The propensity to theft was as common among the lower classes here, as on the other South Sea islands; and this it was which occasioned the thoughtless severity of Cook, who was always judge in his own cause, and suffered himself to be hurried into unjustifiable acts of violence. Had he been a philanthropist, as well as a great navigator, he would not have lost his life at O Wahi.
The custom of tattooing existed also among the Sandwich Islanders; their faces were frequently marked with lines crossing each other at right angles, and some even had their tongues tattooed; pretty drawings were frequently seen on the hands and arms of the women. The ordinary dress of both sexes was nothing more than a piece of stuff folded round their bodies. The females adorned themselves besides with necklaces of muscle-shells, or little red shining beans, and with bracelets of various ornamental materials; they sometimes wore collars of beautiful feathers ingeniously blended together; their hair was also decorated with feathers and with garlands of flowers.
The Sandwich Islanders lived in villages or little hamlets of from one to two hundred dwellings, standing irregularly, pretty near each other, and communicating by a winding path. Some of them were surrounded by gardens, enclosed with hedges. The food of the lower classes consisted chiefly of fish, yams, sweet potatoes, tarro-root, bananas, sugar-canes, and bread-fruit. Those of higher rank also indulged in pork, and the flesh of dogs, prepared in the same manner as on the Society Islands. The tame poultry of Europe was also found here, but it was scarce, and not very much prized. These people were particularly clean, and their cookery was preferred by Englishmen to that of their own country.
The Yeris were chiefly employed in the building of vessels and the manufacture of mats; the females prepared a stuff of the paper kind, which was so pressed and coloured as to resemble our calico; and fishing or agriculture was the chief business of the servants. These occupations, however, left leisure for various pastimes, particularly dancing, which the young people of both sexes delighted in. Drums of several sorts were their only musical instruments, but their songs were very pleasing. They often played at a game much resembling our draughts; it is played with black and white stones on a piece of board, and from the great number of pieces, seems to require much attention. In another game, a stone was hidden under a large piece of stuff, and the player was to point out the precise spot in which it lay. Running races, in which the girls took part, and apparently dangerous exercises in swimming amidst the surf, were also among their amusements. In wrestling and boxing, they did not display so much strength and skill as the Friendly Islanders. The children often handled their balls with great dexterity, throwing several at once into the air and catching them again.
Their vessels were very well built; the largest, a double one, seventy feet long, twelve broad, and three and a half deep, belonged to Teraiopu. The most remarkable of their utensils were the vessels appropriated to drinking Ava; they were usually eight or ten inches in diameter, perfectly round and very well polished, and were supported by three or four little images of men in various attitudes, sometimes bearing the vessel on their heads, sometimes on their shoulders, or on their hands raised above their heads. These figures were very well executed, the proportions correctly preserved, and even the proper action of the muscles well defined.
Among the arts in which the Sandwich Islanders excelled, was that of preparing salt: the English obtained from them a large quantity of the best kind. Their arms consisted of clubs, lances, and daggers, made of hard wood. War was of frequent occurrence amongst the inhabitants of the several islands; the battles were often very bloody, and usually at sea, the vessels grappling. The Yeris, when they went to battle, wore the decorated helmets already described, and the mantles covered with black, red, and yellow feathers: those of the Yerirahis, or kings, were of yellow only. Images of the god of war, cut in wood; dreadful caricatures of the human figure in a threatening posture, the mouth open and armed with dogs' teeth, were always carried before the kings into battle; and the chief aim of the enemy was to capture them, as this achievement usually put an end to the war. A part of the prisoners were sacrificed to the gods; but as the shedding of blood in this rite was forbidden, they were strangled, and laid down before the images of the gods in the Marai, with their faces turned to the earth.
The burial of the dead was a very sacred ceremony, and accompanied with many forms. The corpse was laid in a pit till the flesh decayed, the bones were then cleaned, and a part of them distributed among the relations and friends to be preserved as relics, part laid in consecrated ground. Dying persons sometimes desired that their bones should be thrown into the crater of the volcano at O Wahi, which was inhabited by the revered god Pelai. It has already been mentioned, that the women were prohibited from eating many kinds of food; they were also forbidden, under pain of death, to enter a house where the men were eating, and they were entirely secluded from the Marais; with these exceptions, they enjoyed great freedom, and even had a voice in the deliberations concerning war and peace.
The religious regulation of the Tabu, or interdict, existed here as well as on many other of the South Sea islands. A person declared under a Tabu was inviolable; a piece of land under a Tabu must not be trodden by any one; nor must a species of animal so declared, be injured or shot until the Tabu was again taken off. Thus Tameamea declared the diamond mountain under the Tabu, because an Englishman, finding there a piece of quartz-crystal, considered it to be diamond; and the King, finding these were of great value, supposed he possessed in the mountain an inexhaustible treasure, till he discovered his mistake, and the Tabu was taken off.
The vessels first seen by the Sandwich Islanders must have been very small, for when Cook's appeared, they took her for a swimming island, and believed that Etua-Rono, for whom they always retained the most profound veneration, had at length fulfilled his promise and returned to them. The joy was universal; and it was determined to receive the beneficent god, so long absent, who was to restore the Golden Age upon the island, with all possible honours. Neither Cook nor his companion seemed to have had any notion that they were saluted with divine honours; but they considered the ceremonies enacted by the rejoicing people as marks of distinction commonly bestowed on persons of importance. His being called by them "O Rono," (the Rono) did not enlighten him on the subject, as he was unacquainted with the tradition; but he contented himself with the conjecture, that the appellation was a title of honour, signifying chief or priest. Had the conduct of Cook made it possible for the islanders to retain their beneficial error, the good understanding between them and the English would never have been interrupted; but he himself was the first to convince them that he could not be their divine benefactor.
Some of the populace conceived themselves entitled to appropriate a portion of the presents which Rono, according to his promise, had brought them—a licence which was immediately punished by Cook with great severity: the offenders taken in the fact were whipped; those who fled were fired upon; and several persons, some of whom were innocent, lost their lives. Rono could not be so cruel and unjust; and Tute, as they called Cook, immediately sunk in their estimation to the rank of ordinary mortals. He was henceforth feared as a mighty chief, but venerated no longer. This change of sentiment was very evident when he returned hither from his voyage northward. The islanders met the ship as before, with hogs and fruits; but they set a price upon them, instead of presenting them, as formerly, in the character of offerings, and accepting the returns made them as gratuitous gifts. Finding that they obtained what appeared to them an exorbitant price for their provisions, they supposed the strangers to come from a land of scarcity for the mere purpose of satisfying their appetites; and the common people wholly ceasing to regard them with reverence, became bolder in their depredations. The King, the Priests, and many of the principal Yeris, still however continued firm in their attachment to the English. A Yeri, named Parea, gave a striking proof of this kindly disposition, which Captain King has thus related:—Some Kanackas, having stolen certain articles, were pursued with muskets; and though every thing was recovered, an English officer thought himself justified in taking possession of a canoe lying on the shore belonging to Parea, who, being perfectly innocent of the theft, reclaimed his property. The officer refused to surrender it; and in the subsequent contest, Parea received so violent a blow on the head with an oar, that he fell senseless to the ground. In the mean time the islanders had assembled, and, irritated at this undeserved outrage on a chief, began to throw stones at the English, who were obliged to swim to a neighbouring rock for safety. The victorious people, thus left in possession of the field of battle, fell upon the English boat, which they would have destroyed but for the interposition of Parea, who had now recovered his senses. He dispersed the crowd, made a signal to the English that they might return, restored their boat, and sent them back in it to their ship. Parea afterwards followed them, taking with him a midshipman's hat, and some other trifles which were missing; expressed his sorrow for the dispute that had arisen, and inquired whether O Rono desired his death, or whether he might come again to the ship.—(It appeared from this that he still looked upon Cook as the deity, or at least affected this belief to propitiate the English.)—He was assured that he had nothing to fear, and would always be welcome; he then touched the nose of the officers, in sign of amity and reconciliation, and returned to land.