The next morning I went on shore with a guard of eight marines, including the corporal and lieutenant, having orders to erect the observatory in such a situation as might best enable me to superintend and protect the waterers, and the other working parties that were to be on shore. As we were viewing a spot conveniently situated for this purpose, in the middle of the village, Pareea, who was always ready to show both his power and his good-will, offered to pull down some houses that would have obstructed our observations. However, we thought it proper to decline this offer, and fixed on a field of sweet potatoes adjoining to the Morai, which was readily granted us; and the priests, to prevent the intrusion of the natives, immediately consecrated the place, by fixing their wands round the wall by which it was inclosed.
This sort of religious interdiction they call taboo; a word we heard often repeated during our stay amongst these islanders, and found to be of very powerful and extensive operation. A more particular explanation of it will be given in the general account of these islands, under the article of religion; at present it is only necessary to observe, that it procured us even more privacy than we desired. No canoes ever presumed to land near us; the natives sat on the wall, but none offered to come within the tabooed space, till he had obtained our permission. But though the men, at our request, would come across the field with provisions, yet not all our endeavours could prevail on the women to approach us. Presents were tried, but without effect; Pareea and Koah were tempted to bring them, but in vain; we were invariably answered, that the Eatooa and Terreeoboo (which was the name of their king) would kill them. This circumstance afforded no small matter of amusement to our friends on board, where the crowds of people, and particularly of women, that continued to flock thither, obliged them almost every hour to clear the vessel, in order to have room to do the necessary duties of the ship. On these occasions, two or three hundred women were frequently made to jump into the water at once, where they continued swimming and playing about, till they could again procure admittance.
From the 19th to the 24th, when Pareea and Koah left us to attend Terreeoboo, who had landed on some other part of the island, nothing very material happened on board. The caulkers were set to work on the sides of the ships, and the rigging was carefully overhauled and repaired. The salting of hogs for sea-store was also a constant, and one of the principal objects of Captain Cook’s attention. As the success we met with in this experiment, during our present voyage, was much more complete than it had been in any former attempt of the same kind, it may not be improper to give an account of the detail of the operation.
It has generally been thought impracticable to cure the flesh of animals by salting, in tropical climates; the progress of putrefaction being so rapid, as not to allow time for the salt to take (as they express it) before the meat gets a taint, which prevents the effect of the pickle. We do not find that experiments relative to this subject have been made by the navigators of any nation before Captain Cook. In his first trials, which were made in 1774, during his second voyage to the Pacific Ocean, the success he met with, though very imperfect, was yet sufficient to convince him of the error of the received opinion. As the voyage, in which he was now engaged, was likely to be protracted a year beyond the time for which the ships had been victualled, he was under the necessity of providing, by some such means, for the subsistence of the crews, or of relinquishing the further prosecution of his discoveries. He therefore lost no opportunity of renewing his attempts, and the event answered his most sanguine expectations.
The hogs, which we made use of for this purpose, were of various sizes, weighing from four to twelve stone.[[4]] The time of slaughtering was always in the afternoon; and as soon as the hair was scalded off, and the entrails removed, the hog was divided into pieces of four or eight pounds each, and the bones of the legs and chine taken out; and, in the larger sort, the ribs also. Every piece then being carefully wiped and examined, and the veins cleared of the coagulated blood, they were handed to the salters, whilst the flesh remained still warm. After they had been well rubbed with salt, they were placed in a heap, on a stage raised in the open air, covered with planks, and pressed with the heaviest weights we could lay on them. In this situation they remained till the next evening, when they were again well wiped and examined, and the suspicious parts taken away. They were then put into a tub of strong pickle, where they were always looked over once or twice a day, and if any piece had not taken the salt, which was readily discovered by the smell of the pickle, they were immediately taken out, re-examined, and the sound pieces put to fresh pickle. This, however, after the precautions before used, seldom happened. After six days, they were taken out, examined for the last time, and being again slightly pressed, they were packed in barrels, with a thin layer of salt between them. I brought home with me some barrels of this pork, which was pickled at Owhyhee in January 1779, and was tasted by several persons in England, about Christmas 1780, and found perfectly sound and wholesome.[[5]]
I shall now return to our transactions on shore at the observatory, where we had not been long settled, before we discovered, in our neighbourhood, the habitations of a society of priests, whose regular attendance at the Morai had excited our curiosity. Their huts stood round a pond of water, and were surrounded by a grove of cocoa-nut trees, which separated them from the beach and the rest of the village, and gave the place an air of religious retirement. On my acquainting Captain Cook with these circumstances, he resolved to pay them a visit; and as he expected to be received in the same manner as before, he brought Mr. Webber with him to make a drawing of the ceremony.
On his arrival at the beach, he was conducted to a sacred building called Harre-no-Orono, or the house of Orono, and seated before the entrance, at the foot of a wooden idol, of the same kind with those on the Morai. I was here again made to support one of his arms, and after wrapping him in red cloth, Kaireekeea, accompanied by twelve priests, made an offering of a pig with the usual solemnities. The pig was then strangled, and a fire being kindled, it was thrown into the embers, and after the hair was singed off, it was again presented, with a repetition of the chanting, in the manner before described. The dead pig was then held for a short time under the Captain’s nose; after which it was laid, with a cocoa-nut, at his feet, and the performers sat down. The ava was then brewed, and handed round; a fat hog, ready dressed, was brought in; and we were fed as before.
During the rest of the time we remained in the bay, whenever Captain Cook came on shore, he was attended by one of these priests, who went before him, giving notice that the Orono had landed, and ordering the people to prostrate themselves. The same person also constantly accompanied him on the water, standing in the bow of the boat, with a wand in his hand, and giving notice of his approach to the natives, who were in canoes, on which they immediately left off paddling, and lay down on their faces till he had passed. Whenever he stopped at the observatory, Kaireekeea and his brethren immediately made their appearance with hogs, cocoa-nuts, bread-fruit, &c. and presented them with the usual solemnities. It was on these occasions that some of the inferior chiefs frequently requested to be permitted to make an offering to the Orono. When this was granted, they presented the hog themselves, generally with evident marks of fear in their countenances; whilst Kaireekeea and the priests chanted their accustomed hymns.
The civilities of this society were not, however, confined to mere ceremony and parade. Our party on shore received from them, every day, a constant supply of hogs and vegetables, more than sufficient for our subsistence; and several canoes loaded with provisions were sent to the ships with the same punctuality. No return was ever demanded, or even hinted at in the most distant manner. Their presents were made with a regularity, more like the discharge of a religious duty, than the effect of mere liberality; and when we enquired at whose charge all this munificence was displayed, we were told, it was at the expence of a great man called Kaoo, the chief of the priests, and grandfather to Kaireekeea, who was at that time absent attending the king of the island.
As every thing relating to the character and behaviour of this people must be interesting to the reader, on account of the tragedy that was afterwards acted here, it will be proper to acquaint him, that we had not always so much reason to be satisfied with the conduct of the warrior chiefs, or Earees, as with that of the priests. In all our dealings with the former, we found them sufficiently attentive to their own interests; and besides their habit of stealing, which may admit of some excuse, from the universality of the practice amongst the islanders of these seas, they made use of other artifices equally dishonourable. I shall only mention one instance, in which we discovered, with regret, our friend Koah to be a party principally concerned. As the chiefs, who brought us presents of hogs, were always sent back handsomely rewarded, we had generally a greater supply than we could make use of. On these occasions, Koah, who never failed in his attendance on us, used to beg such as we did not want, and they were always given to him. It one day happened, that a pig was presented us by a man whom Koah himself introduced as a chief, who was desirous of paying his respects, and we recollected the pig to be the same that had been given to Koah just before. This leading us to suspect some trick, we found, on further enquiry, the pretended chief to be an ordinary person; and on connecting this with other circumstances, we had reason to suspect, that it was not the first time we had been the dupes of the like imposition.