A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16

by Robert Kerr

While I was at Otaheite, I had learned that my old friend Oree was no longer the chief of Huaheine; and that, at this time, he resided at Ulietea. Indeed, he never had been more than regent during the minority of Taireetareea, the present earee rahie; but he did not give up the regency till he was forced. His two sons, Opoony and Towha, were the first who paid me a visit, coming on board before the ship was well in the harbour, and bringing a present with them.

Our arrival brought all the principal people of the island to our ships, on the next morning, being the 13th. This was just what I wished, as it was high time to think of settling Omai; and the presence of these chiefs, I guessed, would enable me to do it in the most satisfactory manner. He now seemed to have an inclination to establish himself at Ulietea; and if he and I could have agreed about the mode of bringing that plan to bear, I should have had no objection to adopt it. His father had been dispossessed by the men of Bolabola, when they conquered Ulietea, of some land in that island; and I made no doubt of being able to get it restored to the son in an amicable manner. For that purpose it was necessary that he should be upon good terms with those who now were masters of the island; but he was too great a patriot to listen to any such thing; and was vain enough to suppose that I would reinstate him in his forfeited lands by force. This made it impossible to fix him at Ulietea, and pointed out to me Huaheine as the proper place. I, therefore, resolved to avail myself of the presence of the chief men of the island, and to make this proposal to them.

After the hurry of the morning was over, we got ready to pay a formal visit to Taireetareea, meaning then to introduce this business. Omai dressed himself very properly on the occasion, and prepared a handsome present for the chief himself, and another for his eatooa. Indeed, after he had got clear of the gang that surrounded him at Otaheite, he behaved with such prudence as to gain respect. Our landing drew most of our visitors from the ships; and they, as well as those that were on shore, assembled in a large house. The concourse of people, on this occasion, was very great; and, amongst them, there appeared to be a greater proportion of personable men and women than we had ever seen in one assembly, at any of these new islands. Not only the bulk of the people seemed, in general, much stouter and fairer than those of Otaheite, but there was also a much greater number of men who appeared to be of consequence, in proportion to the extent of the island, most of whom had exactly the corpulent appearance of the chiefs of Wateeoo. We waited some time for Taireetareea, as I would do nothing till the earee rahie came; but, when he appeared, I found that his presence might have been dispensed with, as he was not above eight or ten years of age. Omai, who stood at a little distance from this circle of great men, began with making his offering to the gods, consisting of red feathers, cloth, &c. Then followed another offering, which was to be given to the gods by the chief; and after that, several other small pieces and tufts of red feathers were presented. Each article was laid before one of the company, who, I understood, was a priest, and was delivered with a set speech or prayer, spoken by one of Omai's friends, who sat by him, but mostly dictated by himself. In these prayers, he did not forget his friends in England, nor those who had brought him safe back. The earee rahie no Pretane, Lord Sandwich, Toote, Tatee,[¹] were mentioned in every one of them. When Omai's offerings and prayers were finished, the priest took each article, in the same order in which it had been laid before him, and after repeating a prayer, sent it to the morai, which, as Omai told us, was at a great distance, otherwise the offerings would have been made there.

These religious ceremonies having been performed, Omai sat down by me, and we entered upon business, by giving the young chief my present, and receiving his in return; and, all things considered, they were liberal enough on both sides. Some arrangements were next agreed upon, as to the manner of carrying on the intercourse betwixt us; and I pointed out the mischievous consequences that would attend their robbing us, as they had done during my former visits. Omai's establishment was then proposed to the assembled chiefs.

He acquainted them, "that he had been carried by us into our country, where he was well received by the great king and his earees, and treated with every mark of regard and affection while he staid amongst us; that he had been brought back again, enriched, by our liberality, with a variety of articles which would prove very useful to his countrymen; and that, besides the two horses which were to remain with him, several other new and valuable animals had been left at Otaheite, which would soon multiply, and furnish a sufficient number for the use of all the islands in the neighbourhood. He then signified to them that it was my earnest request, in return for all my friendly offices, that they would give him a piece of land to build a house upon, and to raise provisions for himself and servants; adding, that if this could not be obtained for him in Huaheine, either by gift or by purchase, I was determined to carry him to Ulietea, and fix him there."

Perhaps I have here made a better speech for my friend than he actually delivered; but these were the topics I dictated to him. I observed that what he concluded with, about carrying him to Ulietea, seemed to meet with the approbation of all the chiefs; and I instantly saw the reason. Omai had, as I have already mentioned, vainly flattered himself that I meant to use force in restoring him to his father's lands in Ulietea, and he had talked idly, and without any authority from me, on this subject, to some of the present assembly, who dreamed of nothing less than a hostile invasion of Ulietea, and of being assisted by me to drive the Bolabola men out of that island. It was of consequence, therefore, that I should undeceive them; and, in order to this, I signified, in the most peremptory manner, that I neither would assist them in such an enterprise, nor suffer it to be put in execution, while I was in their seas; and that, if Omai fixed himself in Ulietea, he must be introduced as a friend, and not forced upon the Bolabola men as their conqueror.

This declaration gave a new turn to the sentiments of the council. One of the chiefs immediately expressed himself to this effect: "That the whole island of Huaheine, and every thing in it, were mine; and that, therefore, I might give what portion of it I pleased to my friend." Omai, who, like the rest of his countrymen, seldom sees things beyond the present moment, was greatly pleased to hear this, thinking, no doubt, that I should be very liberal, and give him enough. But to offer what it would have been improper to accept, I considered as offering nothing at all, and, therefore, I now desired that they would not only assign the particular spot, but also the exact quantity of land which they would allot for the settlement. Upon this, some chiefs who had already left the assembly, were sent for; and, after a short consultation among themselves, my request was granted by general consent, and the ground immediately pitched upon, adjoining to the house where our meeting was held. The extent, along the shore of the harbour, was about two hundred yards; and its depth, to the foot of the hill, somewhat more; but a proportional part of the hill was included in the grant.

This business being settled to the satisfaction of all parties, I set up a tent ashore, established a post, and erected the observatories. The carpenters of both ships were also set to work to build a small house for Omai, in which he might secure the European commodities that were his property. At the same time, some hands were employed in making a garden for his use, planting shaddocks, vines, pine-apples, melons, and the seeds of several other vegetable articles; all of which I had the satisfaction of observing to be in a flourishing state before I left the island.

Omai now began seriously to attend to his own affairs, and repented heartily of his ill-judged prodigality while at Otaheite. He found at Huaheine, a brother, a sister, and a brother-in-law; the sister being married. But these did not plunder him, as he had lately been by his other relations. I was sorry, however, to discover that, though they were too honest to do him any injury, they were of too little consequence in the island to do him any positive good. They had neither authority nor influence to protect his person, or his property; and, in that helpless situation, I had reason to apprehend that he run great risk of being stripped of every thing he had got from us, as soon as he should cease to have us within his reach, to enforce the good behaviour of his countrymen, by an immediate appeal to our irresistible power.

A man who is richer than his neighbours is sure to be envied, by numbers who wish to see him brought down to their own level. But in countries where civilization, law, and religion impose their restraints, the rich have a reasonable ground of security. And besides there being, in all such communities, a diffusion of property, no single individual need fear, that the efforts of all the poorer sort can ever be united to injure him, exclusively of others who are equally the objects of envy. It was very different with Omai. He was to live amongst those who are strangers, in a great measure, to any other principle of action besides the immediate impulse of their natural feelings. But, what was his principal danger, he was to be placed in the very singular situation of being the only rich man in the community to which he was to belong. And having, by a fortunate connection with us, got into his possession an accumulated quantity of a species of treasure which none of his countrymen could create by any art or industry of their own; while all coveted a share of this envied wealth, it was natural to apprehend that all would be ready to join in attempting to strip its sole proprietor.