To these instruments they sing; and, as I have observed before, their songs are often extempore: They call every two verses or couplet a song, Pehay; they are generally, though not always, in rhyme; and when pronounced by the natives, we could discover that they were metre. Mr Banks took great pains to write down some of them which were made upon our arrival, as nearly as he could express their sounds by combinations of our letters; but when we read them, not having their accent, we could scarcely make them either metre or rhyme. The reader will easily perceive that they are of very different structure.
Tede pahai de parow-a
Ha maru no mina.
E pahah Tayo malama tai ya
No Tabane tonatou whannomi ya.
E Turai eattu terara patee whannua toai
Ino o maio Pretane to whennuaia no Tute.
Of these verses our knowledge of the language is too imperfect to attempt a translation. They frequently amuse themselves by singing such couplets as these when they are alone, or with their families, especially after it is dark; for though they need no fires, they are not without the comfort of artificial light between sunset and bed-time. Their candles are made of the kernels of a kind of oily nut, which they stick one over another upon a skewer that is thrust through the middle of them; the upper one being lighted, burns down to the second, at the same time consuming that part of the skewer which goes through it; the second taking fire burns in the same manner down to the third, and so of the rest: Some of these candles will burn a considerable time, and they give a very tolerable light. They do not often sit up above an hour after it is dark; but when they have strangers who sleep in the house, they generally keep a light burning all night, possibly as a check upon such of the women as they wish not to honour them with their favours.[13]
[Footnote 13: The reader, in perusing the above account of the Otaheitan evening-recreation, will readily recollect what Mr Park has so affectingly told of the song of the African woman, of which he was made the subject. Harmony, that "sovereign of the willing mind," as Mr Gray denominates it, was both known and worshipped at this island, and that too, by the very same rites which are so generally practised throughout the world--regularity of measures, and the frequent recurrence of similar sounds--
She deigns to hear the savage youth repeat,
--E.]
In loose numbers wildly sweet,
Their feather-cinctured chiefs and dusky loves.
Her track, where'er the Goddess roves,
Glory pursue, and generous shame,
The unconquerable mind, and freedom's holy flame.
Of their itinerary concerts I need add nothing to what has been said already; especially as I shall have occasion, more particularly, to mention them when I relate our adventures upon another island.
In other countries, the girls and unmarried women are supposed to be wholly ignorant of what others upon some occasions may appear to know; and their conduct and conversation are consequently restrained within narrower bounds, and kept at a more remote distance from whatever relates to a connection with the other sex: But here, it is just contrary. Among other diversions, there is a dance, called Timorodee, which is performed by young girls, whenever eight or ten of them can be collected together, consisting of motions and gestures beyond imagination wanton, in the practice of which they are brought up from their earliest childhood, accompanied by words, which, if it were possible, would more explicitly convey the same ideas. In these dances they keep time with an exactness which is scarcely excelled by the best performers upon the stages of Europe. But the practice which is allowed to the virgin, is prohibited to the woman from the moment that she has put these hopeful lessons in practice, and realized the symbols of the dance.[14]
[Footnote 14: If it be considered that in Otaheite women are very early marriageable, and that families are easily reared, one will not find cause for censuring the impolicy, whatever is thought of the immodesty, according to our notions, of the kind of dances here mentioned. It seems reasonable enough, that the girls should be instructed in the only arts requisite to obtain the affections of the other sex. Can it be said, that the system of female education established in our own country, is half so judicious, which prescribes a series of instructions in drawing and music, velvet-painting, &c. to girls who, it is morally certain, will never have the least occasion for them, and who, whatever excellence they attain, totally abandon them on the day they happen to change their names? Or shall we say, these things are like the gestures of the Otaheitan damsels, merely symbols used as snares for the careless beaux, who pretend to taste and fashion, and indicative of the indolence and extravagance which are to succeed the marriage ceremony? The fact is, and it is foolish to attempt concealing it, that women in general have a nature so ductile as to be quite readily fashioned to any model which is conceived agreeable to the other sex, and that they all have sufficient sagacity to practise the arts in demand, till they have accomplished the destiny of their constitution. On the supposition that these arts are equally commensurate to their object, it may well be asked, why some should be condemned and not others--or what authority any people have to reproach the current allurements of another? In the eyes of an impartial spectator, if we can suppose there really is one, all of them must appear alike as to nature and origin, and to differ only in respect of adaptation to the ends in view. He would consider them all as signs, merely more or less expressive, and might be induced to censure most strongly, if he censured at all, the people who, in using them, affected the closest concealment of the purposes intended by them. A philosopher ought never to lose sight of this maxim, that human nature is essentially the same throughout the world, and that all the desires and passions belonging to it have the same origin, and are equally good or bad as to morality; from which it follows, that customs and manners are to be judged of not so much by what is known or imagined of the sources of them, as by what is evident or may be discovered of their effects on society. On this principle, it is strictly demonstrable, that in such a state of things as exists in our own country at present, certain appearances and modes of dress adopted by our women, are actually more injurious, and of course more criminal, than the dancing gestures mentioned in the text. Any lady that can expose her breasts to the gaze of one and all of our public companies, has an undoubted right to be considered as possessing the same feelings and propensities as the lewd girls of Otaheite; but then she is not entitled to censure, however she may envy, their happier exertions and success. She ought to know, that unless our taxes are removed, and the bread-fruit is naturalized among us, it is impossible for her to have so speedy a redemption from the estate of "solitary blessedness;" and that as many of her elder sisters still feel the necessity of practising patience in the same condition, it is very incumbent on her to learn by times a little self-controul. Besides, she ought, in charity to the other sex, to remember, that even the "concealed magic" of her manner, as Mr Hume expresses it, and which he says is easily explained, is abundantly efficacious without further disclosure than common necessity requires.--E.]
It cannot be supposed that, among these people, chastity is held in much estimation. It might be expected that sisters and daughters would be offered to strangers, either as a courtesy, or for reward; and that breaches of conjugal fidelity, even in the wife, should not be otherwise punished than by a few hard words, or perhaps a slight beating, as indeed is the case: But there is a scale in dissolute sensuality, which these people have ascended, wholly unknown to every other nation whose manners have been recorded from the beginning of the world to the present hour, and which no imagination could possibly conceive.
A very considerable number of the principal people of Otaheite, of both sexes, have formed themselves into a society, in which every woman is common to every man; thus securing a perpetual variety as often as their inclination prompts them to seek it, which is so frequent, that the same man and woman seldom cohabit together more than two or three days.
These societies are distinguished by the name of Arreoy; and the members have meetings, at which no other is present, where the men amuse themselves by wrestling, and the women, notwithstanding their occasional connection with different men, dance the Timorodee in all its latitude, as an incitement to desires, which, it is said, are frequently gratified upon the spot. This, however, is comparatively nothing. If any of the women happen to be with child, which in this manner of life happens less frequently than if they were to cohabit only with one man, the poor infant is smothered the moment it is born, that it may be no incumbrance to the father, nor interrupt the mother in the pleasures of her diabolical prostitution. It sometimes indeed happens, that the passion which prompts a woman to enter into this society, is surmounted when she becomes a mother, by that instinctive affection which Nature has given to all creatures for the preservation of their offspring; but even in this case, she is not permitted to spare the life of her infant, except she can find a man who will patronise it as his child: If this can be done, the murder is prevented; but both the man and woman, being deemed by this act to have appropriated each other, are ejected from the community, and forfeit all claim to the privileges and pleasures of the Arreoy for the future; the woman from that time being distinguished by the term Whannownow, "bearer of children," which is here a term of reproach; though none can be more honourable in the estimation of wisdom and humanity, of right reason, and every passion that distinguishes the man from the brute.