After the boats were on board, I dispatched one of them to lie in the best anchoring-ground; and as soon as she had got to this station, I bore down with the ships, and anchored in twenty-five fathoms water; the bottom a fine grey sand. The east point of the road, which was the low point before mentioned, bore S. 51° E.; the west point, N. 65° W.; and the village, behind which the water was said to be, N. E. by E., distant one mile. But, little more than a quarter of a mile from us, there were breakers, which I did not see till after the Resolution was placed. The Discovery anchored to the eastward of us, and farther from the land. The ships being thus stationed, between three and four o’clock I went ashore with three armed boats, and twelve marines, to examine the water, and to try the disposition of the inhabitants, several hundred of whom were assembled on a sandy beach before the village; behind it was a narrow valley, the bottom of which was occupied by the piece of water.
The very instant I leaped on shore, the collected body of the natives all fell flat upon their faces, and remained in that very humble posture, till, by expressive signs, I prevailed upon them to rise. They then brought a great many small pigs, which they presented to me, with plantain-trees, using much the same ceremonies that we had seen practised, on such occasions, at the Society and other islands; and a long prayer being spoken by a single person, in which others of the assembly sometimes joined, I expressed my acceptance of their proffered friendship, by giving them, in return, such presents as I had brought with me from the ship for that purpose. When this introductory business was finished, I stationed a guard upon the beach, and got some of the natives to conduct me to the water, which proved to be very good, and in a proper situation for our purpose. It was so considerable, that it may be called a lake; and it extended farther up the country than we could see. Having satisfied myself about this very essential point, and about the peaceable disposition of the natives, I returned on board; and then gave orders that every thing should be in readiness for landing and filling our water-casks in the morning, when I went ashore with the people employed in that service, having a party of marines with us for a guard, who were stationed on the beach.
A Morai in Atooi.
As soon as we landed, a trade was set on foot for hogs and potatoes, which the people of the island gave us in exchange for nails and pieces of iron, formed into something like chisels. We met with no obstruction in watering; on the contrary, the natives assisted our men in rolling the casks to and from the pool; and readily performed whatever we required. Every thing thus going on to my satisfaction, and considering my presence on the spot as unnecessary, I left the command to Mr. Williamson, who had landed with me, and made an excursion into the country, up the valley, accompanied by Mr. Anderson and Mr. Webber; the former of whom was as well qualified to describe with the pen, as the latter was to represent with his pencil, every thing we might meet with worthy of observation. A numerous train of natives followed us; and one of them, whom I had distinguished for his activity in keeping the rest in order, I made choice of as our guide. This man, from time to time, proclaimed our approach; and every one whom we met fell prostrate upon the ground, and remained in that position till we had passed. This, as I afterward understood, is the mode of paying their respect to their own great chiefs. As we ranged down the coast from the east, in the ships, we had observed at every village one or more elevated white objects, like pyramids or rather obelisks; and one of these, which I guessed to be at least fifty feet high, was very conspicuous from the ship’s anchoring station, and seemed to be at no great distance up this valley. To have a nearer inspection of it, was the principal object of my walk. Our guide perfectly understood that we wished to be conducted to it. But it happened to be so placed that we could not get at it, being separated from us by the pool of water. However, there being another of the same kind within our reach, about half a mile off, upon our side of the valley, we set out to visit that. The moment we got to it, we saw that it stood in a burying-ground, or morai; the resemblance of which, in many respects, to those we were so well acquainted with at other islands in this ocean, and particularly Otaheite, could not but strike us; and we also soon found that the several parts that compose it, were called by the same names. It was an oblong space, of considerable extent, surrounded by a wall of stone, about four feet high. The space inclosed was loosely paved with smaller stones; and at one end of it stood what I call the pyramid, but, in the language of the island, is named henananoo; which appeared evidently to be an exact model of the larger one, observed by us from the ships. It was about four feet square at the base, and about twenty feet high. The four sides were composed of small poles interwoven with twigs and branches, thus forming an indifferent wicker-work, hollow or open within, from bottom to top. It seemed to be rather in a ruinous state; but there were sufficient remaining marks to show that it had originally been covered with a thin, light, grey cloth; which these people, it should seem, consecrate to religious purposes; as we could see a good deal of it hanging in different parts of the morai; and some of it had been forced upon me when I first landed. On each side of the pyramid were long pieces of wicker-work, called hereanee, in the same ruinous condition; with two slender poles, inclining to each other, at one corner, where some plantains were laid upon a board, fixed at the height of five or six feet. This they called herairemy; and informed us that the fruit was an offering to their god, which makes it agree exactly with the whatta of Otaheite. Before the henananoo were a few pieces of wood, carved into something like human figures, which, with a stone near two feet high, covered with pieces of cloth called hoho, and consecrated to Tongarooa, who is the god of these people, still more and more reminded us of what we used to meet with in the morais of the islands we had lately left.[[23]] Adjoining to these, on the outside of the morai, was a small shed, no bigger than a dog-kennel, which they called hareepahoo; and before it was a grave, where, as we were told, the remains of a woman lay.
On the farther side of the area of the morai, stood a house or shed about forty feet long, ten broad in the middle, each end being narrower, and about ten feet high. This, which though much longer, was lower than their common dwelling-places, we were informed, was called hemanaa. The entrance into it was at the middle of the side, which was in the morai. On the farther side of this house, opposite the entrance, stood two wooden images cut out of one piece, with pedestals, in all about three feet high; neither very indifferently designed nor executed. These were said to be Eatooa no Veheina, or representations of goddesses. On the head of one of them was a carved helmet, not unlike those worn by the ancient warriors; and on that of the other, a cylindrical cap, resembling the head-dress at Otaheite, called tomou; and both of them had pieces of cloth tied about the loins, and hanging a considerable way down. At the side of each was also a piece of carved wood with bits of the cloth hung on them in the same manner; and between or before the pedestals lay a quantity of fern in a heap. It was obvious that this had been deposited there piece by piece, and at different times; for there was of it, in all states, from what was quite decayed to what was still fresh and green.
In the middle of the house, and before the two images, was an oblong space, inclosed by a low edging of stone, and covered with shreds of the cloth so often mentioned. This, on enquiry, we found was the grave of seven chiefs, whose names were enumerated, and the place was called Heneene. We had met already with so many striking instances of resemblance between the burying-place we were now visiting and those of islands we had lately come from in the South Pacific, that we had little doubt in our minds that the resemblance existed also in the ceremonies practised here, and particularly in the horrid one of offering human sacrifices. Our suspicions were too soon confirmed, by direct evidence. For, on coming out of the house, just on one side of the entrance, we saw a small square place, and another still less near it; and on asking what these were? our guide immediately informed us, that in the one was buried a man who had been sacrificed; a Taata (Tanata or Tangata, in this country) taboo (tafoo, as here pronounced); and in the other a hog, which had also been made an offering to the divinity. At a little distance from these, near the middle of the morai, were three more of these square inclosed places, with two pieces of carved wood at each, and upon them a heap of fern. These, we were told, were the graves of three chiefs; and before them was an oblong inclosed space, to which our conductor also gave the name of Tangata-taboo; telling us, so explicitly, that we could not mistake his meaning, that three human sacrifices had been buried there; that is, one at the funeral of each chief. It was with most sincere concern, that I could trace on such undoubted evidence, the prevalence of these bloody rites throughout this immense ocean, amongst people disjoined by such a distance, and even ignorant of each other’s existence, though so strongly marked as originally of the same nation. It was no small addition to this concern to reflect that every appearance led us to believe that the barbarous practice was very general here. The island seemed to abound with such places of sacrifice as this which we were now visiting, and which appeared to be one of the most inconsiderable of them; being far less conspicuous than several others which we had seen as we sailed along the coast, and particularly than that on the opposite side of the water in this valley; the white henananoo, or pyramid, of which we were now almost sure, derived its colour only from pieces of the consecrated cloth laid over it. In several parts within the inclosure of this burying-ground, were planted trees of the cordia sebestina, some of the morinda citrifolia, and several plants of the etee, or jejee of Tongataboo, with the leaves of which the hemanaa was thatched; and as I observed that this plant was not made use of in thatching their dwelling-houses, probably it is reserved entirely for religious purposes.
Our road to and from the morai, which I have described, lay through the plantations. The greatest part of the ground was quite flat, with ditches full of water intersecting different parts, and roads that seemed artificially raised to some height. The interspaces were, in general, planted with taro, which grows here with great strength, as the fields are sunk below the common level, so as to contain the water necessary to nourish the roots. This water probably comes from the same source, which supplies the large pool from which we filled our casks. On the drier spaces were several spots where the cloth-mulberry was planted in regular rows; also growing vigorously, and kept very clean. The cocoa-trees were not in so thriving a state, and were all low; but the plantain-trees made a better appearance, though they were not large. In general the trees round this village, and which were seen at many of those which we passed before we anchored, are the cordia sebestina; but of a more diminutive size than the product of the southern isles. The greatest part of the village stands near the beach, and consists of above sixty houses there; but, perhaps, about forty more stand scattered about, farther up the country, toward the burying-place.
After we had examined very carefully every thing that was to be seen about the morai, and Mr. Webber had taken drawings of it, and of the adjoining country, we returned by a different route. I found a great crowd assembled at the beach; and a brisk trade for pigs, fowls, and roots going on there, with the greatest good order; though I did not observe any particular person who took the lead amongst the rest of his countrymen. At noon, I went on board to dinner, and then sent Mr. King to command the party on shore. He was to have gone upon that service in the morning, but was then detained in the ship to make lunar observations. In the afternoon I landed again, accompanied by Captain Clerke, with a view to make another excursion up the country. But before this could be put in execution, the day was too far spent, so that I laid aside my intention for the present, and it so happened that I had not another opportunity. At sun-set, I brought every body on board, having procured in the course of the day, nine tons of water; and, by exchanges, chiefly for nails and pieces of iron, about seventy or eighty pigs, a few fowls, a quantity of potatoes, and a few plantains and taro roots. These people merited our best commendations in this commercial intercourse, never once attempting to cheat us, either ashore or alongside the ships. Some of them, indeed, as already mentioned, at first betrayed a thievish disposition, or rather, they thought that they had a right to every thing they could lay their hands upon; but they soon laid aside a conduct which, we convinced them, they could not persevere in with impunity.
Amongst the articles which they brought to barter this day, we could not help taking notice of a particular sort of cloak and cap, which, even in countries where dress is more particularly attended to, might be reckoned elegant. The first are nearly of the size and shape of the short cloaks worn by the women of England, and by the men in Spain, reaching to the middle of the back, and tied loosely before. The ground of them is a net-work upon which the most beautiful red and yellow feathers are so closely fixed that the surface might be compared to the thickest and richest velvet, which they resemble, both as to the feel and the glossy appearance. The manner of varying the mixture is very different; some having triangular spaces of red and yellow, alternately; others, a kind of crescent; and some that were entirely red, had a broad yellow border, which made them appear, at some distance, exactly like a scarlet cloak edged with gold lace. The brilliant colours of the feathers, in those that happened to be new, added not a little to their fine appearance; and we found that they were in high estimation with their owners; for they would not at first part with one of them for any thing that we offered, asking no less a price than a musket. However, some were afterward purchased for very large nails. Such of them as were of the best sort were scarce; and it should seem that they are only used on the occasion of some particular ceremony or diversion; for the people who had them always made some gesticulations which we had seen used before by those who sung.