“They had on a kind of sandal made of a grassy substance interwoven, which we also observed were worn by those who stood upon the beach, and, as we supposed, intended to defend their feet against the rough coral rock. Their beards were long; and the inside of their arms, from the shoulder to the elbow, and some other parts, were punctured or tattooed, after the manner of the inhabitants of almost all the other islands in the South Sea. The lobe of their ears was pierced, or rather slit, and to such a length that one of them stuck there a knife and some beads which he had received from us; and the same person had two polished pearl-shells and a bunch of human hair loosely twisted hanging about his neck, which was the only ornament we observed.”
After some time, Mourooa ventured on board the ship, but seemed very uneasy at his position, his feelings of curiosity being overcome by those of alarm at finding himself in so gigantic a vessel. He showed little curiosity about the ship and the various objects which it contained, but the sight of a goat entirely drove out of his mind any emotion except wonder, he never having seen so large an animal. He wanted to know what bird it could be, and, as soon as he could get ashore, he was seen narrating to the people the wonders which he had seen on board the great canoe.
All the Hervey Islanders are gifted with a natural appreciation of art, and the inhabitants of Mangaia seem to be pre-eminent in this respect. They lavish the most minute and elaborate carving on various objects, the handles of tools and the paddles seeming to be their favorite subjects. The [beautiful paddle] which is shown on the 1018th page, is drawn from a specimen in my own collection. It is nearly four feet in length, and the blade is eleven inches wide in the broadest part. The pattern is given as well as can be done, considering the minute elaboration of the original. The opposite face of the blade is even more carefully decorated, and perhaps with a more artistic design. The squared shaft of the paddle is covered with carving, as is also the peculiarly shaped handle.
Another paddle is made in a similar manner, except that the shaft is rounded instead of squared, and decorated at the handle with a row of ornaments which seem to be conventional imitations of the human face (see [fig. 2]). The wood of which these paddles are made is light, though strong and elastic; and, as the implement is sometimes used as a club, both these last-mentioned characteristics are needed.
Captain Cook noticed the peculiar shape of these paddles, though he does not appear to have handled them, or to have examined them carefully. “The canoe they came in (which was the only one we saw) was not above ten feet long and very narrow, but both strong and neatly made. The fore-part had a board fastened over it and projecting out, so as to prevent the sea from getting in on plunging ... but it had an upright stern about five feet high, like some in new Zealand, and the upper part of this stern-post was forked. The lower part of the canoe was of white wood, but the upper was black, and their paddles made of wood of the same color, not above three feet long, broad at one end and blunted.”
Another paddle was brought to England by the late Admiral Young, and presented to me by his daughter. It is not so large as the specimens which have been just described, but is the most delicately carved specimen I have ever seen. The wood of which it is made is a very rich dark brown, and takes a high polish, so that the effect of the carving is peculiarly good. The blade is covered with a vast number of stars, wonderfully well carved, seeing that the native maker had no compasses by which to take his measurement, and that his only tools were sharks’ teeth and bits of stone. The maker has spared no pains over this trophy of his skill, and, as if to show his own fertility of invention, he has not covered the whole of the shaft with the same pattern, as is the case with the two paddles that have just been described, but has changed the pattern every few inches. I have also a much smaller and shorter paddle, not quite three feet in length, which is made with equal care, but which is not intended so much for use in propelling boats as for ornament in dancing.
The love of ornamentation is displayed in all their manufactures, which are decorated in a manner equally elaborate and artistic. Even their drinking cups, which are made from cocoa-nut shells, are covered with carved patterns of a nature similar to those of the paddles.
The reader will remark that many Polynesians adorn with carving the handles of their tools and weapons, examples of which have been given in the preceding pages. The Hervey Islanders, however, leave no portion of the implement without carving, and, in many instances sacrifice utility to ornament. This is generally the case with the adze handles, many of which are so extremely ornamental that it is not easy to see how they can be useful.
The specimen which is represented on page 1018 ([adze magnified]), is a good example of such an adze. The lower part of the handle is completely hollow, the native manufacturer having contrived to cut away the wood through the intervals between the upright pillars. As these intervals are not quite the third of an inch in width, the labor of removing the interior of the handle must have been very great, and the work exceedingly tedious. Even with European tools it would be a difficult piece of workmanship, and its difficulty is greatly enhanced by the fact that the native who carved it had nothing but a sharp stone or a shark’s tooth lashed to a handle by way of a knife. This particular specimen has been in England for many years, and must have been made before the introduction of European tools among the natives.
The head of the adze is made of stone, and is lashed to the handle in a way exactly like that which is employed by the New Zealanders, except that it is far more elaborate. As if desirous of giving himself as much trouble as possible, the maker has employed the finest plaited sinnet, not wider than packthread and quite flat, and has laid it on the tool in a manner so elaborate that to give a proper idea of it the artist must have occupied an entire page with his drawing. Suffice it to say that the [illustration] gives a good general idea of the mode in which the head is lashed to the handle. The sinnet is laid as regularly as if wound by machinery, and the native artist has contrived to produce the most extraordinary effects with it, throwing the various portions into a simulated perspective, and making the lashing look as if there were four distinct layers, one above another.