About one o'clock they began the mai, or dances; the first of which was almost a copy of the first that was exhibited at Mareewagee's entertainment. The second was conducted by Captain Furneaux's Toobou, who, as we mentioned, had also danced there; and in this, four or five women were introduced, who went through the several parts with as much exactness as the men. Toward the end, the performers divided to leave room for two champions, who exercised their clubs, as described on a former occasion. And, in the third dance, which was the last now presented, two more men, with their clubs, displayed their dexterity. The dances were succeeded by wrestling and boxing; and one man entered the lists with a sort of club, made from the stem of a cocoa-leaf, which is firm and heavy; but could find no antagonist to engage him at so rough a sport. At night we had the bomai repeated; in which Poulaho himself danced, dressed in English manufacture. But neither these, nor the dances in the daytime, were so considerable, nor carried on with so much spirit, as Feenou's, or Mareewagee's; and, therefore, there is less occasion to be more particular in our description of them.
In order to be present the whole time, I dined ashore. The king sat down with us, but he neither ate nor drank. I found that this was owing to the presence of a female, whom, at his desire, I had admitted to the dining-party; and who, as we afterward understood, had superior rank to himself. As soon as this great personage had dined, she stepped up to the king, who put his hands to her feet, and then she retired. He immediately dipped his fingers into a glass of wine, and then received the obeisance of all her followers. This was the single instance we ever observed of his paying this mark of reverence to any person. At the king's desire, I ordered some fire-works to be played off in the evening; but, unfortunately, being damaged; this exhibition did not answer expectation.
SECTION VIII.
Some of the Officers plundered by the Natives.--A fishing Party.--A Visit to Poulaho.--A Fiatooka described.--Observations on the Country Entertainments at Poulaho's House.--His Mourning Ceremony.--Of the Kava Plant, and the Manner of preparing the Liquor.--Account of Onevy, a little Island.--One of the Natives wounded by a Sentinel.--Messrs King and Anderson visit the Kings Brother.--Their Entertainment.--Another Mourning Ceremony.--Manner of passing the Night.--Remarks on the Country they passed through.--Preparations made for Sailing.--An Eclipse of the Sun, imperfectly observed.--Mr Anderson's Account of the Island, and its Productions.
As no more entertainments were to be expected on either side, and the curiosity of the populace was, by this time, pretty well satisfied, on the day after Poulaho's haiva, most of them left us. We still, however, had thieves about us; and, encouraged by the negligence of our own people, we had continual instances of their depredations.
Some of the officers, belonging to both ships, who had made an excursion into the interior parts of the island, without my leave, and, indeed, without my knowledge, returned this evening, after an absence of two days. They had taken with them their musquets, with the necessary ammunition, and several small articles of the favourite commodities; all which the natives had the dexterity to steal from them in the course of their expedition. This affair was likely to be attended with inconvenient consequences. For our plundered travellers, upon their return, without consulting me, employed Omai to complain to the king of the treatment they had met with. He, not knowing what step I should take, and, from what had already happened, fearing lest I might lay him again under restraint, went off early the next morning. His example was followed by Feenou; so that we had not a chief of any authority remaining in our neighbourhood. I was very much displeased at this, and reprimanded Omai for having presumed to meddle. This reprimand put him upon his mettle to bring his friend Feenou hack; and he succeeded in the negociation, having this powerful argument to urge, that he might depend upon my using no violent measures to oblige the natives to restore what had been taken from the gentlemen. Feenou, trusting to this declaration, returned toward the evening; and, encouraged by the reception, Poulaho favoured us with his company the day after. Both these chiefs, upon this occasion, very justly observed to me, that, if any of my people, at any time, wanted to go into the country, they ought to be acquainted with it; in which case they would send proper people along with them; and then they would be answerable for their safety. And I am convinced, from experience, that, by taking this very reasonable precaution, a man and his property may be as safe among these islanders, as in other parts of the more civilized world. Though I gave myself no trouble about the recovery of the things stolen upon this occasion, most of them, through Feenou's interposition, were recovered, except one musquet, and a few other articles of inferior value. By this time, also, we had recovered the turkey-cock, and most of the tools, and other matters, that had been stolen from our workmen.
On the 25th, two boats, which I had sent to look for a channel, by which we might, most commodiously, get to sea, returned. The masters, who commanded them, reported, that the channel to the north, by which we came in, was highly dangerous, being full of coral rocks from one side to the other; but that, to the eastward, there was a very good channel, which, however, was very much contracted in one place by the small islands, so that a leading wind would be requisite to get through it; that is, a westerly wind, which, we had found, did not often blow here. We had now recruited the ships with wood and water, we had finished the repairs of our sails, and had little more to expect from the inhabitants of the produce of their island. However, as an eclipse of the sun was to happen upon the 5th of next month, I resolved to defer sailing till that time had elapsed, in order to have a chance of observing it.
Having, therefore, some days of leisure before me, a party of us, accompanied by Poulaho, set out, early next morning, in a boat for Mooa, the village where he and the other great men usually reside. As we rowed up the inlet, we met with fourteen canoes fishing in company, in one of which was Poulaho's son. In each canoe was a triangular net, extended between two poles; at the lower end of which was a cod to receive and secure the fish. They had already caught some fine mullets, and they put about a dozen into our boat. I desired to see their method of fishing, which they readily complied with. A shoal of fish was supposed to be upon one of the banks, which they instantly inclosed in a long net like a seine, or set-net. This the fishers, one getting into the water out of each boat, surrounded with the triangular nets in their hands, with which they scooped the fish out of the seine, or caught them as they attempted to leap over it. They shewed us the whole process of this operation, (which seemed to be a sure one,) by throwing in some of the fish they had already caught; for, at this time, there happened to be none upon the bank that was inclosed.
Leaving the prince and his fishing party, we proceeded to the bottom of the bay, and landed where we had done before, on our fruitless errand to see Mareewagee. As soon as we got on shore, the king desired Omai to tell me, that I need be under no apprehensions about the boat, or any thing in her, for not a single article would be touched by any one; and we afterward found this to be the case. We were immediately conducted to one of Poulaho's houses not far off, and near the public one, or malaee, in which we had been, when we first visited Mooa. This, though pretty large, seemed to be his private habitation, and was situated within a plantation. The king took his seat at one end of the house, and the people who came to visit him, sat down, as they arrived, in a semicircle at the other end. The first thing done, was to prepare a bowl of kava, and to order some yams to be baked for us. While these were getting ready, some of us, accompanied by a few of the king's attendants, and Omai as our interpreter, walked out to take a view of a fiatooka, or burying-place, which we had observed to be almost close by the house, and was much more extensive, and seemingly of more consequence, than any we had seen at the other islands. We were told that it belonged to the king. It consisted of three pretty large houses, situated upon a rising ground, or rather just by the brink of it, with a small one at some distance, all ranged longitudinally. The middle house of the three first, was by much the largest, and placed in a square, twenty-four paces by twenty-eight, raised about three feet. The other houses were placed on little mounts, raised artificially to the same height. The floors of these houses, as also the tops of the mounts round them, were covered with loose, fine pebbles, and the whole was inclosed by large flat stones[167] of hard coral rock, properly hewn, placed on their edges, one of which stones measured twelve feet in length, two in breadth, and above one in thickness. One of the houses, contrary to what we had seen before, was open on one side; and within it were two rude wooden busts of men, one near the entrance, and the other farther in. On enquiring of the natives, who had followed us to the ground, but durst not enter here, What these images were intended for? they made us as sensible as we could wish, that they were merely memorials of some chiefs who had been buried there, and not the representations of any deity. Such monuments, it should seem, are seldom raised; for these had, probably, been erected several ages ago. We were told that the dead had been buried in each of these houses, but no marks of this appeared. In one of them, was the carved head of an Otaheite canoe, which had been driven ashore on their coast, and deposited here. At the foot of the rising ground, was a large area, or grass-plot, with different trees planted about it, amongst which were several of those called etoa, very large. These, as they resemble the cypress, had a fine effect in such a place. There was, also, a row of low palms near one of the houses, and behind it a ditch, in which lay a great number of old baskets.
[Footnote 167: The burying places of the chiefs at the Caroline Islands, are also inclosed in this manner. See Lettres Edifiantes & Curiouses, tom. xv. p. 309.--D.]