A New Voyage Round the World, in the years 1823, 24, 25, and 26, Vol. 2

by Otto von Kotzebue

The eleven islands named by Cook after his patron, the Earl of Sandwich, but for which the natives have no common appellation, lie between the nineteenth and twenty-second degrees of north latitude. They are all high and volcanic. O Wahi, the most easterly, and by much the largest, is eighty-seven miles long and seventy-five broad: it has three mountains, which may well bear a comparison with the highest in the world. The climate of these islands is particularly beautiful and healthy. Their population is estimated by Captain King at four hundred thousand; whose colour, form, language, and manners, testify their relationship with the other islanders of this great ocean, though they have very little knowledge of them. Their earliest history consists of traditions of truths interwoven with fables, which ascend to the first peopling of the islands, and are not yet embodied in the relation of any voyage. I have collected them carefully from the accounts of the most distinguished and intelligent man in Hanaruro, my friend Karemaku, a Spaniard named Marini, who had long resided here, assisting as interpreter.

According to a belief not long ago universally prevalent, the mighty spirit Etua-Rono reigned over these islands before they were inhabited by men. Ardently desirous of seeing his country peopled, he was melancholy, and shed torrents of tears on the mountain Mou-na-roa, because he had no offspring; and his loving wife, the beautiful goddess Opuna, was not in a situation to console him. At length Fate heard his prayers. On the south-east point of the island of O Wahi two boats were stranded, having on board some families, who brought with them hogs, fowls, dogs, and several edible roots. To the present day are the first footsteps of man on this land to be seen. Rono was at that time absent, catching fish on the northern islands for his wife. The fire-god, his subject, unpropitious to man, taking advantage of this circumstance, made an effort to repulse the new-comers. He approached them with terrible gestures, and asked whence they came. They answered—"We come from a country which abounds in hogs, dogs, cocoa-nuts, and bread-fruit. We were overtaken by a violent storm when on a voyage to visit some neighbours; and the moon changed five times before we reached this land." They then begged permission to remain, which the fire-god cruelly refused, and continued inexorable, although they offered to sacrifice a hog to him.

Rono, however, observing that a strange smell proceeded from O Wahi, suddenly returned, and was greatly surprised at the sight of the men. Encouraged by his friendly deportment, they made their petition to him, relating the harsh treatment they had endured from the fire-god. Rono, enraged at this intelligence, threw the fire-god into the crater Kairuo, on the side of the mountain Mou-na-roa, where he still chafes in vain. The men now lived tranquilly on O Wahi, increased in numbers, and sought, by great sacrifices, to prove their love and thankfulness to their protector, Etua-Rono. To his honour were established the solemn yearly games called Makahiti, in which whoever obtained the victory in running, wrestling, and warlike evolutions, was crowned with a verdant wreath and presided as king over the ensuing feast.

The other islands were gradually peopled from O Wahi; the number of the gods also increased; but they all remained subject to Etua-Rono.

Mankind had enjoyed a long period of peace and content under the beneficent protection of Rono, when their happiness was suddenly disturbed by a distressing occurrence. The goddess Opuna, the beautiful consort of Rono, degraded herself by a clandestine connexion with a man of O Wahi. Her husband, furious on the discovery of his wrongs, precipitated her from the top of a high rock, and dashed her to pieces; but had scarcely committed this act of violence when, in an agony of repentance, he ran wildly about the islands, bestowing blows and kicks on every one he met. The people, astonished at this frantic behaviour of the god, enquired the reason of it; on which, with the bitterest expression of grief, he exclaimed, "I have murdered her who was dearest to me!" He bore the remains of Opuna into the Marai on the Bay of Karekakua, and there remained a long time sunk in the deepest grief. At length he determined to quit the islands, where every thing reminded him of the happiness he had enjoyed with his beloved wife. The people were overwhelmed with sorrow by the communication of his intention; and he endeavoured to console them with the promise that he would one day return on a floating island, furnished with all that man could desire, and make his favourite people happy. He then embarked in a vessel of peculiar construction, and set sail for a distant country.

With Rono's departure terminated the Golden Age of this island. Wars and tumults arose; the gods still increased in number; but their influence was no longer so friendly to man as when they were under the superintendence of the revered Rono. Now also commenced many evil customs, such as human sacrifices, which had been unknown in the good old time: cannibalism, however, does not appear ever to have disgraced them. A long period elapsed, of which no record remains; and the story is resumed at the landing of five white men in Karekakua Bay, near to the Marai, where the body of the goddess Opuna reposed. The inhabitants supposed them to be superior beings, and offered no opposition when they proceeded to take possession of the Marai, on which holy place they were not only exempted from persecution, but also by the offerings daily placed there before the images of the gods, from any danger of suffering a scarcity of food. Here, then, they lived very comfortably; and from their having, immediately on their arrival, taken up their abode in the Marai, the people, who were all acquainted with the story of Opuna, concluded they were sent thither by Rono, to watch over the grave of his beloved consort. To this opinion they were indebted for a veneration greater than that entertained for the gods themselves. The priests alone had the privilege of providing for their wants, which they did with the utmost care: the people were not even allowed to approach the neighbourhood of the Marai.

The white men, however, soon found their time hang heavy in this entire seclusion, and formed a more intimate connexion with the priests, whom they assisted in the holy rites and ceremonies, and at length even made their appearance among the people: the latter then discovered them to be mortals like themselves, differing only in colour, but still retained a high respect for their superior knowledge and good deportment. Maidens of the highest rank were given to them for wives; and each of them was installed governor of an island. "The descendants of these strangers," said Karemaku, "may still be distinguished by their whiter colour." Here, as at Tahaiti, the Yeris differ from the lower classes in their superior size, and some also by a greater degree of fairness.

The helmets and short mantles which Cook and King have described as worn by this people, were introduced by these white strangers. At first, the kings only appeared in this costume; but in Cook's time it was common also among the Yeris. Now that European fashions have quite banished those of the original inhabitants, it is only preserved and shown to strangers as a relic of the past. The helmet, of wood covered with small red and yellow feathers, and adorned with a plume, perfectly resembles those of the chivalrous knights of yore; and the short mantle, also most ingeniously made with feathers to supply the want of woven stuff, forms a complete representation of the mantles worn by those ancient heroes: hence it is sufficiently evident that the white men who landed on O Wahi were Europeans; and that we are therefore more nearly connected with, at least, a part of the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands, than with the other South Sea islanders.

With the arrival of the white men begins the chronology of O Wahi, from the first white king to Tameamea, making seven successive reigns. During this period, but long before Cook's time, two vessels are said to have been wrecked on the north-east side of O Wahi. Tradition is not unanimous in the account of what became of the crews. According to some, they were lost in the wreck, but others say they were murdered by the natives. My informant, Karemaku, mentioned only one ship, which was seen at a distance; and although the iron anchors found at O Wahi and at Muwe prove that they must have been there, he could give no account of them. It is very probable that the Spaniards, who often made a mystery of their discoveries in the South Seas, already knew of the existence of these islands before their discovery by Cook.