Pioneers in Australasia

by Harry Johnston

Cook gives the following description of a house of worship on Tongatabu Island built on an artificial mound about 18 feet above the level of the ground:—

It was of an oblong shape and enclosed by a wall or parapet of stone about 3 feet in height. From this wall the mound rose with a gentle slope and was covered with green turf, and on the top of it stood the house.... Three elderly men came and seated themselves between the Europeans and the temple and began a kind of prayer, which lasted about ten minutes, then led the way so that the house of worship might be examined. In front there were two stone steps leading to the top of the wall. From this the ascent to the house was easy. It was surrounded by a fine gravel walk and was built in all respects like a dwelling-house of the country, with poles and rafters, and covered with palm thatch, with eaves coming down to within 3 feet of the ground, and sides or walls made of strong matting. The floor of the house was laid with fine gravel, except in the middle, where there was an oblong square of blue pebbles raised about 6 inches higher than the floor. In two corners of the house stood images rudely carved in wood, which did not seem to be treated by the natives with much respect. The space of blue pebbles was a sort of altar, and on this the Europeans laid their offerings of things that the natives would be likely to prize.

Cook describes Tongatabu Island as a little paradise. There was not an inch of wasted land. The beautifully made roads occupied no more space than was absolutely necessary, the fences were only about 4 inches wide and mostly consisted of useful trees or plants, and the ground round the houses and temples was planted with large and shady fruit trees, which besides the customary bread-fruits, coconuts, and the Tahiti ahiya, included shaddocks (a large kind of orange). The people also grew sugar cane and made pottery. They were of the same good-looking Polynesian type as those of Tahiti. The men applied dyes to their abundant crops of head hair, which either bleached it white or stained it red, or even blue. They had here the custom so widespread in North America, and amongst the Bushmen of South Africa and the people of Australia, of mutilating the fingers, especially the little finger, by cutting off the two first joints to mark their mourning for children, husbands, or wives.

Cook also noticed the lepers of the Tonga archipelago, some of whom had the whole face and nose reduced to dreadful smooth scabs, surrounding nearly embedded eyes, and emitting an intolerable stench.

From Tongatabu the two ships sailed to New Zealand, and on the journey the Adventure was lost sight of. Cook, unable to wait (after searching for this ship along the coasts of New Zealand), left messages behind in bottles, buried in the camps to which they had most resorted, and then, on 26 November, 1773, sailed once more into the Southern Pacific to search for Antarctica. He reached ultimately to latitudes as high as 72°, where he found vast mountains of ice or land covered with ice. He had, in fact, probably reached the coast of Wilkes's Land. Some of the innumerable ice islands they passed on this southern voyage could not have been less than 200 feet in height, and terminated in peaks like cupolas or domes.

Being now well satisfied that no land was to be found in this direction, except unapproachable through icefields and quite uninhabitable, Cook turned his vessel to the north to reach the Tropics once again, and on 13 March, 1774, anchored off Easter Island,[100] where the ship was at once met by a canoe paddled by two men, who brought out a bunch of plantains. This gave the crew of the Resolution a good opinion of the Easter Islanders, who, as we know, were not unfamiliar with Europeans, having been visited already by Spaniards and Dutchmen. In fact, when they landed they found one man with a good broad-brimmed European hat on, whilst another wore a Spanish jacket, and a third a red silk handkerchief. The people, though very friendly, were rather thievish, not only towards the European, but each other. For instance, finding that Cook's party was very willing to buy sweet potatoes, they unhesitatingly raided a man's plantation near the landing place, and sold them for what they could get.

Cook, being ill himself at the time, sent a party of officers to explore Easter Island thoroughly. They had not proceeded far on their journey before a middle-aged man, tatued from head to foot, and his face painted with a white pigment, appeared with a spear in his hand, on which he hoisted a piece of white cloth as an emblem of peace. He then drove away a crowd of natives that followed, and constituted himself a guide. The surface of the island appeared to be a barren, dried, hard clay covered with stones, except where the natives had cleared the ground and made plantations of sweet potatoes or had planted banana groves. On the highest part of the south end of the island the soil was a fine red earth and more fruitful, bearing a longer grass, and was not strewn with stones. But the most remarkable feature in this somewhat desolate island, which has an area of about 45 square miles, were the statues of stone and ruins of masonry. These were mainly on the east side of the island and near the sea. Here the officers of the Resolution met with three platforms of stonework, and on each had stood four large stone statues, mostly, however, now lying prone on the ground and some broken. Each statue[101] had on its head a large cylindrical stone of red colour, wrought into a perfectly circular form. One of these stone statues was 27 feet long and 8 feet across the breadth of the shoulders, yet there were others larger than this still standing, one of them so big that its shade at two in the afternoon was sufficient to shelter the whole party of twenty persons from the rays of the sun.

Throughout the whole island there was scarcely any supply of really fresh, sweet water. In fact this landing party only met with one such pool or well, and this was very dirty, owing to the habit of the natives going there to drink and at the same time washing themselves all over. If a numerous party came up for this purpose the first arrival leapt right into the middle of the hole, drank, washed himself without the least ceremony, and then gave up his place to another, so that the lastcomer had a very filthy liquid to quench his thirst. But for the most part the wells or watering places were brackish or even salt. The natives seemed to drink the salt water without any reluctance.

In the course of this journey taken by the party from the Resolution the natives frequently came up with roasted potatoes, sugar cane, and supplies of water. They distributed these supplies of food and drink with great punctiliousness, being careful that those in the rear should be as well served as those in front of the expedition. Yet all the time they were taking trouble to minister to the wants of the white men they endeavoured to steal from them by snatching at their bags or any loose gear which they could easily detach from their persons; so much so that at last it was necessary to fire a musket loaded with small shot, which did not in the least interrupt the otherwise friendly relations.