“About a third part of the men were armed with clubs and spears; and, probably, these were only the persons who had come from a distance, as many of them had small baskets, mats, and other things, fastened to the ends of their weapons. The clubs were generally about six feet long, made of a hard black wood, lance-shaped at the end, but much broader, with the edge nicely scolloped, and the whole neatly polished. Others of them were narrower at the point, much shorter and plain; and some were even so small as to be used with one hand. The spears were made of the same wood, simply pointed; and, in general, above twelve feet long; though some were so short, that they seemed intended to be thrown as darts.
“The place where we were all the day was under the shade of various trees, in which they preserved their canoes from the sun. About eight or ten of them were here, all double ones; that is, two single ones fastened together (as is usual throughout the whole extent of the Pacific Ocean), by rafters lashed across. They were about twenty feet long, about four feet deep, and the sides rounded with a plank raised upon them, which was fastened strongly by means of withes. Two of these canoes were most curiously stained or painted all over with black, in numberless small figures, as squares, triangles, &c. and excelled by far any thing of that kind I had ever seen at any other island in this ocean. Our friends here, indeed, seemed to have exerted more skill in doing this than in puncturing their own bodies. The paddles were about four feet long, nearly elliptical, but broader at the upper end than the middle. Near the same place was a hut or shed about thirty feet long, and nine or ten high, in which perhaps these boats are built, but at this time it was empty.
“The greatest number of the trees around us were cocoa-palms; some sorts of hibiscus; a species of euphorbia; and, toward the sea, abundance of the same kind of trees we had seen at Mangeea Nooe Nainaiwa; and which seemed to surround the shores of this island in the same manner. They are tall and slender, not much unlike a cypress; but with bunches of long, round, articulated leaves. The natives call them etoa. On the ground we saw some grass; a species of convolvulus; and a good deal of treacle-mustard. There are also, doubtless, other fruit-trees and useful plants which we did not see. For, besides several sorts of plantains, they brought, at different times, roots which they call taro (the coccos of other countries); a bread-fruit; and a basket of roasted nuts, of a kidney-shape, in taste like a chesnut, but coarser.
“What the soil of the island may be, further inland, we could not tell. But, toward the sea, it is nothing more than a bank of coral, ten or twelve feet high, steep, and rugged; except where there are small sandy beaches, at some clefts where the ascent is gradual. The coral, though it has, probably, been exposed to the weather for many centuries, has undergone no farther change than becoming black on the surface; which, from its irregularity, is not much unlike large masses of a burnt substance. But, on breaking some pieces off, we found that, at the depth of two or three inches, it was just as fresh as the pieces that had been lately thrown upon the beach by the waves. The reef or rock, that lines the shore entirely, runs to different breadths into the sea, where it ends, all at once, and becomes like a high, steep wall. It is nearly even with the surface of the water, and of a brown or brick colour; but the texture is rather porous, yet sufficient to withstand the washing of the surf, which continually breaks upon it.”
Though the landing of our gentlemen proved the means of enriching my journal with the foregoing particulars, the principal object I had in view was, in a great measure, unattained; for the day was spent without getting any one thing from the island worth mentioning. The natives, however, were gratified with a sight they never before had; and, probably, will never have again. And mere curiosity seems to have been their chief motive for keeping the gentlemen under such restraint, and for using every art to prolong their continuance amongst them.
It has been mentioned, that Omai was sent upon this expedition; and, perhaps, his being Mr. Gore’s interpreter was not the only service he performed this day. He was asked by the natives a great many questions concerning us, our ships, our country, and the sort of arms we used; and, according to the account he gave me, his answers were not a little upon the marvellous. As, for instance, he told them, that our country had ships as large as their island; on board which were instruments of war (describing our guns), of such dimensions, that several people might sit within them; and that one of them was sufficient to crush the whole island at one shot. This led them to inquire of him, what sort of guns we actually had in our two ships. He said, that though they were but small, in comparison with those he had just described, yet, with such as they were, we could, with the greatest ease, and at the distance the ships were from the shore, destroy the island, and kill every soul in it. They persevered in their inquiries, to know by what means this could be done; and Omai explained the matter as well as he could. He happened luckily to have a few cartridges in his pocket. These he produced; the balls, and the gunpowder which was to set them in motion, were submitted to inspection; and to supply the defects of his description, an appeal was made to the senses of the spectators. It has been mentioned above, that one of the chiefs had ordered the multitude to form themselves into a circle. This furnished Omai with a convenient stage for his exhibition. In the centre of this amphitheatre, the inconsiderable quantity of gunpowder, collected from his cartridges, was properly disposed upon the ground, and, by means of a bit of burning wood from the oven, where dinner was dressing, set on fire. The sudden blast, and loud report, the mingled flame and smoke, that instantly succeeded, now filled the whole assembly with astonishment; they no longer doubted the tremendous power of our weapons, and gave full credit to all that Omai had said.
If it had not been for the terrible ideas they conceived of the guns of our ships, from this specimen of their mode of operation, it was thought that they would have detained the gentlemen all night. For Omai assured them, that if he and his companions did not return on board the same day, they might expect that I would fire upon the island. And as we stood in nearer the land in the evening than we had done any time before, of which position of the ships they were observed to take great notice, they, probably, thought we were meditating this formidable attack; and therefore suffered their guests to depart; under the expectation, however, of seeing them again on shore next morning. But I was too sensible of the risk they had already run, to think of a repetition of the experiment.
This day, it seems, was destined to give Omai more occasions than one of being brought forward to bear a principal part in its transactions. The island, though never before visited by Europeans, actually happened to have other strangers residing in it; and it was entirely owing to Omai’s being one of Mr. Gore’s attendants, that this curious circumstance came to our knowledge.
Scarcely had he been landed upon the beach, when he found amongst the crowd there assembled, three of his own countrymen, natives of the Society Islands. At the distance of about two hundred leagues from those islands, an immense unknown ocean intervening, with such wretched sea-boats as their inhabitants are known to make use of, and fit only for a passage where sight of land is scarcely ever lost, such a meeting, at such a place, so accidentally visited by us, may well be looked upon as one of those unexpected situations, with which the writers of feigned adventures love to surprise their readers, and which, when they really happen in common life, deserve to be recorded for their singularity.
It may easily be guessed with what mutual surprise and satisfaction Omai and his countrymen engaged in conversation. Their story, as related by them, is an affecting one. About twenty persons in number, of both sexes, had embarked on board a canoe at Otaheite, to cross over to the neighbouring island Ulietea. A violent contrary wind arising, they could neither reach the latter, nor get back to the former. Their intended passage being a very short one, their stock of provisions was scanty and soon exhausted; the hardships they suffered, while driven along by the storm, they knew not whither, are not to be conceived; they passed many days without having any thing to eat or drink; their numbers gradually diminished, worn out by famine and fatigue; four men only survived, when the canoe overset, and then the perdition of this small remnant seemed inevitable. However, they kept hanging by the side of their vessel during some of the last days, till Providence brought them in sight of the people of this island, who immediately sent out canoes, took them off their wreck, and brought them ashore. Of the four who were thus saved, one was since dead; the other three, who lived to have this opportunity of giving an account of their almost miraculous transplantation, spoke highly of the kind treatment they here met with; and so well satisfied were they with their situation, that they refused the offer made to them by our gentlemen, at Omai’s request, of giving them a passage on board our ships, to restore them to their native islands. The similarity of manners and language had more than naturalized them to this spot; and the fresh connexions which they had here formed, and which it would have been painful to have broken off, after such a length of time, sufficiently account for their declining to revisit the places of their birth. They had arrived upon this island at least twelve years ago. For I learnt from Mr. Anderson, that he found they knew nothing of Captain Wallis’s visit to Otaheite in 1765; nor of several other memorable occurrences, such as the conquest of Ulietea by those of Bolabola, which had preceded the arrival of the Europeans. To Mr. Anderson I am also indebted for their names, Orououte, Otirreroa, and Tavee; the first, born at Matavai in Otaheite; the second, at Ulietea; and the third, at Huaheine.