If we had had a larger assortment of goods, and a sufficient quantity of salt on board, I make no doubt that we might have salted as much pork as would have served both ships near twelve months. But our visiting the Friendly Islands, and our long stay at Otaheite and the neighbourhood, quite exhausted our trading commodities; particularly our axes, with which alone hogs, in general, were to be purchased. And we had hardly salt enough to cure fifteen puncheons of meat. Of these, five were added to our stock of provisions at the Friendly Islands, and the other ten at Otaheite. Captain Clerke also salted a proportionable quantity for his ship.
The process was the same that had been adopted by me in my last voyage; and it may be worth while to describe it again. The hogs were killed in the evening; as soon as they were cleaned, they were cut up, the bones taken out, and the meat salted when it was hot. It was then laid in such a position as to permit the juices to drain from it, till the next morning, when it was again salted, packed into a cask, and covered with pickle. Here it remained for four or five days, or a week; after which it was taken out and examined, piece by piece, and if there was any found to be in the least tainted, as sometimes happened, it was separated from the rest, which was repacked into another cask, headed up, and filled with good pickle. In about eight or ten days’ time, it underwent a second examination; but this seemed unnecessary, as the whole was generally found to be perfectly cured. A mixture of bay and of white salt, answers the best; but either of them will do alone. Great care should be taken, that none of the large blood vessels remain in the meat; nor must too great a quantity be packed together at the first salting, lest the pieces in the middle should heat, and by that means prevent the salt from penetrating them. This once happened to us, when we killed a larger quantity than usual. Rainy, sultry weather, is unfavourable for salting meat in tropical climates.
Perhaps, the frequent visits Europeans have lately made to these islanders, may be one great inducement to their keeping a large stock of hogs, as they have had experience enough to know, that, whenever we come, they may be sure of getting from us what they esteem a valuable consideration for them. At Otaheite, they expect the return of the Spaniards every day; and they will look for the English, two or three years hence, not only there, but at the other islands. It is to no purpose to tell them, that you will not return. They think you must; though not of them knows, or will give himself the trouble to inquire the reason of your coming.
I own, I cannot avoid expressing it as my real opinion, that it would have been far better for these poor people, never to have known our superiority in the accommodations and arts that make life comfortable, than, after once knowing it, to be again left and abandoned to their original incapacity of improvement. Indeed, they cannot be restored to that happy mediocrity in which they lived before we discovered them, if the intercourse between us should be discontinued. It seems to me, that it has become, in a manner, incumbent on the Europeans to visit them once in three or four years, in order to supply them with those conveniencies which we have introduced among them, and have given them a predilection for. The want of such occasional supplies will, probably, be very heavily felt by them, when it may be too late to go back to their old less perfect contrivances, which they now despise, and have discontinued, since the introduction of ours. For, by the time that the iron tools, of which they are now possessed, are worn out, they will have almost lost the knowledge of their own. A stone hatchet is, at present, as rare a thing amongst them, as an iron one was eight years ago; and a chissel of bone, or stone, is not to be seen. Spike-nails have supplied the place of the last; and they are weak enough to fancy, that they have got an inexhaustible store of them; for these were not now at all sought after. Sometimes, however, nails, much smaller than a spike, would still be taken in exchange for fruit. Knives happened, at present, to be in great esteem at Ulietea; and axes and hatchets remained unrivalled by any other of our commodities at all the islands. With respect to articles of mere ornament, these people are as changeable as any of the polished nations of Europe; so that what pleases their fancy, while a fashion is in vogue, may be rejected, when another whim has supplanted it. But our iron tools are so strikingly useful, that they will, we may confidently pronounce, continue to prize them highly; and be completely miserable, if, neither possessing the materials, nor trained up to the art of fabricating them, they should cease to receive supplies of what may now be considered as having become necessary to their comfortable existence.
Otaheite, though not comprehended in the number of what we have called the Society Islands, being inhabited by the same race of men, agreeing in the same leading features of character and manners, it was fortunate that we happened to discover this principal island before the others, as the friendly and hospitable reception we there met with, of course, led us to make it the principal place of resort, in our successive visits to this part of the Pacific Ocean. By the frequency of this intercourse, we have had better opportunities of knowing something about it and its inhabitants, than about the other similar, but less considerable islands in its vicinity. Of these, however, we have seen enough to satisfy us, that all that we observed and have related of Otaheite, may, with trifling variations, be applied to them.
Too much seems to have been already known, and published in our former relations, about some of the modes of life that made Otaheite so agreeable an abode to many on board our ships; and if I could add any finishing strokes to a picture, the outlines of which have been already drawn with sufficient accuracy, I should still have hesitated to make this journal the place for exhibiting a view of licentious manners, which could only serve to disgust those for whose information I write. There are, however, many parts of the domestic, political, and religious institutions of these people, which, after all our visits to them, are but imperfectly understood. The foregoing narrative of the incidents that happened during our stay, will probably be thought to throw some additional light; and, for farther satisfaction, I refer to Mr. Anderson’s remarks.
Amidst our various subordinate employments, while at these islands, the great objects of our duty were always attended to. No opportunity was lost of making astronomical and nautical observations; from which the following table was drawn up:
| Place. | Latitude. South. | Longitude. East. | Variation of the Compass. | Dip of the Needle. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matavai Point, Otaheite | 17° 291⁄4ʹ | 210° 22ʹ 28ʺ | 5° 34ʹ East | 29° 12ʹ |
| Owharree Harbour, Huaheine | 16 423⁄4 | 208 52 24 | 5 131⁄2 East | 28 28 |
| Ohamaneno Harbour, Ulietea | 16 451⁄2 | 208 25 22 | 6 19 East | 29 5 |
The longitude of the three several places is deduced from the mean of 145 sets of observations made on shore; some at one place, and some at another; and carried on to each of the stations by the time-keeper. As the situation of these places was very accurately settled during my former voyages, the above observations were now made chiefly with a view of determining how far a number of lunar observations might be depended upon, and how near they would agree with those made upon the same spot in 1769, which fixed Matavai Point to be 201° 27ʹ 30ʺ. The difference, it appears, is only of 5ʹ 2ʺ; and, perhaps, no other method could have produced a more perfect agreement. Without pretending to say which of the two computations is the nearest the truth, the longitude of 210° 22ʹ 28ʺ, or, which is the same thing, 208° 25ʹ 22ʺ, will be the longitude we shall reckon from with the time-keeper, allowing it to be losing, on mean time, 1.ʺ69 each day, as found by the mean of all the observations made at these islands for that purpose.
On our arrival at Otaheite, the error of the time-keeper in longitude was,