Six or seven canoes had come off to us, before we anchored, bringing some small pigs and potatoes, and a good many yams and mats. The people in them resembled those of Atooi; and seemed to be equally well acquainted with the use of iron, which they asked for also by the names of hamaite and toe; parting readily with all their commodities for pieces of this precious metal. Several more canoes soon reached the ships, after they had anchored; but the natives in these seemed to have no other object, than to pay us a formal visit. Many of them came readily on board, crouching down upon the deck, and not quitting that humble posture till they were desired to get up. They had brought several females with them, who remained alongside in the canoes, behaving with far less modesty than their countrywomen of Atooi; and, at times, all joining in a song, not remarkable for its melody, though performed in very exact concert, by beating time upon their breasts with their hands. The men who had come on board did not stay long; and before they departed, some of them requested our permission to lay down, on the deck, locks of their hair.
These visitors furnished us with an opportunity of agitating again, this day, the curious inquiry whether they were cannibals; and the subject did not take its rise from any question of ours, but from a circumstance that seemed to remove all ambiguity. One of the islanders, who wanted to get in at the gun-room port, was refused; and, at the same time, asked, whether, if he should come in, we would kill and eat him? accompanying this question with signs so expressive that there could be no doubt about his meaning. This gave a proper opening to retort the question as to this practice; and a person behind the other, in the canoe, who paid great attention to what was passing, immediately answered, that if we were killed on shore, they would certainly eat us. He spoke with so little emotion, that it appeared plainly to be his meaning, that they would not destroy us for that purpose; but that their eating us would be the consequence of our being at enmity with them. I have availed myself of Mr. Anderson’s collections for the decision of this matter; and am sorry to say, that I cannot see the least reason to hesitate in pronouncing it to be certain, that the horrid banquet of human flesh is as much relished here, amidst plenty, as it is in New Zealand.
In the afternoon I sent lieutenant Gore, with three armed boats, to look for the most convenient landing-place; and, when on shore, to search for fresh water. In the evening he returned, having landed at the village above mentioned, and acquainted me, that he had been conducted to a well half a mile up the country; but, by his account, the quantity of water it contained was too inconsiderable for our purpose, and the road leading to it exceedingly bad.
On the 30th I sent Mr. Gore ashore again, with a guard of marines, and a party to trade with the natives for refreshments. I intended to have followed soon after, and went from the ship with that design. But the surf had increased so much, by this time, that I was fearful, if I got ashore, I should not be able to get off again. This really happened to our people who had landed with Mr. Gore, the communication between them and the ships, by our own boats, being soon stopped. In the evening they made a signal for the boats, which were sent accordingly; and, not long after, they returned with a few yams and some salt. A tolerable quantity of both had been procured in the course of the day; but the surf was so great, that the greatest part of both these articles had been lost in conveying them to the boats. The officer and twenty men, deterred by the danger of coming off, were left ashore all night; and by this unfortunate circumstance, the very thing happened, which, as I have already mentioned, I wished so heartily to prevent, and vainly imagined I had effectually guarded against. The violence of the surf, which our own boats could not act against, did not hinder the natives from coming off to the ships in their canoes. They brought refreshments with them, which were purchased in exchange for nails, and pieces of iron hoops; and I distributed a good many pieces of ribbon, and some buttons, as bracelets, amongst the women in the canoes. One of the men had the figure of a lizard punctured upon his breast, and upon those of others were the figures of men badly imitated. These visitors informed us, that there was no chief, or Hairee, of this island; but that it was subject to Teneooneoo, a chief of Atooi; which island, they said, was not governed by a single chief, but that there were many to whom they paid the honour of moe, or prostration; and among others, they named Otaeaio and Terarotoa. Amongst other things which these people now brought off; was a small drum, almost like those of Otaheite.
About ten or eleven o’clock at night, the wind veered to the south, and the sky seemed to forbode a storm. With such appearances, thinking that we were rather too near the shore, I ordered the anchors to be taken up, and having carried the ships into forty-two fathoms, came to again in that safer station. The precaution, however, proved to be unnecessary; for the wind, soon after, veered to N. N. E., from which quarter it blew a fresh gale, with squalls, attended with very heavy showers of rain.
This weather continued all the next day; and the sea ran so high that we had no manner of communication with our party on shore; and even the natives themselves durst not venture out to the ships in their canoes. In the evening I sent the master in a boat up to the south-east head, or point of the island, to try if he could land under it. He returned with a favourable report; but it was too late, now, to send for our party till the next morning; and thus they had another night to improve their intercourse with the natives.
Encouraged by the master’s report, I sent a boat to the south-east point, as soon as day-light returned, with an order to Mr. Gore, that if he could not embark his people from the spot where they now were, to march them up to the point. As the boat could not get to the beach, one of the crew swam ashore, and carried the order. On the return of the boat, I went myself with the pinnace and launch up to the point, to bring the party on board; taking with me a ram-goat and two ewes, a boar and sow pig of the English breed; and the seeds of melons, pumpkins, and onions; being very desirous of benefiting these poor people, by furnishing them with some additional articles of food. I landed with the greatest ease, under the west side of the point, and found my party already there, with some of the natives in company. To one of them, whom Mr. Gore had observed assuming some command over the rest, I gave the goats, pigs, and seeds. I should have left these well intended presents at Atooi, had we not been so unexpectedly driven from it.
While the people were engaged in filling four water-casks, from a small stream occasioned by the late rain, I walked a little way up the country, attended by the man above-mentioned, and followed by two others carrying the two pigs. As soon as we got upon a rising ground, I stopped to look round me; and observed a woman, on the other side of the valley, where I landed, calling to her countryman who attended me. Upon this, the chief began to mutter something which I supposed was a prayer; and the two men, who carried the pigs, continued to walk round me all the time, making, at least, a dozen circuits before the other had finished his oraison. This ceremony being performed, we proceeded; and, presently, met people coming from all parts, who, on being called to by the attendants, threw themselves prostrate on their faces, till I was out of sight. The ground, through which I passed, was in a state of nature, very stony, and the soil seemed poor. It was, however, covered with shrubs and plants, some of which perfumed the air; with a more delicious fragrancy, than I had met at any other of the islands visited by us in this ocean. Our people, who had been obliged to remain so long on shore, gave me the same account of those parts of the island which they had traversed. They met with several salt ponds, some of which had a little water remaining, but others had none; and the salt that was left in them was so thin, that no great quantity could have been procured. There was no appearance of any running stream; and though they found some small wells, in which the fresh water was tolerably good, it seemed scarce. The habitations of the natives were thinly scattered about; and, it was supposed, that there could not be more than five hundred people upon the island, as the greatest part were seen at the marketing-place of our party, and few found about the houses by those who walked up the country. They had an opportunity of observing the method of living amongst the natives, and it appeared to be decent and cleanly. They did not, however, see any instance of the men and women eating together; and the latter seemed generally associated in companies by themselves. It was found, that they burnt here the oily nuts of the doee dooe for lights in the night, as at Otaheite; and that they baked their hogs in ovens; but, contrary to the practice of the Society and Friendly Islands, split their carcases through their whole length. They met with a positive proof of the existence of the taboo (or as they pronounce it, the tafoo), for one woman fed another who was under that interdiction. They also observed some other mysterious ceremonies; one of which was performed by a woman, who took a small pig, and threw it into the surf, till it was drowned, and then tied up a bundle of wood, which she also disposed of in the same manner. The same woman, at another time, beat with a stick upon a man’s shoulders, who sat down for that purpose. A particular veneration seemed to be paid here to owls, which they have very tame; and it was observed to be a pretty general practice amongst them, to pull out one of their [[25]]teeth; for which old custom, when asked the reason, the only answer that could be got was, that it was teeha, which was also the reason assigned for another of their practices, the giving a lock of their hair.
After the water-casks had been filled and conveyed into the boat, and we had purchased from the natives a few roots, a little salt, and some salted fish, I returned on board with all the people, intending to visit the island the next day. But about seven o’clock in the evening the anchor of the Resolution started, and she drove off the bank. As we had a whole cable out, it was some time before the anchor was at the bows; and then we had the launch to hoist up alongside, before we could make sail. By this unlucky accident, we found ourselves, at day-break next morning, three leagues to the leeward of our last station; and foreseeing that it would require more time to recover it than I chose to spend, I made the signal for the Discovery to weigh and join us. This was done about noon; and we immediately stood away to the northward, in prosecution of our voyage. Thus, after spending more time about these islands, than was necessary to have answered all our purposes, we were obliged to leave them before we had completed our water, and got from them such a quantity of refreshments as their inhabitants were both able and willing to have supplied us with. But, as it was, our ship procured from them provisions, sufficient for three weeks at least; and Captain Clerke, more fortunate than us, got of their vegetable productions, a supply that lasted his people upward of two months. The observations I was enabled to make, combined with those of Mr. Anderson, who was a very useful assistant on all such occasions, will furnish materials for the next chapter.