POLYNESIA.
The principal groups of the Polynesian Islands are the Society, Friendly, Samoan, Sandwich, and Marquesas. These last have been rendered famous of late years by Mr. Hermann Melville’s Typee and Omoo.
The South Sea Islands were usually depicted in the most glowing colors by early navigators. The lands were the fairest on earth’s surface; the climate was unsurpassed, combining the genial warmth of the tropics with the fresh breezes of ocean; the soil spontaneously bringing forth in luxuriant abundance the loveliest and most valuable vegetable productions; and, finally, the inhabitants were fitted both in person and disposition to tenant such an Eden.
It is easy to comprehend the frame of mind which led to these descriptions. The seaman, after wandering over the pathless ocean, with only the dark waste of waters in view, might well recognize a paradise in the green hills and shady groves of the islands of the Pacific, and angels in their dusky denizens. But these pictures were eminently fallacious: the virtues of savage life disappear on close acquaintanceship. Implacable ferocity among themselves; sanguinary and exterminating warfare; cannibalism; unbounded licentiousness and its concomitants of unnatural lust and lasciviousness; debasing and horrid idolatry; infanticide; the most grinding tyranny of the strong over the weak, and of the man over the woman, who is not permitted to live in the same dwelling, eat the same food, cook at the same fire, or even use the same dish as her lord and master: these enormities are the ordinary conditions of savage life. Some local modifications may be found, but such were the main incidents in Polynesian life and character.
It is true that in the first instance the natives received the whites with all friendship, and evinced toward their visitors much hospitality and gentleness of demeanor. This is to be attributed to the wonder and reverence with which they regarded foreigners, looking on them as superior beings of another sphere, and awestruck at their wonderful powers, at the astonishing engines they wielded and managed, and at their unknown attributes. But familiarity lessened respect; some ill-advised and unjustifiable tyranny brought out the offensive points of savage character, and theft, treachery, and murder were soon practiced as freely against the whites as against each other whenever fear of consequences did not restrain them. The murder of Captain Cook and the attack on La Perouse were remarkable cases on account of the boldness of the savages, and the public loss in the death of the great navigator, but they were not isolated outrages. Many a small and feebly-manned vessel perished among the islands, and, on repeated occasions, when landings were effected, the mariners ran great risks from the uncertain despotism of the natives.
Whatever may have been their other qualities, either among themselves or in their intercourse with foreigners, licentiousness was the universal characteristic of the South Sea Islanders. It was not merely polygamy or excess among a few of the more powerful members of the community, but the ordinary habit among all classes. Chastity, whenever met with, was not a customary part of woman’s life, but only an incident dependent on particular circumstances; in fact, an abnormal condition. It was associated with either marriage or betrothal. A peculiar institution of all these islanders was the tapu or taboo, a semi-religious ceremony performable either by priest or chief, whereby places, persons, or property could be rendered unapproachable by other than the lawful owner. The breach of this law has always been the greatest violation of propriety and public feeling of which a native or foreigner could be guilty. When young girls were betrothed at an early age, either to boys of corresponding years or to older persons, such females were tabooed. This insured chastity until they had reached a marriageable age. As this betrothal system was almost exclusively confined to chiefs, it follows that the obligation to chastity was very limited. The farther inference would be, that chastity was associated rather with property in the female than propriety in the woman.
Another institution of the South Sea Islanders was that of the Areoi. These were a body of men and women banded together for certain purposes, which had originally been of a religious character. They had probably been once Obi men, medicine-men, or wizards, as among the negroes and Indians. The custom, so often observable among heathen nations, of incorporating amusements and festivities into religious rites, had been taken up by these Areoi, and in process of time they degenerated into mere mimes or buffoons, and yet preserved to themselves by prescriptive right all the immunities and privileges otherwise accorded to priests. They traveled about from place to place, and sometimes from island to island. Their observances yet retained a trace of their religious origin, inasmuch as they commenced with a sacrifice to the gods, after which they entertained the people with theatrical performances, in which obscene songs and lascivious dances formed the chief features. They gave dialogues and recitations, in which they freely satirized all classes, not excepting the priests. They were every where gladly received, and had a right to free quarters wherever they stopped. It is said the members were usually the handsomest of both sexes, the women being the most profligate among the inhabitants. Tradition maintained that these persons had been originally incorporated by the gods, and that one of their rules was perpetual celibacy, and that they should have no descendants. This, though it might perhaps in the outset have been a prohibition intended for pure purposes, has ended in the perversion of such an intention. In their present condition, whether degenerate or not, the inhibition is not taken to exclude them from sexual intercourse and enjoyment, but from its natural consequences. Their lives were accordingly most abandoned, and abortion and infanticide were invariably practiced. Nor were their enormities confined to their own body: after their representations the wildest excesses were perpetrated in all quarters. Resistance or retaliation was impossible by the sufferer, on account of the fear these wretches excited by the mysterious powers with which they were accredited, and which were, in reality, the secret affiliations of all the bands.[362]
When performing, the Areoi painted their bodies black and their faces scarlet; they wore dresses of bright-colored plants and flowers. They were divided into several classes, named after some particular ornament; and, taking into account the subordinate members of the troops and the attendants who performed the menial offices, they must have been exceedingly numerous. Places were specially built for their reception, and for the greater convenience of their representations.[363]
Candidates for admission into their number were received by secret ceremonies akin to the mysteries of paganism. Solemnities intended to awe the vulgar were performed, and the idea of special reservation of the blessings of a future elysium to these deceivers was promulgated and believed.