SECTION V.
Arrival at Eimeo.—Two Harbours there, and an Account of them.—Visit from Maheine, Chief of the Island.—His Person described.—A Goat stolen, and sent back with the Thief.—Another Goat stolen, and secreted.—Measures taken on the Occasion.—Expedition cross the Island.—Houses and Canoes burnt.—The Goat delivered up, and Peace restored. Some Account of the Island, &c.
As I did not give up my design of touching at Eimeo, at day-break, in the morning of the 30th, after leaving Otaheite, I stood for the north end of the island; the harbour which I wished to examine being at that part of it. Omai, in his canoe, having arrived there long before us, had taken some necessary measures to shew us the place. However, we were not without pilots, having several men of Otaheite on board, and not a few women. Not caring to trust entirely to these guides, I sent two boats to examine the harbour; and, on their making the signal for safe anchorage, we stood in with the ships, and anchored close up to the head of the inlet, in ten fathoms water, over a bottom of soft mud, and moored with a hawser fast to the shore.
This harbour, which is called Taloo, is situated upon the north side of the island, in the district of Oboonohoo, or Poonohoo. It runs in south, or south by east, between the hills, above two miles. For security and goodness of its bottom, it is not inferior to any harbour that I have met with at any of the islands in this ocean; and it has this advantage over most of them, that a ship can sail in and out, with the reigning trade wind; so that the access and recess are equally easy. There are several rivulets that fall into it. The one, at the head, is so considerable as to admit boats to go a quarter of a mile up, where we found the water perfectly fresh. Its banks are covered with the pooroo tree, as it is called by the natives, which makes good firing, and which they set no value upon; so that wood and water are to be got here with great facility.
On the same side of the island, and about two miles to the eastward, is the harbour of Parowroah, much larger within than that of Taloo; but the entrance, or opening in the reef (for the whole island is surrounded by a reef of coral rock) is considerably narrower, and lies to leeward of the harbour. These two defects are so striking, that the harbour of Taloo must always have a decided preference, It is a little extraordinary, that I should have been three times at Otaheite before, and have once sent a boat to Eimeo, and yet not know till now that there was a harbour in it. On the contrary, I always understood there was not. Whereas, there are not only the two above mentioned, but one or two more on the south side of the island. But these last are not so considerable as the two we have just described.
We had no sooner anchored, than the ships were crowded with the inhabitants, whom curiosity alone brought on board; for they had nothing with them for the purposes of barter. But, the next morning, this deficiency was supplied; several canoes then arriving from more distant parts, which brought with them abundance of bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, and a few hogs. These they exchanged for hatchets, nails, and beads; for red feathers were not so much sought after here as at Otaheite. The ship being a good deal pestered with rats, I hauled her within thirty yards of the shore, as near as the depth of water would allow, and made a path for them to get to the land, by fastening hawsers to the trees. It is said, that this experiment has sometimes succeeded; but, I believe, we got clear of very few, if any, of the numerous tribe that haunted us.[1]
In the morning of the 2d, Maheine, the chief of the island, paid me a visit. He approached the ship with great caution, and it required some persuasion to get him on board. Probably, he was under some apprehensions of mischief from us, as friends of the Otaheitans; these people not being able to comprehend how we can be friends with any one, without adopting, at the same time, his cause against his enemies. Maheine was accompanied by his wife, who, as I was informed, is sister to Oamo, of Otaheite, of whose death we had an account while we were at this island. I made presents to both of them of such things as they seemed to set the highest value upon; and, after a stay of about half-an-hour, they went away. Not long after, they returned with a large hog, which they meant as a return to my present; but I made them another present to the full value of it. After this they paid a visit to Captain Clerke.
This chief who, with a few followers, has made himself, in a manner, independent of Otaheite, is between forty and fifty years old. He is bald-headed, which is rather an uncommon appearance in these islands at that age. He wore a kind of turban, and seemed ashamed to shew his head. But whether they themselves considered this deficiency of hair as a mark of disgrace, or whether they entertained a notion of our considering it as such, I cannot say. We judged that the latter supposition was the truth, from this circumstance, that they had seen us shave the head of one of their people whom we had caught stealing. They therefore concluded, that this was the punishment usually inflicted by us upon all thieves; and one or two of our gentlemen, whose heads were not overburthened with hair, we could observe, lay under violent suspicions of being tetos.
In the evening, Omai and I mounted on horseback, and took a ride along the shore to the eastward. Our train was not very numerous, as Omai had forbid the natives to follow us; and many complied; the fear of giving offence getting the better of their curiosity. Towha had stationed his fleet in this harbour; and though the war lasted but a few days, the marks of its devastation were every where to be seen. The trees were stripped of their fruit; and all the houses in the neighbourhood had been pulled down or burnt.
Having employed two or three days in getting up all our spirit casks to tar their heads, which we found necessary, to save them from the efforts of a small insect to destroy them, we hauled the ship off into the stream, on the 6th, n the morning, intending to put to sea the next day; but an accident happened that prevented it, and gave me a good deal of trouble. We had sent our goats ashore, in the day-time, to graze, with two men to look after them; notwithstanding which precaution, the natives had contrived to steal one of them this evening. The loss of this goat would have been of little consequence, if it had not interfered with my views of stocking other islands with these animals; but this being the case, it became necessary to recover it, if possible. The next morning, we got intelligence that it had been carried to Maheine, the chief, who was at this time at Parowroah harbour. Two old men offered to conduct any of my people, whom I might think proper to send to him, to bring back the goat. Accordingly, I dispatched them in a boat, charged with a threatening message to Maheine, if the goat was not immediately given up to me, and also the thief.