A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xiii Part 21

In the morning of the 19th I went ash.o.r.e with Mr Banks, and several of the officers and gentlemen, to return the king's visit; but my chief business was to procure some of the buffaloes, sheep, and fowls, which we had been told should be driven down to the beach. We were greatly mortified to find that no steps had been taken to fulfil this promise; however, we proceeded to the house of a.s.sembly, which, with two or three more, had been erected by the Dutch East India Company, and are distinguished from the rest by two pieces of wood resembling a pair of cow's horns, one of which is set up at each end of the ridge that terminates the roof; and these were certainly what the Indian intended to represent by crossing his fingers, though our Portuguese, who was a good catholic, construed the sign into a cross, which had persuaded us that the settlement belonged to his countrymen. In this place we met Mr Lange, and the king, whose name was A. Madocho Lomi Djara, attended by many of the princ.i.p.al people. We told them that we had in the boat goods of various kinds, which we proposed to barter for such refreshments as they would give us in exchange, and desired leave to bring them on sh.o.r.e; which being granted, they were brought ash.o.r.e accordingly. We then attempted to settle the price of the buffaloes, sheep, hogs, and other commodities which we proposed to purchase, and for which we were to pay in money; but as soon as this was mentioned, Mr Lange left us, telling us that these preliminaries must be settled with the natives: He said, however, that he had received a letter from the governor of Concordia in Timor, the purport of which he would communicate to us when he returned.

As the morning was now far advanced, and we were very unwilling to return on board and eat salt provisions, when so many delicacies surrounded us ash.o.r.e, we pet.i.tioned his majesty for liberty to purchase a small hog and some rice, and to employ his subjects to dress them for us. He answered very graciously, that if we could eat victuals dressed by his subjects, which he could scarcely suppose, he would do himself the honour of entertaining us. We expressed our grat.i.tude, and immediately sent on board for liquors.

About five o'clock dinner was ready; it was served in six-and-thirty dishes, or rather baskets, containing alternately rice and pork; and three bowls of earthenware, filled with the liquor in which the pork had been boiled: These were ranged upon the floor, and mats laid round them for us to sit upon. We were then conducted by turns to a hole in the floor, near which stood a man with water in a vessel, made of the leaves of the fan-palm, who a.s.sisted us in washing our hands. When this was done, we placed ourselves round the victuals, and waited for the king.

As he did not come, we enquired for him, and were told that the custom of the country did not permit the person who gave the entertainment to sit down with his guests; but that, if we suspected the victuals to be poisoned, he would come and taste it. We immediately declared that we had no such suspicion, and desired that none of the rituals of hospitality might be violated on our account. The prime minister and Mr Lange were of our party, and we made a most luxurious meal: We thought the pork and rice excellent, and the broth not to be despised; but the spoons, which were made of leaves, were so small, that few of us had patience to use them. After dinner, our wine pa.s.sed briskly about, and we again enquired for our royal host, thinking that though the custom of his country would not allow him to eat with us, he might at least share in the jollity of one bottle; but he again excused himself, saying, that the master of a feast should never be drunk, which there was no certain way to avoid but by not tasting the liquor. We did not, however, drink our wine where we had eaten our victuals; but as soon as we had dined, made room for the seamen and servants, who immediately took our places: They could not dispatch all that we had left, but the women who came to clear away the bowls and baskets, obliged them to carry away with them what they had not eaten. As wine generally warms and opens the heart, we took an opportunity, when we thought its influence began to be felt, to revive the subject of the buffaloes and sheep, of which we had not in all this time heard a syllable, though they were to have been brought down early in the morning. But our Saxon Dutchman, with great phlegm, began to communicate to us the contents of the letter which he pretended to have received from the governor of Concordia. He said, that after acquainting him that a vessel had steered from thence towards the island where we were now ash.o.r.e, it required him, if such ship should apply for provisions in distress, to relieve her; but not to suffer her to stay longer than was absolutely necessary, nor to make any large presents to the inferior people, or to leave any with those of superior rank to be afterwards distributed among them; but he was graciously pleased to add, that we were at liberty to give beads and other trifles in exchange for petty civilities, and palm-wine.

It was the general opinion that this letter was a fiction; that the prohibitory orders were feigned with a view to get money from us for breaking them; and that by precluding our liberality to the natives, this man hoped more easily to turn it into another channel.

In the evening, we received intelligence from our trading-place that no buffaloes or hogs had been brought down, and only a few sheep, which had been taken away before our people, who had sent for money, could procure it. Some fowls, however, had been bought, and a large quant.i.ty of a kind of syrup made of the juice of the palm-tree, which, though infinitely superior to mola.s.ses or treacle, sold at a very low price. We complained of our disappointment to Mr Lange, who had now another subterfuge; he said, that if we had gone down to the beach ourselves, we might have purchased what we pleased, but that the natives were afraid to take money of our people, lest it should be counterfeit. We could not but feel some indignation against a man who had concealed this, being true; or alleged it, being false. I started up, however, and went immediately to the beach, but no cattle or sheep were to be seen, nor were any at hand to be produced. While I was gone, Lange, who knew well enough that I should succeed no better than my people, told Mr Banks that the natives were displeased at our not having offered them gold for their stock; and that if gold was not offered, nothing would be bought.

Mr Banks did not think it worth his while to reply, but soon after rose up, and we all returned on board, very much dissatisfied with the issue of our negociations. During the course of the day, the king had promised that some cattle and sheep should be brought down in the morning, and had given a reason for our disappointment somewhat more plausible; he said that the buffaloes were far up the country, and that there had not been time to bring them down to the beach.

The next morning we went ash.o.r.e again: Dr Solander went up to the town to speak to Lange, and I remained upon the beach, to see what could be done in the purchase of provisions. I found here an old Indian, who, as he appeared to have some authority, we had among ourselves called the prime minister; to engage this man in our interest, I presented him with a spying-gla.s.s, but I saw nothing at market except one small buffalo. I enquired the price of it, and was told five guineas: This was twice as much as it was worth; however, I offered three, which I could perceive the man who treated with me thought a good price; but he said he must acquaint the king with what I had offered before he could take it. A messenger was immediately dispatched to his majesty, who soon returned, and said that the buffaloe would not be sold for any thing less than five guineas. This price I absolutely refused to give; and another messenger was sent away with an account of my refusal: This messenger was longer absent than the other, and while I was waiting for his return, I saw, to my great astonishment, Dr Solander coming from the town, followed by above a hundred men, some armed with muskets and some with lances. When I enquired the meaning of this hostile appearance, the Doctor told me that Mr Lange had interpreted to him a message from the king, purporting that the people would not trade with us, because we had refused to give them more than half the value of what they had to sell; and that we should not be permitted to trade upon any terms longer than this day. Besides the officers who commanded the party, there came with it a man who was born at Timor; of Portuguese parents, and who, as we afterwards discovered, was a kind of colleague to the Dutch factor; by this man, what they pretended to be the king's order was delivered to me, of the same purport with that which Dr Solander had received from Lange. We were all clearly of opinion that this was a mere artifice of the factors to extort money from us, for which we had been prepared by the account of a letter from Concordia; and while we were hesitating what step to take, the Portuguese, that he might the sooner accomplish his purpose, began to drive away the people who had brought down poultry and syrup, and others that were now coming in with buffaloes and sheep.

At this time I glanced my eye upon the old man whom I had complimented in the morning with the spying-gla.s.s, and I thought, by his looks, that he did not heartily approve of what was doing; I therefore took him by the hand, and presented him with an old broad-sword. This instantly turned the scale in our favour; he received the sword with a transport of joy, and flourishing it over the busy Portuguese, who crouched like a fox to a lion, he made him, and the officer who commanded the party, sit down upon the ground behind him. The people, who, whatever were the crafty pretences of these iniquitous factors for a Dutch company, were eager to supply us with whatever we wanted, and seemed also to be more desirous of goods than money, instantly improved the advantage that had been procured them, and the market was stocked almost in an instant. To establish a trade for buffaloes, however, which I most wanted, I found it necessary to give ten guineas for two, one of which weighed no more than a hundred and sixty pounds; but I bought seven more much cheaper, and might afterwards have purchased as many as I pleased almost upon my own terms, for they were now driven down to the water-side in herds. In the first two that I bought so dear, Lange had certainly a share, and it was in hopes to obtain part of the price of others, that he had pretended that we must pay for them in gold. The natives, however, sold what they afterwards brought down much to their satisfaction, without paying part of the price to him as a reward for exacting money from us.

Most of the buffaloes that we bought, after our friend, the prime minister, had procured us a fair market, were sold for a musket a-piece, and at this price we might have bought as many as would have freighted our ship.

The refreshments which we procured here consisted of nine buffaloes, six sheep, three hogs, thirty dozen of fowls, a few limes, and some cocoa-nuts; many dozen of eggs, half of which, however, proved to be rotten; a little garlic, and several hundred gallons of palm syrup.

SECTION x.x.xVI.

_A particular Description of the Island of Savu, its Produce, and Inhabitants, with a Specimen of their Language_.

This island is called by the natives _Savu_; the middle of it lies in about the lat.i.tude 10 35' S., longitude 237 30' W.; and has in general been so little known, that I never saw a map or chart in which it is clearly or accurately laid down. I have seen a very old one, in which it is called Sou, and confounded with Sandel Bosch. Rumphius mentions an island by the name of Saow, and he also says that it is the same which the Dutch call Sandel Bosch: But neither is this island, nor Timor, nor Rotte, nor indeed any one of the islands that we have seen in these seas, placed within a reasonable distance of its true situation.[105] It is about eight leagues long from east to west; but what is its breadth, I do not know, as I saw only the north side. The harbour in which we lay is called Seba, from the district in which it lies: It is on the north-west side of the island, and well sheltered from the south-west trade-wind, but it lies open to the north-west. We were told that there were two other bays where ships might anchor; that the best, called Timo, was on the south-west side of the south-east point: Of the third we learnt neither the name nor situation. The sea-coast, in general, is low; but in the middle of the island there are hills of a considerable height. We were upon the coast at the latter end of the dry season, when there had been no rain for seven months; and we were told that when the dry season continues so long, there is no running stream of fresh water upon the whole island, but only small springs, which are at a considerable distance from the sea-side; yet nothing can be imagined so beautiful as the prospect of the country from the ship. The level ground next to the sea-side was covered with cocoa-nut trees, and a kind of palm called _arecas_; and beyond them the hills, which rose in a gentle and regular ascent, were richly clothed, quite to the summit, with plantations of the fan-palm, forming an almost impenetrable grove. How much even this prospect must be improved, when every foot of ground between the trees is covered with verdure, by maize, and millet, and indigo, can scarcely be conceived but by a powerful imagination, not unacquainted with the stateliness and beauty of the trees that adorn this part of the earth. The dry season commences in March or April, and ends in October or November.

[Footnote 105: These islands are far from being well known to Europeans; The policy of both Portuguese and Dutch has ever been unfavourable to the communication, whatever it may have been to the commercial extension, of geographical science. Pinkerton has laid down (in his map of East India isles) Sou, as he has chosen to call it, in 10 S. lat., and 121 30' E. long., but on what authority does not appear. He does not, however, confound it with Sandle-Wood Island.--E.]

The princ.i.p.al trees of this island are the fan-palm, the cocoa-nut, tamarind, limes, oranges, and mangoes; and other vegetable productions are maize, Guinea-corn, rice, millet, callevances, and water-melons. We saw also one sugar-cane, and a few kinds of European garden-stuff, particularly cellery, marjoram, fennel, and garlic. For the supply of luxury, it has betel, areca, tobacco, cotton, indigo, and a small quant.i.ty of cinnamon, which seems to be planted here only for curiosity; and indeed we doubted whether it was the genuine plant, knowing that the Dutch are very careful not to trust the spices out of their proper islands. There are, however, several kinds of fruit besides those which have been already mentioned; particularly the sweet-sop, which is well known to the West Indians, and a small oval fruit, called the _blimbi_, both of which grow upon trees. The blimbi is about three or four inches long, and in the middle about as thick as a man's finger, tapering towards each end: It is covered with a very thin skin of a light green colour, and in the inside are a few seeds disposed in the form of a star: Its flavour is a light, clean, pleasant acid, but it cannot be eaten raw; it is said to be excellent as a pickle; and stewed, it made a most agreeable sour sauce to our boiled dishes.

The tame animals are buffaloes, sheep, goats, hogs, fowls, pigeons, horses, a.s.ses, dogs, and cats; and of all these there is great plenty.

The buffaloes differ very considerably from the horned cattle of Europe in several particulars; their ears are much larger, their skins are almost without hair, their horns are curved towards each other, but together bend directly backwards, and they have no dewlaps. We saw several that were as big as a well-grown European ox, and there must be some much larger; for Mr Banks saw a pair of horns which measured, from tip to tip, three feet nine inches and a half, across their widest diameter, four feet one inch and a half, and in the whole sweep of their semicircle in front, seven feet six inches and a half. It must, however, be observed, that a buffalo here of any given size, does not weigh above half as much as an ox of the same size in England: Those that we guessed to weigh four hundred weight, did not weigh more than two hundred and fifty; the reason is, that so late in the dry season the bones are very thinly covered with flesh: There is not an ounce of fat in a whole carcase, and the flanks are literally nothing but skin and bone: The flesh, however, is well tasted and juicy, and I suppose better than the flesh of an English ox would be if he was to starve in this sun-burnt country.

The horses are from eleven to twelve hands high, but though they are small, they are spirited and nimble, especially in pacing, which is their common step: The inhabitants generally ride them without a saddle, and with no better bridle than a halter. The sheep are of the kind which in England are called Bengal sheep, and differ from ours in many particulars. They are covered with hair instead of wool; their ears are very large, and hang down under their horns, and their noses are arched; they are thought to have a general resemblance to a goat, and for that reason are frequently called _cabritos_: Their flesh we thought the worst mutton we had ever eaten, being as lean as that of the buffaloes, and without flavour. The hogs, however, were some of the fattest we had ever seen, though, as we were told, their princ.i.p.al food is the outside husks of rice, and a palm syrup dissolved in water.[106] The fowls are chiefly of the game breed, and large, but the eggs are remarkably small.

[Footnote 106: The reader will please remember this evidence of the nutritious quality of the palm-syrup. He will find it useful very shortly, when the value of sugar as an article of diet is mentioned.--E]

Of the fish which the sea produces here, we know but little: Turtles are sometimes found upon the coast, and are by these people, as well as all others, considered as a dainty.

The people are rather under than over the middling size; the women especially are remarkably short and squat built: Their complexion is a dark brown, and their hair universally black and lank. We saw no difference in the colour of rich and poor, though in the South-Sea islands those that were exposed to the weather were almost as brown as the New Hollanders, and the better sort nearly as fair as the natives of Europe. The men are in general well-made, vigorous, and active, and have a greater variety in the make and disposition of their features than usual: The countenances of the women, on the contrary, are all alike.

The men fasten their hair up to the top of their heads with a comb, the women tie it behind in a club, which is very far from becoming. Both s.e.xes eradicate the hair from under the arm, and the men do the same by their beards, for which purpose, the better sort always carry a pair of silver pincers hanging by a string round their necks; some, however, suffer a very little hair to remain upon their upper-lips, but this is always kept short.

The dress of both s.e.xes consists of cotton cloth, which being dyed blue in the yarn, and not uniformly of the same shade, is in clouds or waves of that colour, and even in our eye had not an inelegant appearance.

This cloth they manufacture themselves, and two pieces, each about two yards long, and a yard and a half wide, make a dress: One of them is worn round the middle, and the other covers the upper part of the body: The lower edge of the piece that goes round the middle, the men draw pretty tight just below the fork, the upper edge of it is left loose, so as to form a kind of hollow belt, which serves them as a pocket to carry their knives, and other little implements which it is convenient to have about them. The other piece of cloth is pa.s.sed through this girdle behind, and one end of it being brought over the left shoulder, and the other over the right, they fall down over the breast, and are tucked into the girdle before, so that by opening or closing the plaits, they can cover more or less of their bodies as they please; the arms, legs, and feet are always naked. The difference between the dress of the two s.e.xes consists princ.i.p.ally in the manner of wearing the waist-piece; for the women, instead of drawing the lower edge tight, and leaving the upper edge loose for a pocket, draw the upper edge tight, and let the lower edge fall as low as the knees, so as to form a petticoat; the body-piece, instead of being pa.s.sed through the girdle, is fastened under the arms, and cross the breast with the utmost decency. I have already observed that the men fastened the hair upon the top of the head, and the women tie it in a club behind, but there is another difference in the head-dress, by which the s.e.xes are distinguished: The women wear nothing as a succedaneum for a cap, but the men constantly wrap something round their heads in the manner of a fillet; it is small, but generally of the finest materials that can be procured: We saw some who applied silk handkerchiefs to this purpose, and others that wore fine cotton, or muslin, in the manner of a small turban.

These people bore their testimony that the love of finery is a universal pa.s.sion, for their ornaments were very numerous. Some of the better sort wore chains of gold round their necks, but they were made of plaited wire, and consequently were light and of little value; others had rings, which were so much worn that they seemed to have descended through many generations; and one person had a silver-headed cane, marked with a kind of cypher, consisting of the Roman letters, V, O, C, and therefore probably a present from the Dutch East India Company, whose mark it is: They have also ornaments made of beads, which some wear round their necks as a solitaire, and others as bracelets, upon their wrists: These are common to both s.e.xes, but the women have, besides, strings or girdles of beads, which they wear round their waists, and which serve to keep up their petticoat. Both s.e.xes had their ears bored, nor was there a single exception that fell under our notice, yet we never saw an ornament in any of them; we never, indeed, saw either man or woman in any thing but what appeared to be their ordinary dress, except the king and his minister, who in general wore a kind of night-gown of coa.r.s.e chintz, and one of whom once received us in a black robe, which appeared to be made of what is called prince's stuff. We saw some boys, about twelve or fourteen years old, who had spiral circles of thick bra.s.s-wire pa.s.sed three or four times round their arms, above the elbow, and some men wore rings of ivory, two inches in breadth, and above an inch in thickness, upon the same part of the arm; these, we were told, were the sons of the rajas, or chiefs, who wore those c.u.mbrous ornaments as badges of their high birth.

Almost all the men had their names traced upon their arms, in indelible characters of a black colour, and the women had a square ornament of flourished lines, impressed in the same manner, just under the bend of the elbow. We were struck with the similitude between these marks and those made by tattowing in the South-Sea islands, and upon enquiring into its origin, we learnt that it had been practised by the natives long before any Europeans came among them, and that in the neighbouring islands the inhabitants were marked with circles upon their necks and b.r.e.a.s.t.s. The universality of this practice, which prevails among savages in all parts of the world, from the remotest limits of North America, to the islands in the South-Seas, and which probably differs but little from the method of staining the body that was in use among the ancient inhabitants of Britain, is a curious subject of speculation.[107]

[Footnote 107: In the account which Mr Bossu has given of some Indians who inhabit the banks of the Akanza, a river of North America, which rises in New Mexico, and falls into the Mississippi, he relates the following incident: "The Akanzas," says he, "have adopted me, and as a mark of my privilege, have imprinted the figure of a roebuck upon my thigh, which was done in this manner: An Indian having burnt some straw, diluted the ashes with water, and with this mixture drew the figure upon my skin; he then retraced it, by p.r.i.c.king the lines with needles, so as at every puncture just to draw the blood, and the blood mixing with the ashes of the straw, forms a figure which can never be effaced." See Travels through Louisiana, vol. i, p. 107.

So far this note is by Dr Hawkesworth. Some observations on the practice of staining or tattowing the body, have been offered in another part of this work. It may be worth while to add here the account which Krustenstern has given of the mode adopted in Nukahiwa, one of the Washington Islands: "As soon as a Nukahiewer arrives at the age of p.u.b.erty, his whole body is tatooed; an art carried to a much greater perfection in this island than in any other, as they paint, in fact, their bodies with different figures, rubbing a pleasing colour into the skin, which is first scratched until it bleeds. Black is the colour generally used for this purpose, which, after some time, takes a bluish tinge. The king, his father, and the high-priest, were the only persons who were coloured quite black, nor was any part of their bodies left unadorned; the face, eye-lids, and even a part of their heads, from which the hair had been shaved, being tatooed. Neither in the Society nor the Friendly Islands is this customary. In the latter, the king alone is not tatooed; and it is only in New Zealand, and the Sandwich Islands, as Captain King relates, where the face is tatooed. The New Zealander and the Nukahiwer have a similar mode of performing this operation; for instance, they not only mark the body with single upright figures, or animals, as in the Sandwich Islands, but represent upon it, in the most perfect symmetry, connected ornaments in concentric rings and knots, which added greatly to the beauty of its appearance. The women only tatoo their hands and arms, the ends of their ears, and their lips. The lower cla.s.ses are less tatooed, and many of them not at all; and it is therefore not improbable that this ornament serves to point out a n.o.ble, or, at any rate, a distinguished personage. There are some among them who have particularly acquired this art; one of whom took up his residence on board the ship, where he found sufficient employment, as almost all the sailors underwent the operation." Figures of animals are favourite decorations for the skin with some people. Hutchinson, in his History of Ma.s.sachusets Bay, second edition, tells of the natives,--"Upon their cheeks, and in many parts of their bodies, some of them, by incisions, into which they convey a black unchangeable ink, make the figures of bears, deer, moose, wolves, eagles, hawks, &c, which were indelible, and generally lasted as long as they lived." Not content with their own art of embellishment, however, he says, in a note, "Since they have been furnished with paints from Europe, they daub their faces with vermillion, and sometimes with blue, green, and other colours."

Colden observes of the five nations of Canada, that their faces were always painted in a frightful manner when they went out to war, "to make themselves terrible to their enemies." Neal, speaking of the New Englanders, says,--"They grease their bodies and hair very often, and paint themselves all over; their faces and shoulders with a deep red, and their bodies with a variety of ugly mishapen figures; and he is the bravest fellow that has the most frightful forms drawn upon him, and looks most terrible." Again, describing their diversions, "If the dancers or actors are to shew warlike postures, then they come in painted for war, some with their faces red, and some black; some black and red, with streaks of white; under their eyes, as they imagine will appear most terrible." Captain Carver gives a similar account of the tribes he saw.--E.]

The houses of Savu are all built upon the same plan, and differ only in size, being large in proportion to the rank and riches of the proprietor. Some are four hundred feet long, and some are not more than twenty: They are all raised upon posts, or piles, about four feet high, one end of which is driven into the ground, and upon the other end is laid a substantial floor of wood, so that there is a vacant s.p.a.ce of four feet between the floor of the house and the ground. Upon this floor are placed other posts or pillars, that Support a roof of sloping sides, which meet in a ridge at the top, like those of our barns: The eaves of this roof, which is thatched with palm-leaves, reach within two feet of the floor, and overhang it as much: The s.p.a.ce within is generally divided lengthwise into three equal parts; the middle part, or centre, is enclosed by a part.i.tion of four sides, reaching about six feet above the floor, and one or two small rooms are also sometimes taken off from the sides, the rest of the s.p.a.ce under the roof is open, so as freely to admit the air and the light: The particular uses of these different apartments, our short stay would not permit us to learn, except that the close room in the centre was appropriated to the women.

The food of these people consists of every tame animal in the country, of which the hog holds the first place in their estimation, and the horse the second; next to the horse is the buffalo, next to the buffalo their poultry, and they prefer dogs and cats to sheep and goats. They are not fond of fish, and, I believe, it is never eaten but by the poor people, nor by them except when their duty or business requires them to be upon the beach, and then every man is furnished with a light casting-net, which is girt round him, and makes part of his dress; and with this he takes any small fish which happen to come in his way.

The esculent vegetables and fruits have been mentioned already, but the fan-palm requires more particular notice, for at certain times it is a succedaneum for all other food both to man and beast. A kind of wine, called toddy, is procured from this tree, by cutting the buds which are to produce flowers, soon after their appearance, and tying under them small baskets, made of the leaves, which are so close as to hold liquids without leaking. The juice which trickles into these vessels is collected by persons who climb the trees for that purpose, morning and evening, and is the common drink of every individual upon the island; yet a much greater quant.i.ty is drawn off than is consumed in this use, and of the surplus they make both a syrup and coa.r.s.e sugar. The liquor is called _dua_, or _duac_, and both the syrup and sugar, _gula_. The syrup is prepared by boiling the liquor down in pots of earthen-ware, till it is sufficiently insp.i.s.sated; it is not unlike treacle in appearance, but is somewhat thicker, and has a much more agreeable taste: The sugar is of a reddish brown, perhaps the same with the Jugata sugar upon the continent of India, and it was more agreeable to our palates than any cane-sugar, unrefined, that we had ever tasted. We were at first afraid that the syrup, of which some of our people eat very great quant.i.ties, would have brought on fluxes, but its aperient quality was so very slight, that what effect it produced was rather salutary than hurtful. I have already observed, that it is given with the husks of rice to the hogs, and that they grow enormously fat without taking any other food: We were told also, that this syrup is used to fatten their dogs and their fowls, and that the inhabitants themselves have subsisted upon this alone for several months, when other crops have failed, and animal food has been scarce.[108] The leaves of this tree are also put to various uses, they thatch houses, and make baskets, cups, umbrellas, and tobacco-pipes. The fruit is least esteemed, and as the blossoms are wounded for the tuac or toddy, there is not much of it: It is about as big as a large turnip, and covered, like the cocoa-nut, with a fibrous coat, under which are three kernels, that must be eaten before they are ripe, for afterwards they become so hard that they cannot be chewed; in their eatable state they taste not unlike a green cocoa-nut, and, like them, probably they yield a nutriment that is watery and unsubstantial.

[Footnote 108: Few things are so nutritious to animals as sugar; and vegetable substances, in general, are nutritious in proportion to the quant.i.ty of it they contain. How it can be pernicious, then, as an ingredient in diet, it would be very difficult to show, without disparaging the wisdom and goodness by which the world is supported. But in fact there is not the least reason for such an opinion; and if the strongest a.s.sertions of most respectable men are at all to be regarded, a very different one, indeed, must be maintained. A few quotations may satisfy the reader on the subject, and dispossess him of unfounded prejudices _reluctantly_ imbibed in the nursery. "So palatable, salutary, and nourishing is the juice of the cane, that every individual of the animal creation drinking freely of it, derives health and vigour from its use. The meagre and sickly among the negroes exhibit a surprising alteration in a few weeks after the mill is set in action.

The labouring horses, oxen, and mules, though almost constantly at work during this season, yet being indulged with plenty of the green tops of this n.o.ble plant, and some of the sc.u.mmings from the boiling-house, improve more than at any one period of the year. Even the pigs and poultry fatten on the refuse." So says Mr Edwards. Two physicians quoted by him speak to the same effect,--take the words of one of them; Dr Rush, of Philadelphia,--"Sugar affords the greatest quant.i.ty of nourishment in a given quant.i.ty of matter, of any substance in nature.

Used alone, it has fattened horses and cattle in St Domingo, for a period of several months. The plentiful use of sugar in diet is one of the best preventatives that ever has been discovered, of the diseases which are produced by worms. The plague has never been known in this country, where sugar composes a material part of the diet of the inhabitants." Dr Mosely, in his Treatise on Sugar, speaks equally confidently of the nutritious and beneficial effects of this substance.

Now, indeed, the concurrent testimony and opinions of medical men are so decided on the subject, that it seems impossible to entertain any other sentiment. The princ.i.p.al objection to the use of sugar in diet, is what applies to certain cases only, when the stomach and bowels are _particularly_ disordered, or where there is a strong tendency to an over full state of the blood-vessels, tending to the production of palsy or apoplexy, which this article, from its very nutritious properties, and because also it perhaps undergoes a sort of fermentation in the stomach, by which something of the nature of wine may be produced, would be apt rather to augment.--E.]

The common method of dressing food here is by boiling, and as fire-wood is very scarce, and the inhabitants have no other fuel, they make use of a contrivance to save it, that is not wholly unknown in Europe, but is seldom practised, except in camps. They dig a hollow under ground, in a horizontal direction, like a rabbit-burrow, about two yards long, and opening into a hole at each end, one of which is large, and the other small: By the large hole the fire is put in, and the small one serves for a draught. The earth over this burrow is perforated by circular holes, which communicate with the cavity below; and in these holes are set earthen pots, generally about three to each fire, which are large in the middle, and taper towards the bottom, so that the fire acts upon a large part of their surface. Each of these pots generally contains about eight or ten gallons, and it is surprising to see with how small a quant.i.ty of fire they may be kept boiling; a palm-leaf, or a dry stalk thrust in now and then, is sufficient: In this manner they boil all their victuals, and make all their syrup and sugar. It appears by Frazier's account of his voyage to the South-Sea, that the Peruvian Indians have a contrivance of the same kind, and perhaps it might be adopted with advantage by the poor people even of this country, where fuel is very dear.

Both s.e.xes are enslaved by the hateful and pernicious habit of chewing betel and areca, which they contract even while they are children, and practise incessantly from morning till night. With these they always mix a kind of white lime, made of coral stone and sh.e.l.ls, and frequently a small quant.i.ty of tobacco, so that their mouths are disgustful in the highest degree both to the smell and the sight: The tobacco taints their breath, and the betel and lime make the teeth not only as black as charcoal, but as rotten too. I have seen men between twenty and thirty, whose fore-teeth have been consumed almost down to the gums, though no two of them were exactly of the same length or thickness, but irregularly corroded, like iron by rust. The loss of teeth is, I think, by all who have written upon the subject, imputed to the tough and stringy coat of the areca-nut; but I impute it wholly to the lime: They are not loosened, or broken, or forced out, as might be expected if they were injured by the continual chewing of hard and rough substances, but they are gradually wasted like metals that are exposed to the action of powerful acids; the stumps always adhering firmly to the socket in the jaw, when there is no part of the tooth above the gums: And possibly those who suppose that sugar has a bad effect upon the teeth of Europeans, may not be mistaken, for it is well known that refined loaf-sugar contains a considerable quant.i.ty of lime; and he that doubts whether lime will destroy bone of any kind, may easily ascertain the fact by experiment.[109]

[Footnote 109: The injurious effect of sugar on the teeth, it is believed, is not now seriously contended for by any persons who think and make observations on the matter, though, undoubtedly, the a.s.sertion respecting it holds its place as strongly as ever, among the economical maxims of prudent matrons. A word or two as to lime. When this is spoken of, let it be understood always what is meant; whether pure lime, that is what is called burnt lime, or the same substance in combination with fixed air, or carbonic acid, of which the process of burning deprives it. The effects of these two preparations are exceedingly different on animal bodies; the former causing rapid decomposition and consumption; the latter being, on the contrary, quite inert. Loaf-sugar, though prepared by means of lime, ought never to contain a particle of it, and scarcely ever does. So that, on the whole, the remarks in the text are totally incorrect. As a matter of fact, again, the writer, from his own experience, and as what he has often occasion to recommend to others, takes the liberty of prescribing a tooth-powder, equal in comfort, efficacy, and safety, to any sold in the shops under such pompous and imposing t.i.tles. It consists of equal parts of lump-sugar, (the finer the better) Spanish or French chalk, (which is in fact lime) rose-pink, (for the purpose of colouring, and also as an absorbent) and oris-root, (remarkable for its pleasant smell, and to be had in the perfumers' or druggists' shops, ready powdered) all in very fine powder, and properly mixed together. A box of this never-to-be-excelled dentifrice, may cost two-pence, or so, for which, however, or for something else not a whit better, if as good, they who choose may give half-a-crown. When the teeth are already tolerably clean, and not encrusted with what is called tartar, a soft brush is always to be preferred, as risking the enamel less. Hard brushes and gritty powders ruin more teeth than all the sugar and lime in the world. Charcoal is undoubtedly a good subst.i.tute for a _tooth-powder_; but it is to be objected to as leaving black furrows in the gums, which even much washing fails to remove in any reasonable time. This is a good deal obviated when it forms but a part of the article used. It may be mixed with the powder recommended.--E.]

If the people here are at any time without this odious mouthful, they are smoking. This operation they perform by rolling up a small quant.i.ty of tobacco, and putting it into one end of a tube about six inches long, and as thick as a goose-quill, which they make of a palm leaf. As the quant.i.ty of tobacco in these pipes is very small, the effect of it is increased, especially among the women, by swallowing the smoke.

When the natives of this island were first formed into civil society, is not certainly known, but at present it is divided into five princ.i.p.alities or nigrees: _Laai_, _Seba_, _Regeeua_, _Timo_, and _Ma.s.sara_, each of which is governed by its respective raja or king. The raja of Seba, the princ.i.p.ality in which we were ash.o.r.e, seemed to have great authority, without much external parade or show, or much appearance of personal respect. He was about five-and-thirty years of age, and the fattest man we saw upon the whole island; he appeared to be of a dull phlegmatic disposition, and to be directed almost implicitly by the old man who, upon my presenting him with a sword, had procured us a fair market, in spite of the craft and avarice of the Dutch-factors. The name of this person was _Mannu Djarme_, and it may reasonably be supposed that he was a man of uncommon integrity and abilities, as, notwithstanding his possession of power in the character of a favourite, he was beloved by the whole princ.i.p.ality. If any difference arises among the people, it is settled by the raja and his counsellors, without delay or appeal, and, as we were told, with the most solemn deliberation and impartial justice.

We were informed by Mr Lange, that the chiefs who had successively presided over the five princ.i.p.alities of this island, had lived for time immemorial in the strictest alliance and most cordial friendship with each other; yet he said the people were of a warlike disposition, and had always courageously defended themselves against foreign invaders. We were told also that the island was able to raise, upon very short notice, 7300 fighting men, armed with muskets, spears, lances, and targets. Of this force, Laai was said to furnish 2600; Seba, 2000; Regeeua, 1500; Timo, 800; and Ma.s.sara, 400. Besides the arms that have been already mentioned, each man is furnished with a large pole-ax, resembling a wood-bill, except that it has a straight edge, and is much heavier: This, in the hands of people who have courage to come to close quarters with an enemy, must be a dreadful weapon; and we were told that they were so dexterous with their lances, that at the distance of sixty feet they would throw them with such exactness as to pierce a man's heart, and such force as to go quite through his body.

How far this account of the martial prowess of the inhabitants of Savu may be true, we cannot take upon us to determine; but during our stay, we saw no appearance of it. We saw indeed in the town-house, or house of a.s.sembly, about one hundred spears and targets, which served to arm the people who were sent down to intimidate us at the trading place; but they seemed to be the refuse of old armories, no two being of the same make or length, for some were six, and some sixteen feet long: We saw no lance among them, and as to the muskets, though they were clean on the outside, they were eaten into holes by the rust within; and the people themselves appeared to be so little acquainted with military discipline, that they marched like a disorderly rabble, every one having, instead of his target, a c.o.c.k, some tobacco, or other merchandise of the like kind, which he took that opportunity to bring down to sell, and few or none of their cartridge-boxes were furnished with either powder or ball, though a piece of paper was thrust into the hole to save appearances. We saw a few swivel guns and pateraros at the town-house, and a great gun before it; but the swivels and pateraros lay out of their carriages, and the great gun lay upon a heap of stones, almost consumed with rust, with the touch-hole downwards, possibly to conceal its size, which might perhaps be little less than that of the bore.

We could not discover that among these people there was any rank of distinction between the raja and the landowners: The land-owners were respectable in proportion to their possessions; the inferior ranks consist of manufacturers, labouring poor, and slaves. The slaves, like the peasants in some parts of Europe, are connected with the estate, and both descend together: But though the landowner can sell his slave, he has no other power over his person, not even to correct him, without the privity and approbation of the raja. Some have five hundred of these slaves, and some not half a dozen: The common price of them is a fat hog. When a great man goes out, he is constantly attended by two or more of them: One of them carries a sword or hanger, the hilt of which is commonly of silver, and adorned with large ta.s.sels of horse hair; and another carries a bag which contains betel, areca, lime, and tobacco. In these attendants consists all their magnificence, for the raja himself has no other mark of distinction.

The chief object of pride among these people, like that of a Welchman, is a long pedigree of respectable ancestors, and indeed a veneration for antiquity seems to be carried farther here than in any other country: Even a house that has been well inhabited for many generations, becomes almost sacred, and few articles either of use or luxury bear so high a price as stones, which having been long sat upon, are become even and smooth: Those who can purchase such stones, or are possessed of them by inheritance, place them round their houses, where they serve as seats for their dependants.[110]

[Footnote 110: The specification of the Welch here is very vulgar, and the more so, as obviously sarcastic. Deeper or more scientific observation would have led Dr Hawkesworth to some general principle which produces a love of ancestry in all our species. Mr Gibbon has very expressively described it, in the beginning of the memoirs of his own life, to which the reader is referred. Nothing is less becoming a philosopher, than wittily pointing out national peculiarities, without taking the least pains to discover the foundations on which they are built, or connecting them with circ.u.mstances and principles common to mankind. Every thing, in fact, will seem anomalous and insulated in the history of different nations, if it is not distinctly recollected that human nature is the same throughout the globe which it inhabits, and is merely modified by external causes.--E.]

Every Raja sets up in the princ.i.p.al town of his province, or nigree, a large stone, which serves as a memorial of his reign. In the princ.i.p.al town of Seba, where we lay, there are thirteen such stones, besides many fragments of others, which had been set up in earlier times, and are now mouldering away: These monuments seem to prove that some kind of civil establishment here is of considerable antiquity. The last thirteen reigns in England make something more than 276 years.

Many of these stones are so large, that it is difficult to conceive by what means they were brought to their present station, especially as it is the summit of a hill; but the world is full of memorials of human strength, in which the mechanical powers that have been since added by mathematical science, seem to be surpa.s.sed; and of such monuments there are not a few among the remains of barbarous antiquity in our own country, besides those upon Salisbury plain.

These stones not only record the reigns of successive princes, but serve for a purpose much more extraordinary, and probably altogether peculiar to this country. When a raja dies, a general feast is proclaimed throughout his dominions, and all his subjects a.s.semble round these stones: Almost every living creature that can be caught is then killed, and the feast lasts for a less or greater number of weeks or months, as the kingdom happens to be more or lets furnished with live stock at the time; the stones serve for tables. When this madness is over, a fast must necessarily ensue, and the whole kingdom is obliged to subsist upon syrup and water, if it happens in the dry season, when no vegetables can be procured, till a new stock of animals can be raised from the few that have escaped by chance, or been preserved by policy from the general ma.s.sacre, or can be procured from the neighbouring kingdoms. Such, however, is the account that we received from Mr Lange.

We had no opportunity to examine any of their manufactures, except that of their cloth, which they spin, weave, and dye; we did not indeed see them employed, but many of the instruments which they use fell in our way. We saw their machine for clearing cotton of its seeds, which is made upon the same principles as those in Europe, but is so small that it might be taken for a model, or a toy: It consists of two cylinders, like our round rulers, somewhat less than an inch in diameter, one of which, being turned round by a plain winch, turns the other by means of an endless worm; and the whole machine is not more than fourteen inches long, and seven high: That which we saw had been much used, and many pieces of cotton were hanging about it, so that there is no reason to doubt its being a fair specimen of the rest. We also once saw their apparatus for spinning; it consisted of a bobbin, on which was wound a small quant.i.ty of thread, and a kind of distaff filled with cotton; we conjectured therefore that they spin by hand, as the women of Europe did before the introduction of wheels; and I am told that they have not yet found their way into some parts of it. Their loom seemed to be in one respect preferable to ours, for the web was not stretched upon a frame, but extended by a piece of wood at each end, round one of which the cloth was rolled, and round the other the threads: The web was about half a yard broad, and the length of the shuttle was equal to the breadth of the web, so that probably their work goes on but slowly. That they dyed this cloth we first guessed from its colour, and from the indigo which we saw in their plantations; and our conjecture was afterwards confirmed by Mr Lange's account. I have already observed, that it is dyed in the yarn, and we once saw them dying what was said to be girdles for the women, of a dirty red, but with what drug we did not think it worth while to enquire.

The religion of these people, according to Mr Lange's information, is an absurd kind of paganism, every man chusing his own G.o.d, and determining for himself how he should be worshipped; so that there are almost as many G.o.ds and modes of worship as people. In their morals, however, they are said to be irreproachable, even upon the principles of Christianity: No man is allowed more than one wife; yet an illicit commerce between the s.e.xes is in a manner unknown among them: Instances of theft are very rare; and they are so far from revenging a supposed injury by murder, that if any difference arises between them, they will not so much as make it the subject of debate, lest they should be provoked to resentment and ill-will, but immediately and implicitly refer it to the determination of their king.

They appeared to be a healthy and long-lived people; yet some of them were marked with the small-pox, which Mr Lange told us had several times made its appearance among them, and was treated with the same precaution as the plague. As soon as a person was seized with the distemper, he was removed to some solitary place, very remote from any habitation, where the disease was left to take its course, and the patient supplied with daily food by reaching it to him at the end of a long pole.

Of their domestic economy we could learn but little: In one instance, however, their delicacy and cleanliness are very remarkable. Many of us were ash.o.r.e here three successive days, from a very early hour in the morning till it was dark; yet we never saw the least trace of an offering to Cloacina, nor could we so much as guess where they were made. In a country so populous this is very difficult to be accounted for, and perhaps there is no other country in the world where the secret is so effectually kept.