CHAP. II.
Stay at Taiti; account of the good and evil which befel us there.
Landing.
I have pointed out the obstacles which we met with in coming to an anchor. When we were moored, I went on shore with several officers, to survey the watering-place. An immense croud of men and women received us there, and could not be tired with looking at us; the boldest among them came to touch us; they even pushed aside our clothes with their hands, in order to see whether we were made exactly like them: none of them wore any arms, not so much as a stick. They sufficiently expressed their joy at our arrival. |Visit paid to the chief of the district.| The chief of this district conducted and introduced us into his house, in which we found five or six women, and a venerable old man. The women saluted us, by laying their hands on their breasts, and saying several times tayo. The old man was the father of our host. He had no other character of old age, than that respectable one which is imprinted on a fine figure. His head adorned with white hair, and a long beard; all his body, nervous and fleshy, had neither wrinkles, nor shewed any marks of decrepitude. This venerable man seemed to be rather displeased with our arrival; he even retired without answering our civilities, without giving any signs of fear, astonishment, or curiosity; very far from taking part in the raptures all this people was in at our sight, his thoughtful and suspicious air seemed to shew that he feared the arrival of a new race of men would trouble those happy days which he had spent in peace.
Description of his house.
We were at liberty to examine the interior parts of the house. It had no furniture, no ornament to distinguish it from the common huts, except its extent. It was about eighty feet long and twenty feet wide. In it we observed a cylinder of ozier, three or four feet long, set with black feathers, which was suspended from the thatch; and besides it, there were two wooden figures which we took for idols. One, which was their god[[97]], stood upright against one of the pillars; the goddess was opposite, leaned against the wall, which she surpassed in height, and was fattened to the reeds, of which their walls are made. These figures, which were ill made, and without any proportion, were about three feet high, but stood on a cylindrical pedestal, hollow within, and carved quite through. This pedestal was made in the shape of a tower, was six or seven feet high, and about a foot in diameter. The whole was made of a black and very hard wood.
The chief then proposed that we should sit down upon the grass before his house, where he ordered some fruit, broiled fish and water to be set before us: during the meal he sent for some pieces of cloth, and for two great collars or gorgets of oziers, covered with black feathers and shark’s teeth. They are pretty like in form to the immense ruffs, worn in the time of Francis the first. One of these he put upon the neck of the Chevalier d’Oraison, another upon mine, and distributed the cloths. We were just going to return on board when the Chevalier de Suzannet missed a pistol, which had been very dexterously stolen out of his pocket. We informed the chief of it, who immediately was for searching all the people who surrounded us, and even treated some of them very harshly. We stopt his researches, endeavouring only to make him understand, that the thief would fall a victim to his own crime, and that what he had stolen could kill him.
The chief and all his people accompanied us to our boats. We were almost come to them when we were stopped by an islander, of a fine figure, who lying under a tree, invited us to sit down by him on the grass. We accepted his offer: he then leaned towards us, and with a tender air he slowly sung a song, without doubt of the Anacreontic kind, to the tune of a flute, which another Indian blew with his nose: this was a charming scene, and worthy the pencil of a Boucher. Four islanders came with great confidence to sup and lye on board. We let them hear the music of our flutes, base-viols, and violins, and we entertained them with a fire-work of sky-rockets and fire-snakes. This sight caused a mixture of surprize and of horror in them.
Project of a camp for our sick on shore.
On the 7th in the morning, the chief, whose name was Ereti, came on board. He brought us a hog, some fowls, and the pistol which had been stolen at his house the day before. This act of justice gave us a good opinion of him. However, we made every thing ready in the morning, for landing our sick people, and our water casks, and leaving a guard for their defence. In the afternoon I went on shore with arms and implements, and we began to make a camp on the banks of a little brook, where we were to fill our water. Ereti saw the men under arms, and the preparations for the encampment, without appearing at first surprised or discontented. |Opposition on the part of the islanders.| However, some hours after he came to me, accompanied by his father and the principal people of the district, who had made remonstrances to him on this occasion, and gave me to understand that our stay on shore displeased them, that we might stay there during day-time as long as we pleased, but that we should ly on board our ships at night. I insisted upon establishing the camp, making him comprehend that it was necessary to us, in order to get wood and water, and to facilitate the exchanges between both nations. They then held a second council, the remit of which, was, that Ereti came to ask me whether we intended to stay here for ever, or whether we intended to go away again, and how soon that would be. I told him that we should set sail in eighteen days, in sign of which, I gave him eighteen little stones. Upon this they held a new conference, at which they desired I would be present. |They consent to it on some conditions.| A grave man, who seemed to have much weight with the members of the council, wanted to reduce the number of days of our encamping to nine; but as I insisted on the number I had at first required, they at last gave their consent.