A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xvi Part 1

A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels.

Volume 16.

by Robert Kerr.

PART III. BOOK III. (CONTINUED.)

CHAPTER III.

TRANSACTIONS AT OTAHEITE, AND THE SOCIETY ISLANDS; AND PROSECUTION OF THE VOYAGE TO THE COAST OF NORTH AMERICA.

SECTION I.

_An Eclipse of the Moon observed.--The Island Toobouai discovered.--Its Situation, Extent, and Appearance.--Intercourse with its Inhabitants.--Their Persons, Dresses, and Canoes described.--Arrival at Oheitepeha Bay, at Otaheite.--Omai's Reception and imprudent Conduct.--Account of Spanish Ships twice visiting the Island.--Interview with the Chief of this District.--The Olla, or G.o.d, of Bolabola.--A mad Prophet.--Arrival in Matavai Bay._

Having, as before related,[1] taken our final leave of the Friendly Islands, I now resume my narrative of the voyage. In the evening of the 17th of July, at eight o'clock, the body of Eaoo bore N.E. by N., distant three or four leagues. The wind was now at E., and blew a fresh gale. With it I stood to the S., till half an hour past six o'clock the next morning, when a sudden squall, from the same direction, took our ship aback; and, before the sails could be trimmed on the other tack, the main-sail and the top-gallant sails were much torn.

[Footnote 1: See the conclusion of Sect. IX. Chap. II.]

The wind kept between the S.W. and S.E., on the 19th and 20th, afterward, it veered to the E., N.E., and N. The night between the 20th and 21st, an eclipse of the moon was observed as follows, being then in the lat.i.tude of 22 57-1/2' S.:

Apparent time, A.M.

H.M.S.

Beginning, by Mr King, at 0 32 50 Mr Bligh, at 0 33 25 > Mean long. 186 57-1/2'.

Myself, at 0 33 35

End, by Mr King at 1 44 56 Mean long. 186 28-1/2'.

Mr Bligh at 1 44 6 > Time keep. 186 58-1/2'.

Myself, at 1 44 56

The lat.i.tude and longitude are those of the ship, at 8^h 56^m a.m., being the time when the sun's alt.i.tude was taken for finding the apparent time. At the beginning of the eclipse, the moon was in the zenith, so that it was found most convenient to make use of the s.e.xtants, and to make the observations by the reflected image, which was brought down to a convenient alt.i.tude. The same was done at the end, except by Mr King, who observed with a night telescope. Although the greatest difference between our several observations is no more than fifty seconds, it, nevertheless, appeared to me that two observers might differ more than double that time, in both the beginning and end. And, though the times are noted to seconds, no such accuracy was pretended to. The odd seconds set down above, arose by reducing the time, as given by the watch, to apparent time.

I continued to stretch to the E.S.E., with the wind at N.E. and N., without meeting with any thing worthy of note, till seven o'clock in the evening of the 29th, when we had a sudden and very heavy squall of wind from the N. At this time we were under single reefed topsails, courses, and stay-sails. Two of the latter were blown to pieces, and it was with difficulty that we saved the other sails. After this squall, we observed several lights moving about on board the Discovery, by which we concluded, that something had given way; and, the next morning, we saw that her main-top-mast had been lost. Both wind and weather continued very unsettled till noon, this day, when the latter cleared up, and the former settled in the N.W. quarter. At this time, we were in the lat.i.tude of 28 6' S., and our longitude was 198 23' E. Here we saw some pintado birds, being the first since we left the land.

On the 31st, at noon, Captain Clerke made a signal to speak with me.

By the return of the boat which I sent on board his ship, he informed me, that the head of the main-mast had been just discovered to be sprung, in such a manner as to render the rigging of another top-mast very dangerous; and that, therefore, he must rig something lighter in its place. He also informed me, that he had lost his main-top-gallant-yard, and that he neither had another, nor a spar to make one, on board. The Resolution's sprit-sail top-sail yard which I sent him, supplied this want. The next day, he got up a jury top-mast, on which he set a mizen-top-sail, and this enabled him to keep way with the Resolution.

The wind was fixed in the western board, that is, from the N., round by the W. to S., and I steered E.N.E. and N.E., without meeting with anything remarkable, till eleven o'clock in the morning of the 8th of August, when land was seen, bearing N.N.E., nine or ten leagues distant. At first, it appeared in detached hills, like so many separate islands; but, as we drew nearer, we found that they were all connected, and belonged to one and the same island. I steered directly for it, with a fine gale at S.E. by S.; and at half-past six o'clock in the afternoon, it extended from N. by E., to N.N.E. 3/4 E., distant three or four leagues.

The night was spent standing off and on; and at day-break the next morning, I steered for the N.W., or lee-side of the island; and as we stood round its S. or S.W. part, we saw it every where guarded by a reef of coral rock, extending, in some places, a full mile from the land, and a high surf breaking upon it. Some thought that they saw land to the southward of this island; but, as that was to the windward, it was left undetermined. As we drew near, we saw people on different parts of the coast, walking, or running along the sh.o.r.e, and in a little time after we had reached the lee-side of the island, we saw them launch two canoes, into which above a dozen men got, and paddled toward us.

I now shortened sail, as well to give these canoes time to come up with us, as to sound for anchorage. At the distance of about half a mile from the reef, we found from forty to thirty-five fathoms water, over a bottom of fine sand. Nearer in, the bottom was strewed with coral rocks. The canoes having advanced to about the distance of a pistol-shot from the ship, there stopped. Omai was employed, as he usually had been on such occasions, to use all his eloquence to prevail upon the men in them to come nearer; but no entreaties could induce them to trust themselves within our reach. They kept eagerly pointing to the sh.o.r.e with their paddles, and calling to us to go thither; and several of their countrymen who stood upon the beach held up something white, which we considered also as an invitation to land.

We could very well have done this, as there was good anchorage without the reef, and a break or opening in it, from whence the canoes had come out, which had no surf upon it, and where, if there was not water for the ships, there was more than sufficient for the boats. But I did not think proper to risk losing the advantage of a fair wind, for the sake of examining an island that appeared to be of little consequence.

We stood in no need of refreshments, if I had been sure of meeting with them there; and having already been so unexpectedly delayed in my progress to the Society Islands, I was desirous of avoiding every possibility of farther r.e.t.a.r.dment. For this reason, after making several unsuccessful attempts to induce these people to come alongside, I made sail to the N., and left them, but not without getting from them, during their vicinity to our ship, the name of their island, which they called Toobouai.

It is situated in the lat.i.tude of 23 25' S., and in 210 37' E.

longitude. Its greatest extent, in any direction, exclusive of the reef, is not above five or six miles. On the N.W. side, the reef appears in detached pieces, between which the sea seems to break upon the sh.o.r.e. Small as the island is, there are hills in it of a considerable elevation. At the foot of the hills, is a narrow border of flat land, running quite round it, edged with a white sand beach.

The hills are covered with gra.s.s, or some other herbage, except a few steep rocky cliffs at one part, with patches of trees interspersed to their summits. But the plantations are more numerous in some of the vallies, and the flat border is quite covered with high, strong trees, whose different kinds we could not discern, except some cocoa-palms, and a few of the _etoa_. According to the information of the men in the canoes, their island is stocked with hogs and fowls, and produces the several fruits and roots that are found at the other islands in this part of the Pacific Ocean.

We had an opportunity, from the conversation we had with those who came off to us, of satisfying ourselves, that the inhabitants of Toobouai speak the Otaheite language, a circ.u.mstance that indubitably proves them to be of the same nation. Those of them whom we saw in the canoes were a stout copper-coloured people, with straight black hair, which some of them wore tied in a bunch on the crown of the head, and others flowing about the shoulders. Their faces were somewhat round and full, but the features, upon the whole, rather flat, and their countenances seemed to express some degree of natural ferocity. They had no covering but a piece of narrow stuff wrapped about the waist, and made to pa.s.s between the thighs, to cover the adjoining parts; but some of those whom we saw upon the beach, where about a hundred persons had a.s.sembled, were entirely clothed with a kind of white garment. We could observe, that some of our visitors in the canoes wore pearl sh.e.l.ls hang about the neck as an ornament. One of them kept blowing a large conch-sh.e.l.l, to which a reed near two feet long was fixed; at first, with a continued tone of the same kind, but he afterward converted it into a kind of musical instrument, perpetually repeating two or three notes, with the same strength. What the blowing the conch portended, I cannot say, but I never found it the messenger of peace.

Their canoes appeared to be about thirty feet long, and two feet above the surface of the water, as they floated. The fore part projected a little, and had a notch cut across, as if intended to represent the mouth of some animal. The after part rose, with a gentle curve, to the height of two or three feet, turning gradually smaller, and, as well as the upper part of the sides, was carved all over. The rest of the sides, which were perpendicular, were curiously incrustated with flat white sh.e.l.ls, disposed nearly in concentric semicircles, with the curve upward. One of the canoes carried seven, and the other eight men, and they were managed with small paddles, whose blades were nearly round. Each of them had a pretty long outrigger; and they sometimes paddled, with the two opposite sides together so close, that they seemed to be one boat with two outriggers, the rowers turning their faces occasionally to the stern, and pulling that way, without paddling the canoes round. When they saw us determined to leave them, they stood up in their canoes, and repeated something very loudly in concert, but we could not tell whether this was meant as a mark of their friendship or enmity. It is certain, however, that they had no weapons with them, nor could we perceive with our gla.s.ses that those on sh.o.r.e had any.[2]

[Footnote 2: This is the island on which Fletcher Christian, chief mutineer of the Bounty, attempted to form a settlement in 1789, as we shall have occasion to notice when treating of another voyage.--E.]

After leaving this island, from the discovery of which future navigators may possibly derive some advantage, I steered to the N.

with a fresh gale at E. by S., and, at day-break in the morning of the 12th, we saw the island of Maitea. Soon after, Otaheite made its appearance; and at noon, it extended from S.W. by W. to W.N.W.; the point of Oheitepeha bay bearing W., about four leagues distant. I steered for this bay, intending to anchor there, in order to draw what refreshments I could from the S.E. part of the island, before I went down to Matavai, from the neighbourhood of which station I expected my princ.i.p.al supply. We had a fresh gale easterly, till two o'clock in the afternoon, when, being about a league from the bay, the wind suddenly died away, and was succeeded by baffling light airs from every direction, and calms by turns. This lasted about two hours. Then we had sudden squalls, with rain, from the E. These carried us before the bay, where we got a breeze from the land, and attempted in vain to work in to gain the anchoring-place. So that at last about nine o'clock, we were obliged to stand out, and to spend the night at sea.

When we first drew near the island, several canoes came off to the ship, each conducted by two or three men; but, as they were common fellows, Omai took no particular notice of them, nor they of him. They did not even seem to perceive that he was one of their countrymen, although they conversed with him for some time. At length, a chief whom I had known before, named Ootee, and Omai's brother-in-law, who chanced to be now at this corner of the island, and three or four more persons, all of whom knew Omai before he embarked with Captain Furneaux, came on board. Yet there was nothing either tender or striking in their meeting. On the contrary, there seemed to be a perfect indifference on both sides, till Omai, having taken his brother down into the cabin, opened the drawer where he kept his red feathers, and gave him a few. This being presently known amongst the rest of the natives upon deck, the face of affairs was entirely turned, and Ootee, who would hardly speak to Omai before, now begged that they might be _tayos_ (friends), and exchange names. Omai accepted of the honour, and confirmed it with a present of red feathers, and Ootee, by way of return, sent ash.o.r.e for a hog. But it was evident to every one of us, that it was not the man, but his property, they were in love with. Had he not shewn to them his treasure of red feathers, which is the commodity in greatest estimation at the island, I question much whether they would have bestowed even a cocoa-nut upon him. Such was Omai's first reception amongst his countrymen. I own, I never expected it would be otherwise; but still I was in hopes that the valuable cargo of presents with which the liberality of his friends in England had loaded him, would be the means of raising him into consequence, and of making him respected, and even courted by the first persons throughout the extent of the Society Islands. This could not but have happened, had he conducted himself with any degree of prudence; but, instead of it, I am sorry to say that he paid too little regard to the repeated advice of those who wished him well, and suffered himself to be duped by every designing knave. From the natives who came off to us, in the course of this day, we learnt that two ships had twice been in Oheitepeha Bay, since my last visit to this island in 1774, and that they had left animals there such as we had on board. But, on farther enquiry, we found they were only hogs, dogs, goats, one bull, and the male of some other animal, which, from the imperfect description now given us, we could not find out. They told us that these ships had come from a place called _Reema_, by which we guessed that Lima, the capital of Peru, was meant, and that these late visitors were Spaniards. We were informed that the first time they came, they built a house, and left four men behind them, viz. two priests, a boy or servant, and a fourth person called Mateema, who was much spoken of at this time, carrying away with them, when they sailed, four of the natives; that, in about ten months, the same two ships returned, bringing back two of the islanders, the other two having died at Lima, and that, after a short stay, they took away their own people; but that the house which they had built was left standing.

The important news of red feathers being on board our ships, having been conveyed on sh.o.r.e by Omai's friends, day had no sooner begun to break, next morning, than we were surrounded by a mult.i.tude of canoes, crowded with people, bringing hogs and fruits to market. At first, a quant.i.ty of feathers, not greater than what might be got from a tom-t.i.t, would purchase a hog of forty or fifty pounds weight. But, as almost every body in the ships was possessed of some of this precious article of trade, it fell in its value above five hundred per cent.

before night. However, even then, the balance was much in our favour, and red feathers continued to preserve their superiority over every other commodity. Some of the natives would not part with a hog, unless they received an axe in exchange; but nails and beads, and other trinkets, which, during our former voyages, had so great a run at this island, were now so much despised, that few would deign so much as to look at them.

There being but little wind all the morning, it was nine o'clock before we could get to an anchor in the bay, where we moored with the two bowers. Soon after we had anch.o.r.ed, Omai's sister came on board to see him. I was happy to observe, that, much to the honour of them both, their meeting was marked with expressions of the tenderest affection, easier to be conceived than to be described.

This moving scene having closed, and the ship being properly moored, Omai and I went ash.o.r.e. My first object was to pay a visit to a man whom my friend represented as a very extraordinary personage indeed, for he said that he was the G.o.d of Bolabola. We found him seated under one of those small awnings which they usually carry in their larger canoes. He was an elderly man, and had lost the use of his limbs, so that he was carried from place to place upon a hand-barrow.

Some called him _Olla_, or _Orra_, which is the name of the G.o.d of Bolabola, but his own proper name was Etary. From Omai's account of this person, I expected to have seen some religious adoration paid to him. But, excepting some young plantain trees that lay before him, and upon the awning under which he sat, I could observe nothing by which he might be distinguished from their other chiefs. Omai presented to him a tuft of red feathers, tied to the end of a small stick; but, after a little conversation on indifferent matters with this Bolabola man, his attention was drawn to an old woman, the sister of his mother. She was already at his feet, and had bedewed them plentifully with tears of joy.

I left him with the old lady, in the midst of a number of people who had gathered round him, and went to take a view of the house said to be built by the strangers who had lately been here. I found it standing at a small distance from the beach. The wooden materials of which it was composed seemed to have been brought hither, ready prepared, to be set up occasionally; for all the planks were numbered.

It was divided into two small rooms; and in the inner one were a bedstead, a table, a bench, some old hats, and other trifles, of which the natives seemed to be very careful, as also of the house itself, which had suffered no hurt from the weather, a shed having been built over it. There were scuttles all around, which served as air holes; and, perhaps, they were also meant to fire from with muskets, if ever this should have been found necessary. At a little distance from the front stood a wooden cross, on the transverse part of which was cut the following inscription:

_Christus vincit._

And on the perpendicular part (which confirmed our conjecture that the two ships were Spanish),

_Carolus_ III. _imperat._ 1774.

On the other side of the post I preserved the memory of the prior visits of the English, by inscribing,

_Georgius Tertius Rex, Annis_ 1767, 1769, 1773, 1774, & 1777.

The natives pointed out to us, near the foot of the cross, the grave of the commodore of the two ships, who had died here while they lay in the bay the first time. His name, as they p.r.o.nounced it, was Oreede.

Whatever the intentions of the Spaniards in visiting this island might be, they seemed to have taken great pains to ingratiate themselves with the inhabitants, who, upon every occasion, mentioned them with the strongest expressions of esteem, and veneration.

I met with no chief of any considerable note on this occasion, excepting the extraordinary personage above described. Waheiadooa, the sovereign of Tiaraboo (as this part of the island is called), was now absent; and I afterward found that he was not the same person, though of the same name with the chief whom I had seen here during my last voyage; but his brother, a boy of about ten years of age, who had succeeded upon the death of the elder Waheiadooa, about twenty months before our arrival. We also learned that the celebrated Oberea was dead; but that Otoo and all our other friends were living.

When I returned from viewing the house and cross erected by the Spaniards, I found Omai holding forth to a large company; and it was with some difficulty that he could be got away to accompany me on board, where I had an important affair to settle.

As I knew that Otaheite, and the neighbouring islands, could furnish us with a plentiful supply of cocoa-nuts, the liquor of which is an excellent _succedaneum_ for any artificial beverage, I was desirous of prevailing upon my people to consent to be abridged, during our stay here, of their stated allowance of spirits to mix with water. But as this stoppage of a favourite article, without a.s.signing some reason, might have occasioned a general murmur, I thought it most prudent to a.s.semble the ship's company, and to make known to them the intent of the voyage, and the extent of our future operations. To induce them to undertake which with cheerfulness and perseverance, I took notice of the rewards offered by parliament to such of his majesty's subjects as shall first discover a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, in any direction whatever, in the northern hemisphere; and also to such as shall first penetrate beyond the 39th degree of northern lat.i.tude. I made no doubt, I told them, that I should find them willing to co-operate with me in attempting, as far as might be possible, to become ent.i.tled to one or both these rewards; but that, to give us the best chance of succeeding, it would be necessary to observe the utmost economy in the expenditure of our stores and provisions, particularly the latter, as there was no probability of getting a supply any where, after leaving these islands. I strengthened my argument by reminding them that our voyage must last at least a year longer than had been originally supposed, by our having already lost the opportunity of getting to the north this summer. I begged them to consider the various obstructions and difficulties we might still meet with, and the aggravated hardships they would labour under, if it should be found necessary to put them to short allowance of any species of provisions, in a cold climate.

For these very substantial reasons, I submitted to them whether it would not be better to be prudent in time, and rather than to run the risk of having no spirits left, when such a cordial would be most wanted, to consent to be without their grog now, when we had so excellent a liquor as that of cocoa-nuts to subst.i.tute in its place; but that, after all, I left the determination entirely to their own choice.

I had the satisfaction to find that this proposal did not remain a single moment under consideration; being unanimously approved of immediately, without any objection. I ordered Captain Clerk to make the same proposal to his people, which they also agreed to.

Accordingly we stopped serving grog, except on Sat.u.r.day nights, when the companies of both ships had full allowance of it, that they might drink the healths of their female friends in England, lest these, amongst the pretty girls of Otaheite, should be wholly forgotten.[3]

[Footnote 3: If it is to be judged of by its effects, certainly the most suitable test of excellence, we must allow that in this particular instance, Captain Cook displayed true eloquence. The merit, indeed, is not inconsiderable, of inducing so great a sacrifice as his crew now made; and, on the other hand, due commendation ought to be allowed to their docility. This incident altogether is exceedingly striking, and might, one should think, be very advantageously studied by all who are in authority over vulgar minds.--E.]