Feet. Inches.
Extreme length from stem to stern, not reckoning
the bending up of either 51 0
Breadth in the clear of the top forward 1 3
Breadth in the midships 1 6
Breadth aft 1 3
In the bilge forward 2 8
In the midships 2 11
Aft 2 9
Depth in the midships 8 4
Height from the ground on which she stood 3 6
Height of her head from the ground, without the
figure 4 4
Height of the figure 0 11
Height of the stern from the ground 8 9
Height of the figure 2 0
The first stage, or keel, is made of a tree hollowed out like a trough; for which the longest trees are chosen that can be got, so that there are never more than three in the whole length: The next stage is formed of straight plank, about four feet long, fifteen inches broad, and two inches thick: The third stage, is, like the bottom, made of trunks, hollowed into its bilging form; the last is also cut out of trunks, so that the moulding is of one piece with the upright. To form these parts separately, without saw, plane, chissel, or any other iron tool, may well be thought no easy task; but the great difficulty is to join them together.
When all the parts are prepared, the keel is laid upon blocks, and the planks being supported by stanchions, are sewed or clamped together with strong thongs of plaiting, which are passed several times through holes that are bored with a gouge or auger of bone, that has been described already; and the nicety with which this is done, may be inferred from their being sufficiently water-tight for use without caulking. As the platting soon rots in the water, it is renewed at least once a-year; in order to which, the vessel is taken entirely to pieces. The head and stern are rude with respect to the design; but very neatly finished, and polished to the highest degree.
These Pahies are kept with great care, in a kind of house built on purpose for their reception; the houses are formed of poles set upright in the ground, the tops of which are drawn towards each other, and fastened together with their strongest cord, so as to form a kind of Gothic arch, which is completely thatched quite to the ground, being open only at the ends; they are sometimes fifty or sixty paces long.
As connected with the navigation of these people, I shall mention their wonderful sagacity in foretelling the weather, at least the quarter from which the wind shall blow at a future time; they have several ways of doing this, of which however I know but one. "They say, that the Milky-way, is always curved laterally; but sometimes, in one direction, and sometimes in another: And that this curvature is the effect of its being already acted upon by the wind, and its hollow part therefore towards it; so that, if the same curvature continues a night, a corresponding wind certainly blows the next day. Of their rules, I shall not pretend to judge; but I know that, by whatever means, they can predict the weather, at least the wind, with much greater certainty than we can. [21]
[Footnote 21: It is injudicious and unphilosophical to slight the observations of the vulgar on subjects level to their capacities and habits of thought. But, on the other hand, it is almost always necessary to distrust their reasonings and theories about them. This is one of the cases in which both cautions are to be practised. The common people in all countries are more accustomed to make remarks upon the weather, than those who are given to literary or scientific pursuits. It would be worth some person's while to make a collection of their observations on the subject. For a man of science, learning, and ingenuity, no one perhaps has paid more attention to the signs of the weather than Mr Jones,--See his Physiological Disquisitions, published at London 1781.--E.]
In their longer voyages, they steer by the sun in the day, and in the night by the stars; all of which they distinguish separately by names, and know in what part of the heavens they will appear in any of the months during which they are visible in their horizon; they also know the time of their annual appearing and disappearing with more precision than will easily be believed by an European astronomer.[22]
[Footnote 22: Mr Bryan Edwards has been at pains to compare together the Otaheitans and the original inhabitants of some of the West India islands. On the whole, he gives the preference to the latter. But he is far indeed from being unjust to the former, in the description he has given of them. A few quotations may be made from his work, to the edification of the reader, and it is conceived, that though some of them seem to respect subjects discussed in the next chapter, this is the best place for giving them. "Having mentioned the natives of the South-Sea Islands, I cannot but advert to the wonderful similarity observable, in many respects, between our ill-fated West Indians and that placid people. The same frank and affectionate temper, the same cheerful simplicity, gentleness, and candour;--a behaviour, devoid of meanness and treachery, of cruelty and revenge, are apparent in the character of both; and although placed at so great a distance from each other, and divided by the intervention of the American continent, we may trace a resemblance even in many of their customs and institutions; their national songs and dances, their domestic economy, their system of government, and their funeral ceremonies. I pretend not, however, to affirm that this resemblance is so exact as to create the presumption of common origin. The affinity perceivable in the dispositions and virtues of these widely-separated tribes, arose probably from a similarity in their circumstances and situation, operating on the general principles of human nature. Placed alike in a happy medium; between savage life, properly so called, and the refinements of polished society, they are found equally exempt from the sordid corporeal distresses and sanguinary passions of the former state, and from the artificial necessities, the restraints, and solicitudes of the latter."--"In those inventions and arts, which, varying the enjoyments, add considerably to the value of life, I believe the Otaheitans were in general somewhat behind our islanders; in agriculture they were particularly so. The great support of the inferior territories of the South-sea consists of the bread-fruit and the plantain; both which flourish there spontaneously; and although the inhabitants have likewise plantations of yams, and other excellent roots, yet the cultivation of none of them appears to be as extensive as was that of the maize in the West Indies, or to display equal skill with the preparation of the Cassavi-bread from the maniock. The West Indians, notwithstanding that they possessed almost every variety of vegetable nature which grew in the countries I have mentioned, the bread-fruit excepted, raised also both the maize and the maniock in great abundance; and they had acquired the skill of watering their lands from distant rivers, in time of drought. It may likewise be observed, that although the Otaheitans possess the shrub which produces cotton, they neither improve it by culture, nor have the knowledge of converting its wool into cloth, but content themselves with a far meaner production as a substitute. Our islanders had not only the skill of making excellent cloth from their cotton, but they practised also the arts of dying it, with a variety of colours, some of them of the utmost brilliancy and beauty. In the science of shipbuilding (if the construction of such vessels as either people used may be distinguished with that appellation) the superiority is on the side of the Otaheitans; yet the piraguas of the West Indians were fully sufficient for the navigation they were employed in, and indeed were by no means contemptible sea-boats."--"On the other hand, our islanders far surpassed the people of Otaheite, in the elegance and variety of their domestic utensils and furniture; their earthen-ware, curiously woven beds, and implements of husbandry." For the particulars of the comparison here entered into, the reader who is interested will have recourse to the work itself, in which, besides, he will find several circumstances related of another people, the Charaibes, which much resemble what he has now read in the account of the Otaheitans. This note is already too large to admit of their being specified in any satisfactory manner, and it was thought improper to be continually calling off the attention of the reader, from the text, to smaller notes at the individual instances.--E.]
SECTION XIX.
Of the Division of Time in Otaheile; Numeration, Computation of Distance, Language, Diseases, Disposal of the Dead, Religion, War, Weapons, and Government; with some general Observations for the Use of future Navigators.