart blow. Mr. Banks stayed in a neighbouring house an hour, and the operation was not over when he went away; yet it was performed but upon one fide, the other having been done fome time before; and the arches upon the loins, in which they moft pride themselves, and which give more pain than all the reft, were still to be dope. It is ftrange that thefe people should value themfelves upon what is no distinction; for I never saw a native of this ifland, either man or woman, in a state of maturity, in whom thefe marks were wanting: poffibly they may have their rife in fuperftition, efpecially as they produce no visible advantage, and are not made without great pain; but though we enquired of many hundred, we could never get any account of the matter. Their cloathing confifts of cloth or matting of different kinds, which will be described among their other manufactures. Their cloth, which will not bear weting, they wear in dry weather, and the matting when 1769. |