In Rarotonga, another island of this group, the rats swarmed in such numbers that they were not only a nuisance, but an absolute pest; and, if it had not been for the pigs which were introduced by the Europeans, and allowed to run wild, the rats would probably have driven the natives out of their villages. At every meal one or two persons were detailed for the sole purpose of keeping the rats from the provisions. When the people sat down in their houses the rats ran over them, and when they lay down to rest the rats had made a settlement in their bed.
At last warfare was declared against the rats, and a number of baskets were made to contain the bodies of the slain, each basket being five or six feet in length. The inhabitants then armed themselves with sticks, and in an hour no less than thirty of these great baskets were filled with dead rats. Even then no diminution seemed to have taken place among these pests. Next, the missionaries tried the introduction of cats, and with some success, but the most fortunate introduction that was made was that of the pig. These animals were brought to Rarotonga for the purpose of supplying the sailors with meat which should supersede the flesh of the rat, and the pigs repaid their introducers by eating every rat which came across them.
When the natives were converted to Christianity, they consulted the missionaries, wishing to know whether the flesh of rats was unlawful food for Christians. They evidently asked this question because they saw that their teachers abstained from these animals. The missionaries returned a very judicious answer to this question, by saying that in their own country rats were not eaten, because the white man had a repugnance to them, but that there was nothing unlawful in eating them, and that the Mangaians might do as they pleased. The people were satisfied with this answer, and contented themselves with passing a law that all Christians should catch and cook their rats on Saturdays, so as to avoid working on the Sunday.
The idols of the Hervey Islanders are very odd-looking things, and would scarcely be recognized as objects of worship. It might naturally be imagined that if these people bestow such pains upon their weapons and implements, they would at least take equal pains with their gods. Yet the gods of the Hervey Islanders are the rudest possible specimens of native workmanship. They consist principally of a staff about sixteen or seventeen feet in length, the upper part of which is carved into a rude representation of a human head. On the staff are laid a few red feathers and a string of beads, which are called the soul of the god. Round the staff and the beads is wrapped a vast quantity of native cloth, so as to form a slightly conical roll about a yard in diameter, and ten feet in length. One of these idols is placed at the bow of every canoe, and whenever the natives are out on a fishing excursion they always make offerings to this strange deity.
THE KINGSMILL ISLANDS.
North-west of the Samoans is a group known by the name of Kingsmill Islands. It consists of about fifteen islands, all of coral, and all lying very low, so that they might easily escape the attention of voyagers. As is always the case with coral islands, the navigation among them is very dangerous. They are mostly very long in proportion to their width, the largest of the group, called Taputeonea or Drummond Island, being nearly forty miles in length, and in many places not a mile in width.
The inhabitants of these islands have a character for ferocity which is not often to be found among this race of Polynesians, and are said to be lower in the human scale than any whom we have hitherto described. Those of one of the group, called Pitt Island, are said to be less liable to this charge than any other, being quiet, peaceable, and not so perpetually at war as is the case with the inhabitants of the other islands.
Their color is approaching nearer to black than that of the inhabitants of Tonga and Samoa, and the people are of more moderate stature than those of the latter group of islands. They are well made and slender, and have black and glossy though rather fine hair. The mouth is large, but has nothing of the negro character about it and the teeth are kept very white. The nose is mostly aquiline, and the hair of the beard and moustache black, and by no means coarse.