[page xv]

A

VOYAGE

ROUND

THE WORLD,

IN THE YEARS

1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, AND 1804;

IN WHICH

the Author visited the principal Islands

IN THE

PACIFIC OCEAN,

AND THE ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS OF

PORT JACKSON AND NORFOLK ISLAND.

BY JOHN TURNBULL.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. III.

London:

PRINTED FOR RICHARD PHILLIPS, No. 6, BRIDGE-STREET, BLACKFRIARS.

By T. Gillet, Salisbury-square.

1805.

[page xvi]

[page xvii]

CONTENTS.

VOL. III.

CHAP. XXX.

	Page
CHAP. XXX.
Critical Situation of Affairs in Otaheite.—Zeal of the Missionaries.—Stubbornness of Belief in the Chiefs and Royal Family.	1
CHAP. XXXI.
Mortality in the Island.—Circumstances relative to the State of the Missionaries.—Contempt of Old Age amongst the Otaheitans.	15
CHAP. XXXII.
Particular Customs amongst the Otaheitans.—Exclusion of the Women from Eating with the Men.—Cleanliness and Attention to Dress.—Ludicrous Instance of Simplicity amongst the Natives.	24

[page] xviii

	Page
CHAP. XXXIII.
Superstition of the Otaheitans.—Employment.—Indolence.—Bay of Matavai.—Curiosity of the Natives.	35
CHAP. XXXIV.
Food, and Manner of Cooking.—Utility of the Bread-fruit Tree.—Various Methods of Fishing.	47
CHAP. XXXV.
The Houses of the Otaheitans.—Furniture.—Form of Government.—Influence of the Priests.	60
CHAP. XXXVI.
Miserable State of the Island.—Diseases. Causes of the gradual Decrease of Population.—Trick played upon the Captain.—General Propensity to Theft.	74
CHAP. XXXVII.
Reception of Strangers.—Evenness of Temper.—Generosity amongst themselves.

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	Page
—Little Jealousy with regard to their Women.	85
CHAP. XXXVIII.
Stupidity of Otoo.—Otaheitan Numerals.—Human Sacrifices.—Horrid Instance of Treachery.	96
CHAP. XXXIX.
Passage to Port Jackson.—Touch at the Friendly Islands.—Intercourse with the Natives.—Arrival at Norfolk Island.	108
CHAP. XL.
Admiration of the Otaheitan Boys on their Arrival at Port Jackson.	130
CHAP. XLI.
Second Residence at Port Jackson.—Improvements in that Colony during our Absence.—Arrival of Ships from Europe.	138
CHAP. XLII.
Present State of the Country.—Grants to Individuals.—Prices of Labour.	156

[page] xx

	Page
CHAP. XLIII.
Latest State of the Colony.	165
CHAP. XLIV.
Character of the different Descriptions of Settlers.—Public Orders.	182
CHAP. XLV.
Conclusion.	198

[page 1]

VOYAGES

IN THE

PACIFIC OCEAN.

CHAP. XXX.

Critical Situation of Affairs in Otaheite.— Zeal of the Missionaries.—Stubbornness of Belief in the Chiefs and Royal Family.

FROM the unjust and unwarrantable manner in which that family seized upon the property of their subjects, and their intolerable abuse of power, the country overflows with malcontents; and when at least shadow of success provokes them

VOL. III. B

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to action, they never fail to produce their claims. This is the rock upon which the family will sooner or later split. The present king, Otoo, is intolerable in this respect; and, like other great men, the greater part of his vices must be imputed to his flatterers. These miscreants demand with haughtiness, in the name of their master, whatever may suit their fancy, and consider whatever they thus extort as a kind of tribute. The gentle nature of the Otaheitans is thus spurred on to acts of rebellion. As there is no stimulus to industry, they are plunged as it were into a state of indolence, and therefore may be said to derive but little benefit from the fertility of the soil. Their social dispositions are most wonderfully susceptible of kindness; a smile, an affable address, and a look of approbation, will do any thing. An appearance of neglect or

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difference gives them high offence. Nor is this temper peculiar to the Otaheitans; insult is proverbially more intolerable than injury, and scorn and contempt more painful to a generous mind, than the most severe inflictions of fortune.

Otoo was still at Attahoura when his father died, and no intelligence had been as yet received from him when we sailed. How he felt this loss I cannot say, but it appears to me that the loss to the royal family must be irreparable. With the exception of Pomarrie and Edeah, none of them appeared to possess sufficient abilities either to manage their own people or awe their enemies. It is a crisis big with events for the Otaheitans. It is impossible to predict what may be the event.

Some time previous to the death of Pomarrie he had ordered a human sacrifice from the next district: the people

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were so exasperated against him on this account, that they suddenly rose upon him one night, and he escaped with difficulty to Matavai. His muskets, powder, and other valuables, were sent after him at a moment's notice.

There is some cause to hope, that this horrible practice of human sacrifice will be in some degree discontinued since the death of Pomarrie, for it is as much abhorred by the common people, as supported by the chiefs. Pomarrie was himself an high priest, and therefore thought he could never do enough for his God. He was ever endeavouring to extort from me and my companions presents for his divinity. By his artifice he contrived to hold the minds of his people in leading-strings upon the subject of religion, and many of them were firmly persuaded that he had such an interest with Oro, that his anger was

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sufficient to call down any punishment upon their heads. I have no doubt that in this respect he was a most complete hypocrite, and in reality believed as little of the divinity of Oro as myself. It is indeed incredible what influence over the minds of the common people he procured by this hypocrisy.

The superstitions, extravagances, and religious observances of these people, are beyond all description ridiculous; they seem to have no analogy either in heaven or earth, and must baffle every investigation as to their origin.

It may be satisfactory to the friends of the missionaries to learn, that their prayer-meetings and public ordinances were constantly kept up, the morning and afternoon of every day, and on Sundays three times in the day. The natives, however, did not attend. The brethren took it by turns to visit all the

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parts of the island within their reach on that day. The preaching, or rather the example of the missionaries, is not however wholly without effect; the Sabbath is called by the natives Mahanate Etooa, the Day of God; and however little attention, in every other respect, they pay to religion, their conduct in the immediate neighbourhood of Matavai, on this day, is more sedate and orderly than on any other. The missionaries have doubtless gained a small victory over them in this point, as likewise in another of still greater consequence; the greater part of their former obscenity in their public dances has disappeared, and in the neighbourhood of Matavai the Sunday has something of the semblance of a christian sabbath.

I am almost persuaded that they were chiefly indebted to Pomarrie for this mark of attention; and a circumstance

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which I now recall to my mind, confirms me in this opinion. Pomarrie and myself were one day in conversation upon business of the usual nature, that of presents: he demanded of me some axes for presents to his friends at Attahoura; I knew at the same time that he had a hoard of forty or fifty, and was therefore out of all patience with his extortion. To elude him for the time, I requested him to defer the business till to-morrow; it was Saturday that this occurred. No, replied he, you have no other intention but to amuse me; tomorrow is Mahanate Etooa, and I well know that no business must be done on that day. In a word, he would take no denial, and I thought it to be most prudent to accommodate him. I took care, however, to give him some of the worst that I still possessed, and therefore selected some which were rendered

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almost useless by flaws. To these he applied a remedy in a moment, warming them in the forge, and filling up the flaws with pitch, after which besmearing them with dirt he said they were very good—very good indeed for presents.

From the evident advantage which the royal family derive from their joint partnership with the missionaries, I have little doubt that the purpose of Pomarrie in the encouragement of the missionaries was wholly political. The missionaries indeed neglect nothing to render their mission successful; on every sabbath-day they range the country two by two in different directions. But I repeat, that I fear their efforts will for a long period be unsuccessful. They consider the missionaries as very good men, and love and esteem them accordingly, but they do not comprehend, and

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therefore do not believe, the articles of their religion.

It is perhaps expecting too much of them in their present state, to expect any thing of christian faith from a people so rude and barbarous: perhaps the missionaries, according to a trite proverb, have begun at the wrong end, preaching the mysteries of their religion, before they have laid a foundation by instructing them in its simple elements. It is doubtless wrong to temporize or falsify, in any of the slightest of its points of faith, the religion of truth; but there is room, ample room, for the exercise of discretion, in adapting their lessons to the natural capacities of their pupils. It is not necessary to teach them all in circumstances under which they cannot comprehend one-half. The doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation are not for Otaheitan understandings.

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One Sunday evening, Mr. Jefferson requested permission to exhort Otoo and Terinavoura, with all their followers; Otoo sent a messenger to me on the occasion, saying that he wished to see me: I accordingly went, and found Mr. Scott and Mr. Jefferson in the act of exhortation. Their congregation might amount to about fifty. Upon its conclusion, I demanded of Otoo what he wanted with me. He asked me, upon the departure of the missionaries, whether it was all true, as they had preached: I replied in the affirmative, that it was strictly so according to my own belief, and that of all the wiser and better part of my countrymen. He demanded of me where Jehovah lived; I pointed to the heavens. He said he did not believe it. His brother was, if possible, still worse. Edeah was looking on, with a kind of

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haughty and disdainful indifference. It was all havery or falsehood, adding, they would not believe unless they could see; and observed, we could bring down the sun and moon by means of our quadrant, why could we not bring down our Saviour by similar means?

It is indeed impossible for them to believe what they cannot comprehend, and to which they can find no analogy in any objects in their own country. I have not unfrequently amused myself by playing upon their ignorance, telling them that I lived in a country in which houses as large as those of Otaheite were erected on the water, such as the booths which may be seen in winter on the ice; that water could be made to support fire without extinguishing it; and that I had seen animals as large as their largest hogs, roasted on a river.

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That my countrymen walked over its surface, boxing and wrestling, as in Otaheite; that it might be broken in pieces, and that armies of an hundred thousand men, as in Holland, marched over it with dry shoes. It was ludicrous to see the fixed stare with which they would listen to these assertions; nor did I stop here, but added that we were acquainted with countries in which it was all day, and others in which it was an uninterrupted night; that we had sometimes rain as large as musquet-balls, and that sometimes it changed its colour and descended like feathers, covering the whole country like a table-cloth. These things undoubtedly surpassed their understanding, and therefore their powers of belief. Is it any reasonable subject of astonishment, that their minds should be equally inaccessible by any of the mysteries of religion? That every thing

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originated from the wisdom and power of God; that the earth, the heavens, and all created beings, obeyed the creative mandate, Let there be light, and there was light; that man was a free agent created with a certain degree of natural excellence, and capable of more; that he abused his free agency, and became unworthy of his creator; that the mystery of the redemption again raised him to his former level, and satisfied the justice of his God: these are mysteries beneath which an Otaheitan understanding must sink confounded. It is not until the lapse of many years, that, in the true sense of the word at least, the Otaheitans can become christians. The first converts of the apostles were the citizens of the most learned and polite nation of the ancient world.

Most of the missionaries had made great advances in the Otaheitan lan-

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guage, and their companions were studying it with the most indefatigable industry. They are building two boats, from eighteen to twenty tons, with the purpose of visiting the islands to the leeward. One of these boats was in great forwardness. Some of their wood was from the island of Eimeo, and they had extracted a kind of pitch from the Tapow or gum of the bread-fruit tree. On my return to Port Jackson, I learned from one of the resident missionaries of that settlement, that a supply of canvass, pitch, and tar, had been sent to them by a ship which proposed to touch at Otaheite for refreshment.

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CHAP. XXXI.

Mortality in the Island.—Circumstances relative to the State of the Missionaries.—Contempt of Old Age amongst the Otaheitans.

THE missionaries had made the circuit of the island twice during the time we had been amongst them, preaching from district to district, and seconding their exhortations by presents. If zeal in the discharge of their duty could ensure success, the missionaries would not preach in vain.

In their circuits they have successfully endeavoured to come at the exact number of the people. It is melancholy to add, that the population has diminished in a degree which threatens to

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render the country a desert. Captain Cook computed them at upwards of two hundred thousand; the population has now dwindled to five thousand. On the arrival of the Duff, they exceeded triple this number.

The mortality which raged at this period, and which I fear is but too epidemic and frequent, was such as to inspire us with the most melancholy ideas. During our short absence in our visit to the Sandwich islands, many young persons of both sexes were no more; they had died in the prime and vigour of life, and others of an appearance equally healthy were following them very fast. Great part of this mortality must be imputed to their ignorance; the doctrine of fatality prevails amongst them to a most fatal excess. Every disease is the immediate consequence of the vengeance of their offended Deities, and

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therefore every thought of remedy or relief is rejected, as equally useless and impious. They are left to their fate; and their diseases are unfortunately such, as, however easy of cure under a regular course, are but too fatal when suffered to augment under neglect.

They entertain the greatest contempt for old age; and if they disliked any of our articles, were accustomed to say, it was as worthless as an old man.

At the time of our sailing, Mr. Not, one of the missionaries (the most forward in the language), was absent upon the affairs of his mission at Eimeo; he was accompanied by another gentleman whose name I cannot at this moment recall. Mr. Elder and Mr. Wilson had just returned from the Mottos or low islands to the northward. They re-

VOL. III. C

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ported that the population of these islands did not exceed three hundred.

Mr. Jefferson had opened a school, but only one native attended; this was the daughter of a European, one of the crew of the Matilda. Mr. Eyre and Mr. Henry live in a new house together, built for them by the society; the large house not having been found sufficient to accommodate them all. Mrs. Eyre was in good health, considering her years; Mrs. Henry had risen from her accouchement about six weeks.

They apparently lived together in the greatest love and harmony, and all of them present an example of industry. Their situation, however, is by no means so comfortable as many of our countrymen may be inclined to imagine; for as their stock of European articles decreases, they must proportionately lose their influence over the natives.

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They possess a public garden very well stocked and cultivated, and the greater part of them a private one not much inferior. The space inclosed within the palisades of the public garden, is about four acres; it seems natural to imagine, that its beauty and utility would have acted as a stimulus to the natives to imitate their industry. The indolence of the Otaheitans, however, is beyond the cure of any common remedy.

In the gardens of the missionaries are lemon, lime, orange, peach, and citron trees, in great number and perfection; they have moreover patches of the tarra-root, Indian corn, and indigo. It must be some years, however, before they can expect to derive any considerable advantage from these.

The missionaries at my departure were very anxious to receive intelligence from their friends in England, and were

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in daily expectation of the arrival of one of their ships. Edeah observed, in a manner which it was not difficult to interpret, that this ship was a long time coming. The missionaries seem well satisfied with their situation. Some of them, however, expressed a wish that some decent young women of character might be sent over to Otaheite as wives, and I do not think it unreasonable that the society should comply with this request.

As their chief subsistence, the fruit of the bread tree, is becoming rather scarce at Matavai, it is their intention upon the arrival of the next missionary-ship, toretreat to the isthmus, should they not receive contrary orders from the directory. It was not their intention to finally abandon Matavai, but to leave two or three of the missionaries there to carry on the missionary business, and inter-

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pret for shipping occasionally. The natives will not be altogether pleased with this removal. They respect the missionaries, and in some respect regard them with astonishment. Their comparative purity of manners, their indifference to their women, and their peaceable and upright deportment, are subjects of their wonder; and as their minds unfold to the knowledge of morals, they will continue to increase in their esteem and regard for these men.

The missionaries tell them that the God of Britain is the God of Otaheite and the whole earth, and that it is from this Being that they receive their hogs, bread fruit, and cocoa nut. This the Otaheitans flatly deny; alleging, that they possessed all these articles long before they had heard of the God of Britain. The ignorance of these people in this respect is indeed lamentable.

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Though upon the first arrival of the missionaries, the district of Matavai had been ceded to them, the natives still persist in considering them as there by sufferance. The missionaries seem to think that it would be much to their advantage if the society would allow them a small vessel, which might be stationed off Otaheite. The expence of this would be small; that of provisioning it would be next to nothing. By the carriage of pork to Port Jackson, and bringing salt from the Sandwich Islands, it might almost clear its own expences. This expedient is not without something to recommend it. At Port Jackson they would have frequent opportunities of learning the mandates of the directors, for want of which they are at present often much embarrassed.

A mission to the Sandwich Islands might be attempted by the same means;

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and if found impracticable, they would have an opportunity of returning by this vessel, and again join their brethren at Otaheite.

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CHAP. XXXII.

Particular Customs amongst the Otaheitans.—Exclusion of the Women from Eating with the Men.—Cleanliness and Attention to Dress.—Ludicrous Instance of Simplicity amongst the Natives.

IT would be losing our labour in a maze to which there is neither beginning nor end, to endeavour to give any regular history of the Otaheitans. Suffice it to say upon this subject, that in the comparison of their present and former situation one inference is clear, that they have reaped no advantage from their intercourse with Europeans. The greater part of their characteristic simplicity has now vanished, and has given

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place to selfish cunning, and the artifice of low minds. Their communication with Botany Bay has been productive of the most baleful effects.

Their original and national customs still remain unchanged. The most singular of these respect the women, and the royal family.

It is profanation in an Otaheitan woman to eat with a man; the women must on all occasions eat by themselves. The ladies of the royal family, and women of the first rank, are the only exceptions to this rule.

Being thus compelled to associate together, they live in a more perfect harmony with each other than would otherwise exist amongst them. I do not know that I ever saw any dispute between these women; the boxing matches which I have mentioned, being mere ceremonies and national amusements.

Should it so happen, that the hus-

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band and his wife cannot agree, there is no restraint on their separation; and as such is the custom of the country, neither of them are considered as having violated any duty, or broken any contract.

There is nothing for which the Otaheitans are more distinguished than for their cleanliness. Both men and women bathe twice, sometimes thrice in the day, and prefer fresh water to salt upon this occasion. They are very particular in the adjustment and nice composition of their hair, anointing it with cocoanut oil and the perfume of the sandal wood. They spend much of their time at their looking-glass, and with their scissars; and if any glasses are offered to them by which their features are disfigured, they return them with an indignant Owhow, owhow; their grimaces on these occasions are truly ludicrous.

The bonnets of the women are very

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neat; and, together with the sweet scented flowers resembling our English lilies, with which they adorn their hair, much improve their air of natural simplicity. These bonnets, made of the leaves of the cocoa-nut split into fibres, are of various colours, according to the fancy of the wearers; and as the only cost is the time and trouble of making them, they usually appear in a new one every second or third day: every one is in this respect her own milliner.

Much has been said as to the licentiousness and loose conduct of the women. It is but justice to say, that I saw nothing of this. Their ideas of decency are doubtless very different from ours; they must be judged therefore by a very different standard.

Their dispositions are gentle to an extreme. I never saw an Otaheitan out of temper the whole time I was in Otaheite. The paramour of Edeah, and

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brother of Pomarrie, are indeed exceptions. Their manners are perhaps softer in the immediate neighbourhood of the missionaries than in the remoter parts.

They are ardent in the love and praise of their country, and believe it to be the finest part on the whole habitable globe. Some of them do not hesitate to say, that we visit their country for its sweet food.

An Otaheitan will not suffer a hair about him, with the exception of his head. It is a great part of their daily occupation to remove them, either by a razor, or plucking them up by the roots. They impute all their diseases to their intercourse with Europeans. Such a ship they observe introduced the dysentry, such a ship the fever, and such a ship the hump-back. They go so far as to say, that a ship passing the island has sent a disease amongst them.

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They may be most easily imposed upon in any thing which falls within their own ideas. The following is a ludicrous proof of this assertion.

Upon the return of the captain to Otaheite, after the fatal accident which had happened to the ship, his wearing apparel had become intolerably dirty; and being reduced to a very small stock, it was necessary to make the best of a bad situation. We were wholly however without that most necessary article for personal cleanliness, soap. Necessity is the mother of invention; we resolved to make some soap-lye of the ashes of fern. Our people assured us that they had known fern-ashes to suit this purpose, where wood-ashes had failed. We collected therefore a good quantity, and having burnt it, mixed it with water. The natives assembled around us, and were all attention and curiosity. They began to think that we were at

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length reduced to our last necessity, and were about to make gunpowder. The grittiness of the ashes after the water was poured off, encouraged this idea. Some of them, inquiring of our people if this were not the case, were informed, for the jest's sake, that it was.

The intelligence spread far and wide, that the grand arcanum, the mystery of mysteries, was now about to be revealed; our house was accordingly so crowded with natives, that we had scarcely room to move. Our people spared nothing to complete the jest: the composition was stirred, and stirred again; and the natives requested to keep their distance, and not disturb the important business. They might depend upon it, that their curiosity should not lead them to the knowledge of our secret; we would do nothing till the coast was clear. It is impossible to describe

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the oager anxiety to which these manœuvres worked up their minds; they would have cheerfully sacrificed whatever they held most dear, to arrive at the knowledge of this invaluable arcanum.

Our people, however, were not as yet satisfied: they deemed something yet wanting to the perfection of the jest. Lest any attempt should be made to steal its precious materials, the tub was anxiously watched by regular sentinels. It was sometimes taken out of doors, and exposed to the sun to rarify it, but was brought in again with all due care. When any inquiries were made, how long it might be before it would be fit for use, our people would answer, a fortnight, and on the following day remove it again to be rarified by the sun. Never did the busy brain of a chemist search with greater ardour for

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the philosopher's stone, than the Otaheitans for this secret. They were maddened with impatience, for so closely were they watched, that they could steal nothing; and if they had done so, we gave it out that some of the principal ingredients were yet wanting, and this indeed we might well say without any violation of truth.

I now, however, began to regret that the jest had been carried so far; for our sailors, availing themselves of the delusion of the natives, began to make their advantage of it, and to sell them portions of the worthless rubbish for cocoanuts, &c. At the time of the bargain they requested the Otaheitans not to move or stir the composition for the space of a week; and well knowing that their impatience would not admit this long restraint, they preconcerted to avail themselves of this excuse in the subse-

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quent discovery of the inutility of what they had sold them.

As I am now on the subject of their credulity, I cannot omit an instance of it, which is said to have happened during the visit of captain Vancouver. One of his sailors being on shore was followed, as usual, by the curious multitude. Having a river to ford, the sailor pulled up his trowsers; the natives were panic-struck to discover that his legs were deformed, and hesitated to cross the river, lest they should catch the infection. He was immediately forsaken, and left to pursue his walk alone.

Our jugglers and conjurors would have a most glorious time amongst these people; they would only have to tell them that their lives were in their power, and they would obtain an easy and general credit. I cannot but picture to my imagination the boundless effects

VOL. III. D

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which would thus be produced. The most common chemical and philosophical experiments would appear to these men as so many miracles. Were the missionaries to imitate the ancient jesuits, and avail themselves of this expedient, they would require nothing more to render themselves both feared and believed. But the religion of truth must not be thus raised on the foundation of error. The good sense of mankind has long rejected the sophism, that the end excuses the means.

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CHAP. XXXIII.

Superstition of the Otaheitans.— Employment.— Indolence.— Bay of Matavai.— Curiosity of the Natives.

THE Otaheitans, though it may not be so visible amongst them upon a slight intercourse, are a most superstitious race. Nothing can happen but what they previously know by their dreams. They have their diviners without end; and Pomarrie himself was not the least considerable of their number. They pretend to foresee the arrival of a ship some days before it enters their harbour. They have a singular method of detecting the thief, in any case of stolen goods, by applying to a person possessing the spirit of divination, who, they observe, is

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always sure to show them the face of the thief reflected from a callabash of water. The anger of Pomarrie as high priest, was believed to be of the most fatal effect, and every chief was in like manner considered as having some super natural second. However this has been managed, it reflects more credit on the ingenuity of the chiefs, than on the good sense of the people.

Pomarrie (it is our own fault if we believe him) asserted to the missionaries that he had a distinct intimation of their arrival. They pretend moreover that they had the same presentiment of being visited by a canoe of unusual magnitude, some nights before the arrival of the first ship that ever visited their island. Pomarrie, in the same manner, anticipated the arrival of the bible, or speaking-book of the Etooa (God), amongst them; they informed me that

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our ship was mattamoie, or dead, about the time of her being cast away.

Perhaps there are no people in the world more rootedly bigoted to their customs than the Otaheitans; and the more extravagant and ridiculous that these practices are, with so much more tenacity do they retain them. There is in this respect a very striking resemblance between the Otaheitans and others of the same complexion in Asia. How long has the intercourse of Europe and Asia existed in vain! and with regard to any change in the customs or religion of the latter, I fear that the missionaries will not find the Otaheitans less obdurate.

Paternal authority and filial duty are reduced to nothing in Otaheite. The father is nothing after the birth of his son; he is considered as supplanted by a being of more importance, and therefore

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sinks comparatively into a cypher. He is no longer of importance than as the father of his son. Pomarrie had nearly fallen a victim to this unnatural prejudice; as his son Otoo, under the suggestions of Mannemane the high priest, was about to become the murderer of his father. The tree in the fable is here verified; the parent stock is torn into pieces by wedges from its own body. The vigilance of Edeah discovered the secret machination, and Mannemane was assassinated, or rather justly put to death for his perfidy.

In matters of government there is no perceptible inferiority of the sexes; and when the supreme power happens to fall upon a woman, they are obeyed as implicitly as if they were of the other sex. Many of them are thus chiefs, and govern in their several districts with as much authority as the men Their com-

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plexion generally is some shades darker than new copper; something between a mulatto and what is called a light negro. The fishermen, being exposed to the sun and weather, are much darker. Their stature in general is above the common standard of Europeans. They are well proportioned, their features placid and regular, but their noses, occasioned by pressure in their infancy, universally flat; their teeth large, white, and well set, and their hair a jet glossy black. Fashion, however, has some dominion in this respect even in Otaheite; the two queens and many of the chiefs, that they may appear superior to their subjects, have changed the colour of their hair to a light brown, a change effected by the shell lime or other dye. The natives in general take great pains in the graceful adjustment of their hair; whilst that of the two queens, for the sake of

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distinction I suppose, is matted and twisted so as to bear no ill resemblance of a shaggy uncombed wig.

Many of the women of the Sandwich Islands have a toupee on their forehead, stained, by means of the shell lime, as white as snow; this was intended as an ornament, but, as contrasted with their complexion, rendered them truly horrible.

The chief employment of the men is that of building houses and canoes, fishing, &c. Pomarrie was in this respect one of the most experienced artists in the country. For the month previous to his expedition to Attahoura, his sole employment was in building a canoe as an offering to his Etooa.

The women of Otaheite are much less industrious than those of any of the other islands which I visited. Their employment, when the humour takes them,

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is that of weaving mats, some of which occupy them for nine months. Their cloth is of various lengths, from four to thirty yards, and from two to four wide. The thick cloth is made by cementing together two or more layers of fine: the cement employed upon this occasion is the root pee, beat up like potatoe starch, but is much superior and more of a paste.

The coarser cloth is worn by the fishermen, persons employed in drudgery, and for night covering. The women of the royal family, particularly Edeah and Pomarrie's sister, are the best manufacturers on the island: they are particularly nice in their choice of the patterns they intend to adopt; the leaf of the fern-root is their favourite figure. Their dye is extracted either from the juice of a berry or the bark of a tree: the juice of the berry is for the red and

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lighter colours; the dye extracted from the soaking and bruising of the bark, for the brown and darker; the turmerick, with which the island abounds, is used for the yellow.

They are better in the projection than in the execution of any enterprise, and with them every thing is an enterprise. A journey to the mottoes, a distance of about twenty miles, is a grand undertaking, a perfect grand tour, and occupies their thoughts and conversation for many months. Edeah had been upwards of a year in preparation for a tour to the leeward islands; the purport of this visit was an embassy to procure from the chiefs of these islands an acknowledgement of the sovereignty of Otoo.

Theroyal canoe, which was double, was one of the largest and strongest on the island; it was sixty feet in length, and secured by five rafters instead of three;

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these were lashed together by thongs formed from the fibres of the cocoanut: a ponderous and unwieldy mass, only calculated to sail before the wind. Its height at the stern was upwards of eighteen feet, but from the middle forward it did not exceed four feet and a half; on the forepart was a large platform, terminated in front by a breastwork about three feet high. The intermediate space between the breastwork and the end of the platform, was to be occupied by a temporary house for the accommodation of the royal traveller. It was intended that she should have been accompanied by a fleet of canoes advancing in procession; but the sudden death of Pomarrie must doubtless have defeated this intention: the presence of Edeah was thus rendered too necessary to admit of her departure.

The bay of Mattavai is well sheltered against all winds except those from the

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west and north-west. It was in one of these gales that the Norfolk had been driven on shore. The prevailing wind is the south-east, which blows strongest from nine in the morning till four in the afternoon; but for some months in the earlier part of the year, the winds set in strongly from the westward, accompanied with torrents of rain and much thunder and lightning. It is in this season however that the islanders of Ulitea, Huaheine, &c., accustom themselves to visit Otaheite. The canoes in which they make these visits, are such a crazy kind of craft, that whole families are sometimes lost or cast away upon some desolate island. Captain Cook touching at Watteo, a distance of four hundred miles from Otaheite, found there three natives of the Society Islands: these were the only survivors out of thirty who had suffered shipwreck, the other twenty-seven having perished at sea. In

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such canoes as those of the Uliteans, a voyage to Otaheite in such weather is more dangerous than a voyage to the East Indies amongst us.

Adjoining to our house the fishermen used to haul up their grand fleet of canoes; twenty of them were sometimes together, adorned with streamers of eight or ten yards in length; these streamers were composed of feathers, bearing a great resemblance to the tail of a boy's kite.

They had always full employment in repairing their nets and other crazy tackle. They were as troublesome as their countrymen of all other descriptions; and introduced themselves into our house with as little ceremony. We submitted to their impertinence with a good grace, and thus obtained their good words. Perhaps we did not affix the greatest value to these compliments; but

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had any necessity compelled us to put their sincerity to the test, I am persuaded that we should have found them of still less value than we had rated.

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CHAP. XXXIV.

Food, and Manner of cooking.— Utility of the Bread-fruit Tree.— Various Methods of fishing.

THROUGH all the islands they have invariably the same method of procuring fire; taking two pieces of wood, and making a groove in one for the other to traverse in, they rub them together, till the friction produces smoke, and the smoke flame. A bundle of dry-grass serves them as tinder.

Their method of killing a hog is by strangulation; they twist so many coils of a rope round the neck till the animal expires. They usually moisten the bristles with water, and then singe them off by a fire of grass and dried leaves. During the time of my trading round the island,

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several of the hogs in the boat were suffocated by overlaying one another: I presented these to the chiefs, who received them very thankfully.

Their manner of cooking their hogs, bread-fruit, &c. is by digging a hole in the earth according to the size required; a wood fire is then made in it and covered with stones, and the stones being thus heated. one half of them is left at the bottom, and the other strewed over the animal or other substance at the top;* the whole is then covered in with layers of the leaves of the bread-fruit, and closed up with dirt. It is in this manner left until it is done; and by frequent practice they are such good judges, that they are seldom mistaken.

They have only two methods of cooking, baking and broiling. They make

* In hogs of a large size some heated stones are introduced into the belly.

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an excellent pudding of a root resembling our potatoe; it is pounded with the pulp of the cocoa-nut, and afterwards ground fine by a muller; it is then carefully wrapped up in plantain leaves, and when properly baked is by no means unpalatable.

Their evea apple, which is generally in season six months of the year, makes an excellent apple-sauce for their pork, nearly as good as our English apple, except that it is more stringy. They have mountain yams likewise in the interior, but as these cannot be got without the trouble of digging to a good depth, the Otaheitans suffer them to remain where they are.

And here I must not forget to mention that their pork, when not overgrown, is really excellent, but their poultry is stringy and tough, the very

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coarsest of our beef is much preferable to it. Having no salt, their substitute for seasoning is salt-water.

They have the tarra root and sweet potatoe; but these articles were not in great plenty, and were therefore dear. They have a root which they call tee, somewhat resembling a yam: when baked and pressed it produces a juice as sweet as molasses, and when boiled is nearly of the same consistence. I used to breakfast upon this and Indian corn, roasting the latter in lieu of coffee. Popoy is a dish in general use amongst these people; it is a mixture of the bread-fruit and mahia, well beat up together, and mixed with the juice of the cocoa-nut; the mountain plantain is sometimes added: it nearly resembles our frumentary. I could never be persuaded to do more than taste it, from

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the nauseating process of its mixture. The natives, however, are very fond of it, and seldom make a meal without it.

Upon any appearance of a scarce season, they collect the bread fruit when near ripe, and, removing the outer rind, lay it up in heaps till it becomes soft; a pit is then dug, and the sides and bottom carefully lined with bread-fruit leaves. The pit thus prepared is filled with fruit, and carefully closed up with leaves, grass and stones. After remaining for some time in this manner, the pit is reopened, and the fruit freed from its core; it is again stored and covered in with fresh leaves till required for use. It is said that the fruit thus preserved will remain good till the following season of the bread-fruit tree. Some of the missionaries, apprehensive of a scarce season, had adopted this method in common with the natives, but in my

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opinion nothing can be more unpalatable. Taste, however, like every thing else, is formed by habits, and mahie may at length become tolerable to the missionaries.

The Otaheitans, indeed, have the mountain plantain a tall seasons of the year; but they have a great dislike to climb the mountains after it, being much afraid of the wild hogs, which are very fierce. It is moreover a two days journey, and therefore is an object of terror to the indolent Otaheitans.

The Oura or bread-fruit, the bread of all the Society Islands, grows on a tree not unlike a middle-sized oak; the leaves both in colour and substance much resemble a fig-leaf, but are much larger and have scolloped edges. The fruit grows on all the branches, in the same manner as the apples in Europe. It is said that, though cut down to the root, it will

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shoot up again so as to bear fruit in five or six years. During the late hostilities many of them were cut down in the neighbourhood of the missionaries' house to prevent any sudden surprize from the enemy. For general purposes it is by far the most useful wood in the country. It has the property of resisting worms better than any other wood in the country. It also yields a strong gum, called by the natives tapow; this is of great use to the natives in their canoes, being an excellent substitute for pitch. They procure it by tapping the trees. Our boat had suffered much by being dragged over the rough and craggy banks of their shores and rivers; whatever repairs we gave it whilst at Otaheite, were always effected by means of this tree. It at once supplied us with plank and pitch.

The fruit has been so often described as

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scarcely to need repetition: in few words, it is of the size and shape of a melon, and of a green colour in all its stages; the inside, when baked, much resembles the crumb of wheaten bread, but when very ripe eats more like our ginger- bread. It is as white in colour as our wheaten bread, but not so farinaceous. It is an invaluable blessing to the inhabitants of this part of the globe; and proves that these islanders, barbarous and savage as they are, are not excepted from the eye and general care of an allwise Providence.

The sea, as I have before said, is their most certain and most inexhaustible magazine. They have fish of many kinds, and generally in great plenty. Their method of catching them is by the seine, angling, and the harpoon with two or three prongs; in all these methods they are equally dexterous. They

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dart the harpoon with the greatest accuracy, and sometimes surrounding a shoal of fish, and driving them into shallow water, they have most active sport. In dark nights they illuminate the reef and shores, and by this means decoy the fish into shallow water, and ensnare them in their nets in great quantitles.*

I have seen an Otaheitan spring from the beech and catch a fish whilst swimming in the water. They catch an immense quantity of the smaller fry, by a seine made for the purpose; this is employed at the mouths of the rivers, and sweeps every thing before it by thousands at a time.

Fish is a favourite dish amongst them; they frequently eat them raw,

* This method is not peculiar to the Otaheitans. The author has seen the same practised in other countries.

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and always very much underdone. It is but seldom that the common people can indulge themselves on a repast of pork. When we killed any hogs, the natives had sad scrambling for the offal. The native boys employed by us as servants, were allowed these as their perquisites to make presents to their friends; they were surrounded therefore by the more cunning of the countrymen, who endeavoured to inveigle themselves into their good graces, hanging on them like leeches, till they had squeezed them out of all they had to give.

It is one amongst the customs of the Otaheitans, to share a part of their food with every one about them, so that the first possessor is frequently the least gainer in the end. Having learned this to be the practice, I generally contrived to reserve a part of my offal for the royal family; this was suited to their taste, and.

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fortunately equally suited to my convenience. Whatever remained, after our servants were satisfied, was exchanged to advantage for bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, and bananas, and we were usually plentifully supplied on these occasions.

The royal family seldom kept but a small portion of the offal for themselves, but usually gave it to their dependants, who devoured it like so many vultures. These fellows were not ill pleased that they fared so well; and as they possessed great influence over the king, it was to our interest that they should be thus satisfied.

Upon the reef which is situated about half of a mile from the shore, they have shell-fish of almost every kind; clams, wilks, cockles, conchs, cray-fish, crabs, sea-eggs, and muscles.

The reef seems to be more particularly appropriated to the women, who sel-

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dom go out to fish in the canoes. They flock to the reefs in droves, and in any scarcity of fish remain up to the middle in water the greater part of the day. Half the time would chill an European to death. The Otaheitan, however, seems wholly to disregard it; they wash themselves in the fresh-water river as they come from the sea, and then proceed to their houses to cook the fruits of their industry. There can be no doubt that from this long continuance in the water arise many of their more common diseases; such as fevers and rheumatisms, which are very prevalent amongst them.

Were it not for the richness and fertility of the island, and the inexhaustible stores of the ocean, the natives could barely exist: their indolence is so invincible by any prudential consideration, that I am persuaded they would almost starve

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rather than undergo the fatigues of European cultivation.

Add to this the oppression of their chiefs, the condition of the Otaheitans will be long before it is enviable.

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CHAP. XXXV.

The Houses of the Otaheitans.—Furniture.—Form of Government.—Influence of the Priests.

THE houses of the royal family and great chiefs bear a near resemblance to an English cart-shed; they are usually of an oval shape, the sides being formed of railing about two inches apart, so as to admit the current of air. These pales are about six feet in height, and, together with a range of posts, serve as supporters to the roof. From three to five wooden pillars, according to the size of the house, are placed longitudinally in the middle; a ridge rafter is fixed to the top of these

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pillars, and the rafters intended to support the roof descend from this ridge to the posts before mentioned, projecting three or four feet beyond. A rim runs round the whole building on the top of the posts, to which the rafters of the roof are bound; it is then very neatly thatched with the palm leaf.

There are no divisions or subdivisions in these houses; you are no sooner within them than you see every thing. The house of Edeah is built near the spot where captain Cook had established his observatory; and from that memorable event has been called Point Venus. It is the most completely furnished of any in the country, having an European bedstead formed of two boxes which she has procured from some of her old acquaintances, and which contain all her European treasure.

The floors are spread to the thickness

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of three or four inches with great quantities of grass; this is spread so carefully and neatly, that scarce a blade could be found lying the wrong way. These houses are generally surrounded with a kind of court-yard railed around with stout railing about three feet high; the whole yard is in the same manner strewed with grass. In this yard are sheds and smaller huts, as a kind of offices for the attendants and menial servants. Here they pass their time with one another seated on the ground, or stretched at full length; jesting, humming a tune, drumming, &c. When the royal family happen to be at Matavai, there is little else but drumming and playing on their flutes from morning till night.

When the royal family or chiefs travel by water, they have a small hut or moveable tent fixed in the front part of

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the canoe, which prevents them from being exposed either to the sun or weather. The women of the chiefs are for the most part much fairer than others.

The huts of the natives in general, are but little superior to so many sheds; some of them covered with grass, others not. Nature having done so much for them as to encourage their natural disinclination to the labour of cultivation, they employ their time for the most part in amusements and conversation with each other. They associate much together, and have their stories, songs, and country diversions, as well as more civilized countries.

When the weather sets in for severe, they cover in the weather side of the house with mats of the cocoa-nut leaf, two or three in thickness.

Their whole furniture, even that of the royal family, consists only of a few

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wooden stools about six or seven inches in height, and the side of an old canoe, which answers the purpose of a bedstead for the chief, as the stools supply that of a pillow: the remainder of their furniture consists of a few country baskets, some of them from the Sandwich Islands; a wooden tray or two in which they mix their popoy, ava, &c., a piece of hard wood, and a stone muller employed for pounding; some of the country gourds, cocoa-nut shells, and a scoop-net. This is a complete inventory of their best furnished houses. To these indeed may be added such presents as they have received or stolen from the ships; but as these have nothing to say to the peculiarities of the country, and are never used by them, it is not to our purpose to enumerate them.

Edeah had many of this latter kind;

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old saucepans, frying-pans, and gridirons; she wished much to exchange them with me for gun-powder, but I declined her pressing offer. They were scattered about her house like so much lumber.

Their careless manner of sleeping cannot much conduce to their health. Without any consideration of damps, or the moistness of the night air, they throw themselves on the ground. This cannot but be productive of some of those disorders, which in their ignorance they impute to European contagion.

From the best information I was enabled to obtain, their government is regal and hereditary. The power or ambition of an enterprising chief will indeed often disturb the regularity of succession; but the principle of hereditary government seems to be fundamen-

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tal. The usurper, if sufficiently powerful, transmits the supreme power to his son. Such was the case in the usurpation of Pomarrie.

The common people may be said to possess little or no property; for should they happen to possess any thing of more than ordinary value, the king seldom fails to hear of it through the medium of the miscreants by whom he is surrounded. The article is then demanded for his use, and it is prudent in the owner to submit. Reluctance is construed into an act of rebellion; and the object thenceforth marked down, and in all probability becomes the next human sacrifice; the common people complain heavily, and with great justice, of these atrocious sycophants, who plunder as often for themselves, as for their master.

No one is allowed to approach the

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king without uncovering their head and shoulders as low as their breasts: not even their own parents are exempted from this act of homage. Europeans are alone excepted. In travelling, the king and queen are carried on the shoulders of their attendants; this custom, however, only continues till the performance of a certain ceremony, that of his coronation and circumcision at Attahoura.

They are on no account suffered to walk but on particular spots sacred to their use. Should they enter the house of any one except their own, that house must be immediately pulled down. It was from this cause, that though Otoo and myself were next-door neighbours for several months, he never visited me, but sent for me five or six times in the day, always pretending some childish errand.

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The king's deputies, having absolute power, lord it with a very high hand; they are proud and ostentatious, and besides their own wife, have generally two or three of the finest women in the country as concubines. Unmarried women of rank have also their favourite men, with whom they cohabit at pleasure, nor does this practice excite either surprise or censure. I was informed that the king's wife had borne two children by her attendants; and Edeah, his mother, has had several since her separation from Pomarrie.

These were all strangled the moment after their birth, according to the practice of the infamous Arreoys, of whom the royal family are the chief members. They allege as their excuse, that they are the offspring of a base connection. They do not consider this abominable practice as having any criminality;

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many of them will frankly acknowledge how many they have killed.

It appears that a far greater number of females than males fall a victim to this national depravity.^* This may be imputed to two causes: in the first place, it has been invariably so practised by their ancestors; in the second, the greater difficulty and restrictions which are required to bring up a female than a male.

The Arreoys are a society so licentious and profligate, as to call loudly for punishment, even from divine vengeance. The very principle of their union is the community of their women, and the murder, at the moment of their

* When reproaching Pomarrie with this barbarous and inhuman practice, he alleged in reply, that should the births be brought forward, there would not be a sufficiency of food on the island for their support.

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birth, of all their issue of both sexes. By a strange and most lamentable perversity of mind, these wretches are venerared as a superior order of beings, and are treated as such wherever they go. I am persuaded that the example of these murderers extends this horrible mischief beyond themselves: the common people of all countries usually judge, and in consequence act, more from the example of their superiors, than as guided by their own reason. The Otaheitans may thus be led to imitate what they see in their Arreoys. I believe, throughout the whole island it is a matter of choice, whether a child shall be brought up or murdered. This mischief is inconceivable; their dissolute and abandoned principles spread like a pestilence, and, what renders it still worse, they rove from island to island, and every where disseminate the same poison. I find it difficult to speak of this society without

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horror. Would it be credible to any one who received it on less authority than that of the testimony of one navigator confirmed by a series of every succeeding one, that there existed on the surface of the globe a people of both sexes, who, deaf to the instinct of nature, and the clear reproach of even natural reason, can thus murder a whole race of infants, and consign to death the little beings to whom they have just given life? I scarcely expect to be believed by an English mother, yet true it is, that an Arreoy mother is no sooner delivered of her child than she in general murders it.

The priests have great influence over the minds of the people; they are highly respected by the people, and officiate at the morais in all religious sacrifices. Being considered as servants of their deities, they have an ample opportunity of imposing on the minds of the igno-

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rant natives, and they understand their interest too well not to avail themselves of it. They thus persuade them that the power of life and death is in their hands, and that to offend them and to call down their execrations is mortal. The great chiefs are for the most part priests themselves. They employ this advantage with great dexterity to extend and confirm the obedience and reverence of their subjects. They make them believe that their anger is mortal, and thus nothing is so much dreaded by an Otaheitan as to offend a great chief. The minds of the people are thus kept in continual terror by these artful villains. Pomarrie understood this craft, and employed it with unexampled dexterity. He was the arrant juggler amongst them on the score of religion. He had the prudence not to pretend that his power extended to us. He was in this respect an arch impostor.

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Their morais are akind of refuge for criminals of every kind; they fly to them when in any imminent danger, and, according to the custom of the country, must not be taken from thence. In a word, these people may be said to be stupefied by superstition, adhering invariably to the usages of their ancestors.

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CHAP. XXXVI.

Miserable State of the Island.— Diseases.— Causes of the gradual Decrease of Population.— Trick played upon the Captain.— General Propensity to Theft.

TO any man of humanity nothing can be more distressing than to cast his eye on this island, a spot blessed by nature with every thing that can render life pleasing; fertility of soil, and serenity of climate; but now become a scene of general mortality and the ravage of disease, which to all human appearance in a few years must render it a desolate wilderness untrodden by human feet.

They impute the greater part of these diseases to their European visitors, but

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for the most part very absurdly, though indeed we must take our share.

There can be no doubt but that thousands of them have been swept off by the venereal disease since their intercourse with Europeans.

At the time of our leaving the islands, many of these unfortunate objects were in a state truly pitiable through this disorder, though the missionary surgeon, a gentleman of great humanity, spared no efforts to alleviate their misery. But it was a very difficult thing to. persuade them to adhere to his prescriptions. They have a violent antipathy to medicines of all kinds, and, what is equally against them, they are no sooner taken with the disease than they are deserted and left to shift for themselves. In this helpless condition their chance of recovery is small indeed.

I am persuaded that they were far

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more happy in their primitive state, than since their acquaintance with Europeans. Another most dangerous malady amongst them is the country fever; this is very prevalent, and from their manner of treatment, or rather neglect, very fatal. However ill they may be, it is with the greatest difficulty that they can be persuaded to forego the water. The dysentry is too common; and when once it seizes them, seldom fails to be fatal. Rheumatisms and agues are diseases to which their excessive fondness for the water renders them peculiarly liable; we have before mentioned, that their careless manner of taking their night's repose, heedless equally of cold or damps, is a fertile source of these complaints. Their only means of alleviating pain, is by gently squeezing and rubbing the part affected; this method is general amongst all the islanders.

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Besides the disorders abovementioned they have many others, with which I am unacquainted, but which doubtless have their share in the destruction of the population.

But the most effectual instrument of the annihilation of these people is the horrible practice before mentioned, that of infant murder, and human sacrifices. It is computed that at least two thirds of the whole births of the island are thus stifled. In vain does nature raise her voice against what long usage, and profligacy confirmed by habit and example, so barbarously persuades. If the future diminution of these people keep pace with that of late years, and particularly during the time of my residence, the island must soon become a desert. The missionaries made two tours whilst I was in the island, and in each of which they numbered the people; according

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to their first calculation they were seven thousand, but in the last they very little exceeded five.

This mortality cannot but be seriously, however uselessly, lamented. So blind are these poor wretches, that, incapable of comprehending that the true cause of this evil must be sought in their own practices, they scruple not to impute them all to their intercourse with Europeans.

Three of the royal family died during the time we were resident in Otaheite. Upon the whole, I cannot but think that the vengeance of God has already fallen upon these people. Otoo is the last of his family.

Nature, who is a kind parent to all her children, has, in Otaheite, so mingled her bitters with her sweets, that the lot of the Otaheitans is not superior to the rest of the world. If their land is fer-

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tile, and their climate serene, their physical temperament is an indolence which renders these natural gifts ineffectual. Their king and chiefs are tyrannical, and surrounded with sycophants. Is there any gift of nature which can overbalance against such oppression?

What a contrast between these people and ourselves! Whilst all their faculties are benumbed as well by their natural ignorance, as by the stuporific influence of their government, we are hedged round by happy laws, and secured against all invaders, however powerful.

These people, to speak generally, possess an amiable openness of manners which cannot fail to impress a stranger with a very favourable opinion of them. But let such strangers rest assured, that these people will not fail to impose upon them to the utmost of their power. They will moreover never suffer an op-

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portunity of stealing to pass neglected. The chiefs being on all these occasions the receivers, the article stolen is almost always irrecoverable.

The captain with whom we embarked for Port Jackson experienced the truth of this assertion. Having brought with him some land turtles, the Otaheitan chiefs expressed a strong desire of having some left amongst them. They doubtless expected that the captain would make them a present of them, as had been done by other navigators, with regard to animals of more use. This gentleman, however, having no obligation to them, and no particular end to accomplish, had no very anxious wish to gratify them, but had no objection to the way of bartering one or two for hogs. The Otaheitans did not expect this; they therefore shifted their ground, and contrived the following stratagem. Two

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of Pomarrie's servants came with their master's compliments, and requested two turtles, and that the captain would send word by the bearers how many hogs would content him in exchange. It should be mentioned that Pomarrie was at this time at Attahoura. The captain had no great opinion of this business, but was persuaded to trust to Pomarrie's word; the turtles were accordingly sent under the charge of an European who had been long resident on the island, and was therefore well acquainted with the language. He was strictly charged not to return without the hogs.

The European and the two men from Pomarrie proceeded on their journey; but they scarcely had gone two miles, when they desired the European to return, adding that his attendance was un-

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necessary, as they would deliver the turtles themselves. The man mentioned the hogs to be delivered in return, and insisted upon accompanying them; till they began to handle him somewhat roughly, and enforced his compliance in a manner which he thought it not prudent any longer to resist. The fellow, being something of a coxcomb, and confident in his abilities for negotiation and management of the natives, had undertaken this embassy with great promises that they should not deceive him. It was ludicrous to see the fallen air with which he returned to the ship. It appears to me that the whole of this affair was a contrivance of the chiefs without the participation of Pomarrie. I have mentioned it at full length, as being illustrative of the tricking genius of this people.

Often have they tempted our people

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to desert by fair promises, and as often given them up for the promised reward.

The chiefs give them much credit if a business of this kind is done with such dexterity as to elude detection; but if discovered, join in the reproach. Though such arrant thieves in their intercourse with us, I believe they are more honest in their dealings with each other. When upbraided with the word thief, they retort that they are not worse thieves than many of our own countrymen, alluding to the convicts at Botany Bay.

There arc no greater thieves in the country than Otoo's attendants. Such are the chief men in the country, and such the priests and governors. The depravity of the common people need be no subject of astonishment, when such is the example of their superiors. The common people either do not be-

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lieve it a crime, or, if they are persuaded that it is such, flatter themselves that their priests can absolve them. They are one and all a country of thieves.

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CHAP. XXXVII.

Reception of Strangers.—Evenness of Temper.—Generosity amongst themselves.— Little Jealousy with regard to their Women.

THEIR manner of addressing strangers from the king to the meanest subject is courteous and affable in the extreme. The chiefs are exceedingly proud, and fond of parade; they seldom fail to receive a stranger with the utmost hospitality, and to render him all the good offices in their power. Their hospitality however, as may be conceived, has not much refinement; they never fail to expatiate largely on whatever they give, doubtless with the purpose of aggravating the return. Upon further acquaintance many of their amiable qualities dis-

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appear; and amongst others, their disinterestedness.

They certainly live amongst each other in more harmony than is usual amongst Europeans. During the whole time I was amongst them, I never saw such a thing as a battle; and though they are excellent wrestlers, and in their contests give each other many a hard fall, the contest is no sooner concluded, than they are as good friends as ever. Their frequent wars must be imputed to the ambition of their chiefs; and were it not for the restless disposition of these men, I am persuaded that war would be almost unknown amongst them.

I never remember to have seen an Otaheitan out of temper. They jest upon each other with greater freedom than the Europeans; but these jests are never taken in ill part. They are acute observers of the manners, actions, and

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even looks, of strangers; and if they have any singular imperfections or oddities, they will not fail to make themselves merry at their expence.

Their even temperament of mind and humour must be imputed in part to the effect of their happy climate. Another cause is doubtless their total want of care or thoughtfulness; nature having provided them with every thing necessary to sustenance, and the fertility of their soil requiring no cultivation. Hence there is nothing of that constant anxiety of providing for the first demands of nature, which gives that active motion to every individual of civil society; and which is the source, and only source, of all the destructive passions of life.

With regard to food, it is I believe an invariable law in Otaheite, that whatever is possessed by one is common to

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all: at least I never saw an instance to the contrary amongst all our numerous visitors. The first possessor indeed usually came off with the least share. I scarcely know how to reconcile this generosity with the selfishness of their conduct in their intercourse with straingers; except that of acting more from what may be called sentiment or natural feeling, than moral perception of right and wrong. They have one system of action amongst themselves, and another in their society with strangers.

Their manners, generally speaking, bear a great affinity to those of the other Society Islands; and none of them observe any faith with strangers. Their own interest is here their sole consideration.

Upon the arrival of the missionaries, they received them in the most cordial manner; professing the greatest rever-

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eace and regard as well to the men, as the doctrines they were about to disseminate. The missionaries, deceived by this reception, hailed it as a happy omen of the success of their mission; and commenced their labours of conversion in high spirits, and boundless hopes. The chiefs encouraged them by saying, that their parrow, or talk, was very good. The high priest however, after some attendance, suffered a remark to slip, which explained their secret opinion; that the missionaries gave them plenty of the word of God, but few axes. They doubtless thought that their constant attendance entitled them to presents. It appears to me, that in this respect, they have become very little improved.

Their general idleness is never interrupted but on the arrival of a ship. Every thing then is bustle and activity;

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they are then as busy as pedlars in fair time; every one has something to exchange in traffic; the husband not unfrequently brings his wife to market. Pomarrie himself was as great a factor as any of them in the article of Otaheitan beauty. In one of my evening walks, I found him accompanying ten or twelve young women to the beech, commanding them to go on board a certain ship in the bay, and not to fail to bring him plenty of powder in the morning. They all willingly obeyed his orders, for the thing is so common that nothing is thought of it.

The arrival of a ship brings them to the scene of action from far and near. Many of them then meet at Matavai who have not seen each other for some length of time. The ceremony of these meetings is not without singularity: taking a shark's tooth, they strike it into their

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head and temples with great violence, so as to produce a copious bleeding; and this they will repeat, till they become clotted with blood and gore. I cannot explain the origin of this custom, nor its analogy with what it is intended to express. It has no other meaning with them than to express the excess of their joy. By what construction it is considered as symbolical of this emotion I do not understand.

The situation of the missionaries amongst them must be very unpleasant. A ship however no sooner arrives, than they are employed by them to negotiate the exchange and barter. Should every thing in this business not be to their satisfaction, a thing that almost always happens from their insatiable avarice, the missionaries must bear the reproach. They cannot have exerted their interest with their countrymen, or they could have procured them better

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bargains. It is in vain for the missionaries to answer that they have no power over the property of others. An Otaheitan is not very easily convinced, when he is resolved to retain his first opinion.

If the missionaries should convince them of the sincerity and earnestness of their efforts to procure them articles suited to their wishes, the blame is then cast upon the captain. He is then every thing that is bad; Ahow, ahow, or Tata perre, perre, a stingy fellow; which words they repeat with great emphasis, and ludicrous grimace.

Money being a thing of arbitrary value only, it is of little consequence of what materials it is composed, so that the end is answered. Thus a piece of paper with us answers all the purpose of the finest gold; and from being a blank the moment before, it may in a few minutes be transformed into tens of thou-

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sands. Thus the property introduced among them on the arrival of the missionaries was of much greater value to them than a ship-load of gold would have been to this country. Since that time they have wholly laid aside their stone hatchets, and bone implements for fishing; and those articles are now seen only as objects of curiosity, not as implements of general utility. While resident there, I was informed from the very best authority, that Pomarrie had one of his men, who had picked up something of the blacksmith craft from the missionary blacksmiths, employed in making axes, &c. upwards of twelve months. The arrival of these men amongst them will no doubt be a day long remembered as one of their good days. Their settlement was like that of a number of rich foreigners settling in an infant country, whom it was the highest policy of the

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natives to encourage by every possible means.

In the immediate vicinity of our house was a beautiful plantation of cocoa-nut trees, consisting of some hundreds, planted by Edeah and Pomarrie about the time of captain Bligh's visit and voyage for the bread-fruit tree. These trees have now gained such a height, that their branches, meeting at the top, form a most beautiful alcove. They are sufficiently dense to exclude the rays of the sun, and form one of the most pleasant walks in the island. It was at least the only one which afforded me any satisfaction. Travelling in the interior is very troublesome, both on account of the heat and the long grass, as well as a kind of bur, which is very abundant, and is called by the natives pe perre.

The ground sacred to Otoo, and his

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brother the king of Tiarabo, adjoins to this grove. Edeah, Paitea, and Awhow the sister of Paitea and mother to the two queens, all reside in the neighbourhood. This was therefore the royal residence; and if there was any thing of civilization in the country, it would be most natural to expect it here. But there was absolutely nothing of the kind, nor any appearance of its first degree. They were as absolutely remote from civilized life, as at the period of their first discovery.

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CHAP. XXXVIII.

Stupidity of Otoo.—Otabeitan Numerals.—Human Sacrifices.—Horrid Instance of Treachery.

IT must be a very long period of time before the Otaheitans can arrive at the very first elements of civil life: a language reduced to regularity, and written characters, so as to be grammatically learnt and transmitted. There are but few of them can be taught to pronounce in any resemblance the letters of the alphabet. Otoo could indeed compass a few, but there are many letters which neither he nor any other Otaheitan could articulate.

Such are our letters C, K, S, Q, X, and

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G. V they pronounce B, and C they soften into T. Thus Captain Vancouver, is Taptain Bancouba, and Captain Cook, Taptain Tootee. The royal admiral, is Rammirell.

Very good fellow, very bad fellow, were the plainest words that Otoo could articulate; haremi de rum, bring hither the rum, and a very few others. He would sometimes send to the missionaries for pen, ink and paper, but used them as a child, making scrawls and scratches. On some occasions I have been sent for to witness his proficiency, but I ever found him more attentive to a book of pictures than to his reading and writing. He could indeed very imperfectly form some of the letters of the alphabet, but it was very imperfectly, and I am of opinion that there are very small hopes of improving the natives through his example, or that of any of his family.

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When he had any message to communicate to shipping, he usually applied to Mr. Jefferson or some other of the missionaries, to transmit it by the paper parow or note; the purport of this was usually a demand of the Ava Brittanna.

The Otaheitan numerals are as follows:

Attāchie	One
Arroua	Two
Atōra	Three
Aha	Four
Arīma	Five
Aveneu	Six
Ahita	Seven
Avarrou	Eight
Iva	Nine
Ahourou	Ten

Eleven begins the same as one, with the addition of de halla postfixed, and so on till they arrive at twenty, after which

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they add ahourou, signifying ten, till they arrive at one hundred, which they seldom exceed.

Another method they have adopted of making a stranger, unacquainted with then language, understand their meaning, is by tying as many slips of the cocoa leaf into a bundle, and presenting it to the stranger with whom they are bargaining, signifying by this what number of any thing they require, and what number of hogs, &c. they intend giving for a musket, powder, &c.

The human sacrifices are not put to death by their priests, as many have been led to imagine; the executioner is usually one of the miscreants about the person of the king, and generally adds treachery to the horror of his murder. He calls upon the victim under the pretext of a visit of friendship, and, seizing his opportunity when the poor fellow

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is off his guard, knocks him down and kills him on the spot. An instance of this treachery and murder occurred whilst I resided amongst them.

One of the confidants of Otoo, upon our return from the Sandwich Islands, a fellow who visited us daily previous to our voyage thither, was advanced to the command of a district at some distance from Matavai. This man had been often importuned for a human victim, and as often excused himself by the difficulty of finding any suitable object within his district. This passed for a time, but the king, or rather Pomarrie, at length insisted on his compliance. The wretch, now put to his shifts, and apprehensive of losing the smiles of his benefactor, found he could defer it no longer. He therefore sent a message requesting the immediate visit of a near relation. The unsuspicious man obeyed,

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and was received with the greatest friendship and cordiality by the treacherous chief, so that he departed enraptured with his reception. But he had no sooner left the house than the villain gave orders that one of his trusty agents should follow him, and, watching his opportunity, should kill him when off his guard. This was accordingly done one day when the unsuspicious man was walking down to the beach. The body was then laid out in a long basket made of cocoa-nut leaves, and conveyed past our door. The natives in our yard beheld it with the most perfect apathy and indifference, and requested me to look at it as it passed; but I expressed my abhorrence of such an outrage to humanity, and refused to go out of my doors till it had proceeded beyond my sight.

When the sacrifices arrive at the moreas, the eye is scooped out, and present-

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ed on a bread-fruit leaf. The king holds his mouth open as if to receive it. They imagine that he thereby receives an addition to his strength and cunning.

Upon great solemnities the chiefs of every district bring one or more of these human sacrifices; it was supposed that not less than from twelve to fifteen would be offered at the inauguration of Otoo. The bodies, after the ceremony of the sacrifice, are removed to the moreas, and there interred.

When upbraided with this most horrible practice they never want an excuse. They allege that the victims were bad men, and men to whose crimes their lives were just forfeits. But in my opinion this is only one of those excuses which, on every occasion that requires an excuse, these people have ready made for the purpose.

Perhaps there are few people in the

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world who carry their liberality to their Gods, to greater excess than these people. They think nothing too good for these divinities. Every calamity with which an Otaheitan is afflicted is considered the immediate effect of the vengeance of their Gods. Sickness, want, ill-success in war, or the anger of their kings and chiefs, have no other origin than in some offence or neglect of their Gods. Thus we find even Pomarrie himself labouring under the same superstition, intreating us earnestly to fire some cannon, in order to appease thewrath of his Gods whom he feared to have offended.

There are a set of men in this country whose open profession is of such abomination, that the laudable delicacy of our language will not admit it to be mentioned. These are called by the natives mahoos; they assume the dress, attitude, and manners, of women, and

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affect all the fantastic oddities and coquetries of the vainest of females. They mostly associate with the women, who court their acquaintance. With the manners of the women they adopt their peculiar employments, making cloth; bonnets, and mats; and so completely are they unsexed from their manhood, that had they not been pointed out to me, I should not have known them but as women. I add with some satisfication, that the encouragement of this abomination is almost solely confined to the chiefs. Otoo himself is a monster of debauchery. Their pollution in this respect beggars all description; my mind averts from dwelling upon an object which recalls so many images of disgust and horror.

Whilst amongst them. I saw two of their mahoos; the one in the train of Pomarrie, the other was pointed out to

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me as he passed my house; observing me to fix my eyes on him with a look expressive of my abhorrence, he sneaked off without speaking. Their wickedness is enough to call down the immediate judgment of heaven; and let me not be thought too presumptuous, if I assert that the hand of God is visibly amongst them. Unless their manners change, I pronounce that they will not long remain in the number of nations. The sword of disease is no less effectual than the waters of a deluge.

With regard to health, peace of mind, and vigour of body, the missionaries stand; on high ground; and must appear to them under the immediate protection of heaven, whilst they fall around them like rotten sheep. Mrs. Eyre, now upwards of seventy years of age, was superintending her domestic affairs with a deal of ease, content, and happiness.

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We cannot, however, take our leave of Otaheite, without expressing an opinion, that the slow progress of the missionary efforts has been principally owing to a collusion between the royal family, the chiefs, and priests. They most probably are afraid of losing their, influence over the minds of the people, should the introduction of christianity be encouraged, and therefore set their faces against it stoutly. Had not this been the case, I think it is almost impossible but some converts must have been gained, for the virtues of these men speak intelligibly to the natives. Whoever, will trace that universal depravity of character to its fountain-head, will find that the chiefs are the root of the evil, for these people are in general proud of imitating the examples of their chiefs. May the dawning of civilization, the precursor of christianity, dispel the mist

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that pervades their minds, and shortly illumine not only them, but the whole race of Adam in every quarter of the habitable globe !

If I have been thus full, perhaps minute in my relation of the manners and customs of the Otaheitans, I have only to allege in excuse, that it is my wish to exhibit to the eyes of my countrymen a complete picture of this island. The first navigators, in describing the beauty of the island, have been perhaps too partial in their judgment of their manners, or resided so short a time amongst them, that many of these peculiarities escaped their observation. Perhaps some of them did not exist at the time, as they have doubtless become much worse since their intercourse with Europeans.

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CHAP. XXXIX.

Passage to Port Jackson.—Touch at the Friendly Islands.—Intercourse with the Natives.—Arrival at Norfolk Island.

ON OUT way to Port Jackson, we made the island of Eoa, or Middleburgh, the eastermost of the Friendly Islands; and lay off and on the greater part of the day, trading with the natives for cocoa-nuts and curiosities. These people in their manners and appearance have a great resemblance with the Sandwich Islanders. Their canoes, if we except the Sandwich Islands, were the neatest I had seen in those seas. The people appeared to me to be persuaded that their curiosities were inestimable, for they observed no moderation in their demands. They traded as

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if they had been accustomed to extortion all their lives. They wanted axes and scissars in exchange for their worthless trumpery; but finding that they could not impose on us, and that we would not give, more than the worth, they agreed to our terms, rather than return as they came.

They brought off three women, doubtless with the intention of putting their favours up to sale; but here they were disappointed, as they could find no purchasers amongst the ship's company.

These women were very far from being handsome: they were stout, masculine, and hard-featured; and to all appearance past the meridian of life. They were much browner and of a coarser make and complexion than the Otaheitans. These latter indeed are the most comely and soft-featured of any of the

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islanders in these seas. The natives, however, doubtless thought their beauty a very saleable comodity, and were apparently much disconcerted that they had to carry them back after having taken so much trouble to bring them so far.

We purchased some clubs, paddles, and spears; but paid at least three times the price that they would have cost us at any of the other islands. We solicited them much to return to the shore, and bring us off some hogs, yams, &c. as they said they had these articles in great plenty; but upon the return of the canoe which was sent for these articles, they pleaded so many excuses, that it appeared evident that they had deceived us, and had them not in the abundance they pretended. They recommended us strongly to go to Tongataboo, which we could already see, and which had a most beautiful appearance from this dis-

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tance; being apparently as level and green as a bowling-green. They told us that there was great plenty of every thing we wanted, and that it might be procured cheap; we understood them at least so, as far as their jargon was intelligible; but they had told us the same of their own island, and therefore we listened to them without attention.

Fortunately for us, we had left Otaheite well provided, otherwise we should here have had cause to repent our improvidence upon reaching the Friendly Islands. It appeared to me that a great and unusual scarcity must have at that time prevailed at Eoa, otherwise they could not have withstood the temptation of our articles. We did not procure on this island above two dozen of the heads of the oura, or bread-fruit; a circumstance that leads me to suspect that it cannot be in great plenty in Eoa, as at

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Otaheite we never found any difficulty in procuring as much as we wanted: perhaps it was at this time out of season. This bread-fruit, about four dozen of cocoa-nuts, one or two bunches of bananas, and a few sticks of the sugarcane, was the whole that we got at these islands.

The whole country as far as we could observe, was divided into neat inclosures and seemingly all in cultivation. This culture is in my opinion far more necessary here than in the Society Islands, as there appeared evidently a scarcity of the oura, or bread-fruit. We observed from the ship several houses; but being at such a distance, we cannot venture to describe them minutely. As viewed through the glass, they appeared as if built in an oblong manner, somewhat resembling a long shed, apparently open at the sides. The war that has ex-

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isted for some years on these islands, has been fatal to the population; according to the report, these people give no quarter. Their ferocity is indeed visible in the very mould of their features.

Their language was nearly unintelligible to a Sandwich Islander, and to two Otaheitans on board, so that our traffic was conducted chiefly by signs. Their clubs were more ingenrously carved than any we had yet seen; even superior to the Sandwich Islanders. The wood was black, hard, and heavy; somewhat resembling the lignum-vitæ. The carving must have required an unusual degree of labour; and if the value should be rated according to the time of the workmanship, we had them very cheap. I cannot say with what tools the carving could have been so neatly executed; if done with a shell, the time and labour must have been immense. But there is

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not amongst savages a more admirable talent than that of perseverance. Compared with an European, they will do very little at one time; but to a favourite object they will return a thousand times, nor ever desist till they have accomplished their end.

The cloth of the Friendly Islands much resembles that of the Sandwich Islands both in colour and quality. It is much inferior to that of the Otaheitans. Indeed, of the cloth of these seas, the best is of the Otaheitan manufacture.

The day now drawing to a close, those on board were ordered to return into their canoes. They flung themselves into the water apparently in great terror, and paddled in haste to the shore.

From the short visit we paid this people, it is impossible to say any thing with regard to their habits or manners; their

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language was moreover nearly unintelligible to the Southern Islanders. The uncommon ferocity of their looks cannot but cause an involuntary start in all who may happen to see them for the first time. This perhaps appeared more striking to us, as we had but then left the Otaheitans, whose looks invite to confidence.

They pressed us much to go on shore; but as our necessities did not require it, and their features did not second their invitation, we thought proper to decline it. The apparent welcome of these people is never to be trusted; dissimulation is one of their instruments of treachery; but caution is perhaps needless, as their features, of themselves, are a sufficient index of their minds.

This island, generally speaking, is of an easy ascent; from the shore it ascends gradually and gently to the

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highest ground, which does not however exceed a moderate height. It may be seen ten leagues at sea. The method of tattooing usual in all these seas, was likewise here practised.

Two of the men who were here trading, affected to pass amongst us as chiefs, but as they exercised no authority over the others who were trading by the side of the vessel, we did not give much credit to their pretensions.

I had no doubt indeed, that the whole was a trick, in order to prolong our stay. They will find themselves grossly mistaken, who, visiting these seas from commercial or other motives, act with these savages as if their characteristic was an honest simplicity. They are altogether the contrary; and as expert in swindling, as if they had lived, in a civilized country. I assert again, that throughout all the islands of the Pacific

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Ocean, the same general characteristic prevails; an absolute indifference to all right or wrong in their intercourse with strangers.

In conversation with the gentleman * with whom I went passenger to Norfolk Island, upon the subject of the inhabitants of these islands, he chanced to mention the shipwreck of the Argo from China, with a cargo to Norfolk Island and Port Jackson. As I was acquainted both with the captain and the vessel, I felt some interest to learn something more of this disaster, and how and where he had met with them. I had before suspected that some accident had happened, as she ought to have arrived at least a twelvemonth before. He informed me that the only surviving man of the whole crew was then on board the same ship with ourselves; and

* This gentleman is now in London.

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that he had at first taken him on board very unwillingly, suspecting that he was an impostor or fugitive seaman. But the poor fellow at length convinced him of the truth of his story; the particulars of which were as follows. They had sailed with a cargo from China, had met with adverse buffeting winds, which had thrown them very far from their course. I think it is no improbable conjecture to suppose, that as the captain had so long been at sea, it was his intention to touch at some of these islands. The ignorance of the sailor is no objection to this supposition, as commanders do not always inform their men of their intention. The sailor proceeding in his narrative, added, that the ship one night struck upon a reef of rocks to the north-west of these islands, and shortly became a total wreck.

After the accident the natives plun-

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dered and destroyed every thing they could seize, and their plunder continued as long as any spoil remained for its object. The captain and crew landed at Tongataboo; one of those wars was at this time raging in the island, which, from the ferocity with which it was conducted, must sooner or later exterminate the people. If this man's story is to be credited, the captain and the greater part of the crew fell the victims of this contest. His however did not happen immediately on their landing; the captain continued some timeamongst them, and previously to his death was wandering over the island naked and desolate as a native. His late loss and present situation had almost deprived him of his senses, and rendered him, according to the poor fellow's description, a truly pitiable object. He said that the death of the captain, and the greater

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part of the crew, was caused by their being discovered in an attempt to escape from the island, but that some of them had been surprised and overpowered by the adverse party. The fellow himself had effected his escape in a canoe from which he had been taken by the captain of our vessel.*

It is said that some of the missionaries, in their efforts to improve the condition of this people, had lost their lives. The remainder were providentially preserved by the arrival of a Spanish prize, on board of which was one of their breth-

* I repeat that happiness and independence no where exist. In all of the islands we visited in those seas, there was not one of any magnitude in which there was not a greater or less number of petty chiefs, or in other words tyrants, whose ambition is productive of an eternal warfare. So much for the conformity of liberty with the state of nature; so much for their co-existence.

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ren of the name of Harris, who, in despair of effecting any useful purpose, had left the Marquesas. He had joined this prize as a kind of navigating pilot at Otaheite, on her way to Port Jackson, and in consequence of his interest had procured the admission of the other missionaries on board, and thus, in all probability, saved their lives. This information Mr. Harris communicated to me at Norfolk Island.

These islanders were suspected of a design of cutting off the Duff whilst in the act of settling the missionaries.

The Otaheitans to a man are passionately attached to their own country, and believe it not to be exceeded by any country in the world. If they have not iron, they say, they have cocoa-nuts, and if their cloths and tools are exceeded by the, European articles of the same kind, what can exceed their bread-fruit? They

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are fully persuaded that we have no other purpose in visiting their island, but that we are half-starved at home, and that we come there to fatten, or, as they say, to get handsome; in a word, Otaheite is the finest island in the world, and Pomarrie the greatest man. Long may this happy prejudice continue ! where happiness is the fruit, of what import is it whether the root is error?

With these opinions it will be no subject of surprise, that they are but little inclined to leave their island. They are not, however, without some curiosity as to the habits and customs of other islands; and they listen with eagerness to the marvellous reports of such of their countrymen, as have visited the Sandwich or other islands in those seas. We have before mentioned that they do not take equal interest in any of our accounts of the wonders of our country; consider-

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ing Great Britain as a kind of another world, and one with which they have no concern or connection of interest, they give little or no attention to what we say upon the subject.

Some of their boys, however, must be excepted from this remark; during their residence amongst us as servants, they had heard such wonders of England, and in consequence had formed so attracting an idea of it, that on our reembarkation we found no less than three of them on board. They made strong interest with the captain to give them a passage to Britain.

Upon touching at Norfolk Island in our way to Port Jackson, these boys were very eager for permission to go on shore; they all entreated that they might be allowed to see the Englishmen's fenowa or land. This permission was granted to one of the most intelligent of

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them, in the expectation of deriving some amusement from his curious remarks. This expectation was not disappointed; nothing in fact escaped his observation; the military guard being under arms at the time of his landing, he was transported with a kind of extacy of astonishment and admiration. Twice or thrice he exclaimed in his country language, Arahie my tye the tata poo pooey; Noble man, the man of the musket. He doubtless supposed from the appearance of the soldiers that they were superior to the rest of mankind.

Every one flocking around him, invited by his Otaheitan dress, he was invited into almost every house, every one offering him victuals, and pressing him to eat. This evidently gave him a better opinion of the Englishman's country in point of provisions, than either he or

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his countrymen had ever before entertained.

Another subject of his lively astonishment was the great number of children; he said there was six times the number which the women had in Otaheite. He now began to exclaim that truly the Englishman's was a fine country, but thought it a pity that there were no bread-trees or cocoa nuts; he could not conceive how it was possible to live without this to him necessary of life.

Here he found one of his countrymen of the name of Oreo, who had lately arrived from England in the ship Albion, smartly dressed in the style of an English sailor. This man eagerly entered into conversation with him respecting the state of affairs in Otaheite, enquiring about the progress of the war, and its probable event.

It was easy to see that from the know-

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ledge which this man had acquired from travelling, he conceived himself far superior to any of his countrymen. He shewed him the riches he had acquired by such an adventurous enterprize; this wealth consisted of a musket, two pistols, a few axes and scissars, with some European clothing. The sight of this immense wealth had an evident effect upon the young Otaheitan; he now treated his countryman with more distant respect, apparently acknowledging him as now a far superior man to himself. He appeared moreover pleased that he himself was in so fair a way of becoming soon equally rich. The traveller told him many strange and marvellous stories of the beauty and riches of Britain, and the Otaheitan listened with equal rapture and credulity. The Otaheitan and Sandwich Island travellers generally enlarge in some degree in their reports of what they have seen.

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Before he left the shore, his mirth was much excited by the sight of some old women smoking. He mimicked them with great humour; his grimaces were truly ludicrous and expressive.

It is with pleasure I here mention, that we here found that solitary individual of whom we have formerly spoken; whose folly and timidity had inflicted on him a punishment, of which we have few instances. He was now comfortably settled as a domestic servant with the beach-master, perfectly happy in himself, and giving the most perfect satisfaction to his employer.

Here I must intreat the reader's pardon for one moment, whilst I rectify a mistake in the printing of the first part of the Work. Instead of saying he was wholly unintelligible, the words ought to have been, in some instances unintelligible. We found the governor still

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persevering in his plans of improvement. Several public buildings had been added to those we left at the time of sailing; and the water, which lay at a considerable distance from the camp, was now conveyed into the middle of the town by means of wooden pipes. This was a circumstance of the utmost public utility, in enabling the cultivator and other branches of the community to follow their several avocations without interruption. Having spent the day very comfortably amongst my old acquaintances, who received me with the most cordial welcome, I embarked in the evening, and stood on our course to Port Jackson.

The islanders had been blessed with an abundant harvest. Both the military and convicts were on full allowance. Added to this, the governor through his industry, and the encouragement

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given the settlers in rearing stock, had at this time salted down upwards of twenty tons of pork; and was only waiting an opportunity of sending it on to Port Jackson.

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CHAP. XL.

Admiration of the Otaheitan Boys on their Arrival at Port Jackson.

ON making the land about Port Jackson, the Otaheitans were again in raptures, probably thinking this was England; but seeing the barrenness of the country as they entered the harbour, and the scragginess of the trees, their spirits evidently sunk. Here again they looked at the trees for food, and seeing none, exclaimed in their country language, Very bad land, very bad country.

On coming to an anchor in Sydney Cove, there was a coach and four horses standing almost opposite the ship. This astonished them beyond measure.

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Every one enquired of the other their opinion of this wonderful phænomenon. They concluded that it must be a travelling house; but they could find no names for the horses, having in their country no larger animals than hogs. Some of these indeed were uncommonly large. The Otaheitans therefore called them by the name of mighty hogs. A short time after this, the coach setting off at a good round trot, they exclaimed in extacy to each other, Oh ! how they fly. It was impossible to recall their attention to any part of the ship's duty at this time. On the following morning, seeing the New South Wales corps under arms, they were in the most extravagant raptures imaginable; but when the band began to play, they began to leap about, their very eyes dancing in their head with the vivacity of their sympathy. So enchanted were they

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with this sight, that had the governor made his appearance, I am persuaded they would have regarded him only as a secondary character.

Shortly afterwards, some of the natives of Port Jackson paddled alongside in a canoe with some fish. The Otaheitans were happy to see this, as it was a sign that the manner of living was in some respects according to the custom of their own country. They asked for some of the fish; never dreaming of a refusal, as it was the invariable custom at Otaheite to share every article of food amongst each other. They were mute with astonishment, when they learned by a refusal that every country did not in this respect resemble Otaheite. After some pause, however, the natives gave them a few of the fish; they gladly accepted them, and made a repast of them after their own manner.

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There are few islands of the magnitude of Otaheite, so utterly destitute of quadrupeds. With the exception of hogs, they have few or none. Their hogs are indeed of an extraordinary magnitude: some of them exceed five hundredweight. Whenever any thing therefore exceeds the common standard, they compare it to one of their large hogs.

However there has been lately introduced into their country a phænomenon from Owyhee, which impresses them with admiration and astonishment, and not unfrequently with terror and dismay. This is neither more nor less than a calf of the Spanish breed, about eight months old when landed, brought thither by the Nautilus. It was intended to be conveyed to Port Jackson; but from the hardships and fatigues it underwent on shipboard, was landed at Otaheite, half-dead, and, literally speaking, mere skin and bone.

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In this situation one of the missionaries purchased it of the captain; who sold it the more willingly, as he despaired of ever carrying it alive to Port Jackson.

This animal, from the instant it was landed, having the plains to range about at large, recruited its flesh astonishingly, and is now grown to a full size; being as fat, sleek, and wanton, as possible. From its former simple and inoffensive state, it is now become an object of dread and apprehension to the natives. When she begins frisking and capering from mere wantonness, the natives think that there is mischief breeding.; or as they call it, she is begining to be angry. She has taught them to dread her indignation much; as they know in these fits there is no respect of persons. They often occasion her wildness by their gestures and hallooing, causing her sometimes to exert herself

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in earnest, by starting like a deer, snorting and tossing her head, throwing up her heels, and clearing away every thing before her. On these occasions the whole place is left to her solely; the natives flying from her in all directions, taking shelter behind the bread-fruit and cocoa-nut trees, and jumping into old canoes or houses. It is very singular, that although she is apt to play these tricks with the natives, this animal is docile and harmless with the Europeans, suffering herself to be handled and patted with the utmost gentleness.

One morning she came and laid her head over the railing of our yard, as if expecting something of this kind. Seeing this, I went towards her and rubbed her forehead, which she suffered without offering to stir. This seemed rather surprising to the natives, many of whom were

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looking on, being perfectly secure by our fence. At this time some flies disturbing her, she began to whisk her tail and move her head; which they observing, earnestly advised me to desist in time, as She was angry, or beginning to be so.

Previous to this, I had often been asked by the natives whether I had ever seen this tremendous animal; but from their imperfect manner of describing it, was always at a loss to know what they meant. Their answer to my enquiries was, that it was Booa a tora no popohee, an amazing large hog from Owyhee: as we had just come from thence, they no doubt wished to know if there were plenty, and if we had seen any; and on my still declaring my ignorance of their meaning, seemed very much surprised at my dullness of comprehension, after the great pains they had taken to explain

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the business. They no doubt alluded to those formerly left there by captain Cook, which they had been informed came from our country, and of which they have now but a very faint recollection, most of the then existing race of men being by this time extinct. As the last and most convincing way, however, they placed two sticks in front of their heads in imitation of the animal's horns, setting up a noise at the same time, saying, Witte de ye? Now do you understand? On my arrival at Port Jackson, I had the satisfaction of hearing that a bull had been sent to Otaheite, which will certainly be a most valuable acquisition to the mission. This stranger most assuredly will have plenty of room assigned him on his arrival.

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CHAP. XLI.

Second Residence at Port Jackson.—Improvements in that Colony during our Absence.—Arrival of Ships from Europe.

ON our arrival here a second time, after an absence of two years, we found that we were not the only shipwrecked mariners in this part of the world, but that others had also shared this melancholy fate. Immediately on anchoring, we received the unpleasant intelligence of the shipwreck of his majesty's ship Porpoise, and the extra ship Cato. This unfortunate accident happened on an unknown reef, about eight hundred miles to the northward, and had caused a general gloom throughout the colony.

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Another ship in company very narrowly escaped the same fate. Captain Flinders of the Porpoise had reached Port Jackson in an open boat with this information; in consequence of which, an extra ship on her way to China had been ordered to touch there by government, for the purpose of removing the unfortunate sufferers. Captain Flinders, however, had resolved on prosecuting his voyage homewards in a small colonial vessel built in the country, of about thirty tons burthen. This could not but prove a very difficult undertaking. No ships from the mother country, or any other nation, were at this time in the port; there was consequently no news, as the dullness or animation of this place must depend entirely on the arrival of shipping. We had the satisfaction, however, of finding that the scarcity which had so long prevailed in

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this colony, had now given way to the plentiful supplies procured by the evacuation of the Cape of Good Hope, and the recent arrival of some transports. And here let me observe that it would perhaps be prudent in the government, availing themselves of a plentiful year, to store in the public granaries a twelve-month's stock, and thus preclude all danger of famine from the not unfrequent failure of the crops, and other casualties.

As the vessel in which we had come passengers from Otaheite was in a manner only beginning her voyage, it was necessary that we should a second time become residents in this colony. Our first inquiry therefore was after lodgings, as it was probable that our stay would not be of short duration. We could not indeed expect to get off till the arrival of the Calcutta, which was now daily expected; but we knew too much

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of maritime affairs to trust to any thing yet in the hands of chance. After a lapse of a few days, we suited ourselves as well as people in our circumstances could expect.

One of the first objects of improvement that presented itself was a stone bridge at this time building across the river. This was a grand check upon many of the female prisoners; for here those of the most depraved morals were consigned to carry large baskets of earth for the purpose of filling up the bridge, a task which kept them in great awe. Observing them in this degraded situation, I could not help reflecting on the depravity of human nature, and the enormity of their crimes, which had thus subjected them to such exemplary punishment. What effect must this have on the minds of the natives? Never was the task of a negro in the

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West Indies more irksome to them, than was this job to this part of the community. This mark of public infamy was not a slight temporary punishment, continuing only for a few months. This being completed, their labour would not yet end; they would be shifted to another part of the country, there to commence something of the same nature. They have sundry other modes of punishing this incorrigible part of the community; such as shaving their heads, and placing an iron collar round their necks, and drumming them round the camp. May this serve as a warning to the more dissolute to avoid such infamy! If these are severe examples, it is not more than they deserve; for many of the irregularities and depredations committed in the colony are occasioned by this description of characters.

During our absence from the colony,

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a new settlement had been formed on Van Diemen's land in the southern extremity of New Holland. The vessel in which we came from Otaheite was employed by government to carry thither stores and provisions for the new settlers, together with a certain number of breeding stock, and a small military party under the command of a lieutenant.

On the second day after this vessel's departure, the colours were hoisted at the south head, the entrance of the harbour, as a signal for a vessel in sight. This proved to be a small schooner built from a part of the wreck of the Porpoise, commanded by an officer formerly of the Investigator. From him we had the agreeable intelligence of the safe arrival of the Cumberland, captain Flinders, and the Rolla, the ship destined to remove the crew and stores of the Porpoise. Captain Flinders having made

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the necessary arrangements, and having selected what men he deemed necessary for navigating his little vessel, proceeded on his voyage for England; whilst the Rolla on the same day left the reef, bending her course towards China.

During my residence in the colony in 1801, the Hawkesbury, which may be termed the granary of New South Wales, was inundated. This circumstance reduced the colony to great distress, and proved the ruin of many of the settlers, whose whole dependance was on their grain. Hence once cause of the many litigations that then existed. Many of them at this time suffered severely by a blight passing over the country. Through such casualties as these the colony is often put to great straits, and these inconveniences are much increased from their remoteness to the mother country and every other settlement.

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After a short interval the colours were again hoisted as a signal for another ship in sight. The colonists on these occasions are always in high spirits, the arrival of every ship being a matter of public and general consequence. They were at this time more than ordinarily exhilarated, in the expectation that it was a vessel from England. They had been long without hearing any intelligence from the parent country, and Botany Bay is not so remote as to take no interest in the public affairs of Great Britain and Europe.

I had before observed that it was by an American ship, touching at Norfolk Island for refreshment, that the colonies had learnt the first accounts of the preliminaries of peace. We now learned by a ship of the same nation, that hostilities had again commenced. A brig belonging to the Mauritius escaped only in

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time: there were several colonists as passengers on board, who of course on their arrival would be made prisoners.

In our present situation, and from the great sameness of objects in an infant country, the time hung very heavy on our hands; every day we were anxiously looking out for the arrival of the Calcutta.

It has been mentioned in the former part of our narrative, that a high spirit of party existed between the governor and the military. During my absence from the settlement, and the interval of my residence at Otaheite, this party spirit had been carried to a very great extent: carricatures and anonymous writings, reflecting on the conduct and person of the governor, had been dropt in several parts of the town and country. No inquiries, however assiduous, could detect the authors of these

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indecorous libels, and though there were evidently many concerned, the secret was faithfully kept.

At length the Ocean transport arrived very unexpectedly, bringing the intelligence of her having been chartered by the government at home, to carry stores and provisions for a new settlement, intended to be formed at Port Philip, in Bass's Straits. The government here seemed to be entirely ignorant of this circumstance; it was doubtless suggested by some gentleman at home. Having completed her charter with government, the Ocean was proceeding on her way to China, but accidentally fell in with an open boat in distress, dispatched by the gentleman appointed governor of the new settlement; This boat had dispatches giving an account of the unfitness of Port Philip for the intended settlement. Humanity in-

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duced the captain of the transport togrant the crew an asylum in his ship, and solely on that account had he visited this port. By the same channel we had the happiness to learn that the long-expected Calcutta, instead of bringing prisoners to Port Jackson, as was expected, had landed them at Port Philip, and was there waiting till something final should be determined upon.

After having landed all the provisions, stores, &c. and an accurate examination of the adjacent country taken, which occupied much time, the situation was found wholly ineligible.

This ship was now chartered again by the governor of Port Jackson, to remove the stores and prisoners to the new settlement on Van Diemen's Land. Some small colonial vessels assisted in this purpose. Shortly afterwards, to our inexpressible satisfaction, arrived

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the long-expected Calcutta, for the purpose of discharging her cargo for this settlement, and taking on board a lading of country wood for naval purposes. The arrival of the Calcutta, and that of two other ships from India nearly at the same time, exhilarated the spirits of the colonists much, for till this time they had been remarkably dull for several months. The colonists had added greatly to the number of their small craft, since my departure from the colony.

At this time government had on the stocks, and nearly finished, a cutter of about 60 tons; there was moreover another of less dimensions belonging to an individual, in nearly the same state of forwardness. Government was at this time establishing settlements in various parts of the country. A party under the command of lieutenant Menzies of the royal marines was about to settle

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at Hunter's river, a station at a small distance to the eastward of Port, Jackson. Coals of a very good quality had here been found in strata of different depths: these coals resemble what in England is called cannel coal. The vicinity of its situation to the sea renders it very convenient for carriage to different parts of the colony; and a few tons of it sent to the Cape of Good Hope, sold there at 30 rix dollars per ton.

No metals have as yet been discovered but iron, which is contained in more or less quantities in the stone. The high price of labour will not admit at present any advantage to be derived from that metal. A fragment of the iron-stone indiscriminately picked up at Sydney, when smelted, yielded 20 per cent. but it is supposed in many places it would yield considerably more.

Salt has been found in a fossil stale,

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but in very small quantities, and scarce deserves notice. The country abounds in plants, many of which are entirely unknown to the botanist; but the colonists have not as yet found any species of vegetables which they could apply to culinary purposes. Nor have the colonists found that the natives were acquainted with any thing of this kind, excepting the fern-root.

The most common indigenous animals of this country are, the dog, which is here of a wolf-nature, and much eaten by the natives. The kangaroo is likewise considered by them as a great delicacy, and in times of scarcity was much sought after by the European inhabitants. They employed it as a substitute for beef: it does not eat unlike it, and usually weighs from 25 to 140 lb.

Amongst the four footed animals might be reckoned the flying squirrel,

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and the guana, all of which serve as food for the natives. The birds are the parrot, cockatoo, pigeon, and quail; and in the mountains may be found eagles, and a bird of the species of the bird of Paradise. These birds however are rare, and seldom fall into the hands of the natives, unless when taken by surprise, as their arrows are ill-suited for the destruction of the feathered tribe.

Amongst the reptiles are the different species of the snake: some of them are highly poisonous. The lakes abound in swans of a black colour, wild duck, teal, and pelican. The coast and rivers are very abundant in fish; from whence the natives derive their principal support, and the European settlers much benefit. They are chiefly of the kind peculiar to tropical climates, such as the mullet, &c. but some are peculiar to this country. To some of the latter, from some fancied

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resemblance, the colonists have given ludicrous names: such as the light horseman, from the head of that fish having some resemblance to a horseman's cap; and to another the name of the leather jacket, from the skin of that fish bearing the appearance of leather.

Bass's Straits, since their discovery, give employment to a number of hands, who are employed by different individuals at Port Jackson, and carried thither in small colonial vessels. They are stationed in different places, in gangs of ten or twelve, more or less, to collect the oil of the sea-elephant, and seal-skins, with which the straits abounded on their first discovery.

These men are under articles with their employers, and in general go on shares, which is a strong preventativè against their idling away their time to the loss of their employer.

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Their employers again are under a bond with government, to abide by the regulations pointed out for the sake of order, and preventing them from making inroads upon each other.

As the elephants and seals grow scarce in one part, they are removed to a fresh sealing ground by the small craft, which attend them for this purpose, and that of bringing the proceeds to Port Jackson. The Americans, getting scent of this, soon obtruded themselves; and from this circumstance, and from the encreasing number of adventurers on the same speculation, this business is latterly on the decline.

The colonists consider this intrusion of the Americans as a very great grievance.

The elephant oil, next to the spermaceti, is said to be the most valuable of any. A mercantile gentleman resident

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in the colony (deserving of every encouragement for the accommodation he in general affords the settlers)* was collecting a cargo of it for this market. When we left the colony he had collected as much as one hundred and eighty tons. The seal-skins in general are disposed of to American and other ships going to China. Some few are tanned and worked up for various purposes in the country.

* Mr. Campbell.

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CHAP. XLII.

Present State of the Country.—Grants to Individuals.—Prices of Labour.

WE shall here introduce some other observations respecting this colony. The country having been originally covered with wood, the stumps of the trees still remaining prevent agriculture from being carried on by the help of cattle. It is by manual labour only, and chiefly by the hoe that the ground is cultivated, which enhances much the value of the produce. The country therefore is found cultivated only in patches, where some peculiar advantageous circumstance, as

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good land, a navigable creek or river, &c. has induced a family to settle. They hold their lands as a perpetual grant under the hand of the governor and seal of the colony; and the only clause is a quit rent of 2s. 6d. per annum for every 100 acres, and a reservation of such timber for the crown as may be allowed fit for naval purposes. The quantity of land hitherto granted by the crown to settlers is 25 acres to a convict whose time is expired, and who has been allowed to settle; 30 to a private soldier; 50 to a non-commissioned officer; 100 to a commissioned ditto; and 180 to a free man from England. But of late the regulation in some instances has been broke through, and government has been more liberal in their grants. The appearance of the farms bespeaks the industry of the owner, and every farmer keeps as many men as the produce of

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his land will admit of. The seed time for wheat is from the beginning of April to the middle of May, and it is reaped in December. Indian corn is planted in the months of October and November, and pulled in April and May. The produce, of course, is different according to the various natures of the land, from 12 to 40 bushels per acre. At Hawkesbury the land when first cultivated is said to have produced 60 bushels per acre, but on calculation I did not make the average of the colony in ordinary years more than 15 bushels per acre. The quantity of seed wheat required is from 1½ to 2½ bushels per acre, and that of Indian corn two quarts per acre. Potatoes may be planted and dug throughout the whole year. The grape answers well, but is little cultivated in the country.

Great complaints being made by the

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settlers that the price of grain and stock was no ways equal to the high demand of wages for people employed; to prevent impositions of this nature, previous to our quitting the colony, orders were issued regulating the different prices of labour, and what was deemed a week's work. The gangs in the different departments were to be at work by half-past five in the morning, to breakfast at eight, and return to labour by nine; from that time to labour till half-past three: for the remainder of the day they were at liberty, every man to follow his own avocation, so far as relates to government. Settlers and others wishing to be accommodated with convicts as yearly servants, have to enter into a bond with government, obliging themselves to maintain and clothe them; and to allow them a ration of provisions and clothes equal to that issued from his majesty's

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stores. In order that the party taking such prisoner into his service might be apprised of what labour he is to exact from the prisoner thus taken, as also the rates of payment established for the labour of freemen, the following are the regulations on that head:

	per acre.			wk's work.
	L.	S.	D.	A.	R.
Felling forest timber,	0	10	0	1
Burning of do.	1	5	0	0	65
Breaking up new ground	1	4	0	0	65
Do. stubble or corn ground,	0	13	4	0	130
Chipping in wheat,	0	6	8	1½	0
Reaping do.	0	8	0	1	30
Threshing do. per bushel,	0	0	7	18 bushels
Planting Indian corn, per acre,	0	6	8	1½	0
Hilling do. per do.	0	6	8	1½	0
Pulling and husking do. per bushel,	0	0	5	25 bushels
Yearly wages with board,	10	0	0
Wages per week with provisions,	0	6	0
Day's wages with board,	0	1	0
Do. without do.	0	2	6

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The day's work throughout the year, is fixed at ten hours, and six on Saturday. If a master employs any prisoner in his own time, his payment is not to be more than at the rate of one shilling per diem. Clothing for the convicts is issued twice annually, viz. in December and June. In December, each man is furnished with one frock, one shirt, one pair trowsers, one pair breeches, one pair shoes: in June, with two jackets, two shirts, one pair breeches or trowsers, one hat, and two pair shoes. Masters not having an opportunity of clothing such prisoners, on application are supplied with the above articles at the government price. By his agreement with government, the employer is to find sufficient lodging for such servant on his farm or habitation; nor is the prisoner to absent himself on any account, without leave from his employer.

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If his master, or his overseer, has just cause of complaint against such servant, they are to report it to the sitting magistrate, and on conviction the delinquent receives a punishment proportionate to the offence. But though this may appear an easy rate of labour, freemen wanting employment will always find employers at double, nay treble this rate; for notwithstanding the above restrictions, they by one means or another contrive to evade them. Indeed in a country where so many prisoners are wanting to carry on the public work, it is but few that can be spared to individuals.

During my residence in the colony at this time, the governor with a party made an excursion to the cow pastures. This, as the public have long since been informed, is a part of the country into which a few cattle belonging to govern-

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ment had strayed shortly after the settlement of the colony, and remained there for several years without the least traces whereby they might be discovered, enjoying a rich and luxuriant herbage. At length chance threw some one that way, when it was found that they had encreased very considerably. Government, finding that they were multiplying in this manner, gave positive orders that no person whatever should molest them; so that by this time they had now multiplied to many hundreds. Whether they were led to this spot by instinct or accident, I will not take upon me to determine; but from report, this part of the country is excellently calculated for tillage, and has also the advantage of being well supplied with water. It is also said to abound in animals indigenous to the country, such as

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the kangaroo, cassawarree, &c. The extremes of the thermometer in the month of December, answering to our May, from 64 as high as 110 degrees.

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CHAP. XLIII.

Latest State of the Colony.

ONE of the most laudable institutions in the colony, is a public seminary for the reception of orphan children, or those of the more desperate and depraved of the convicts. We have before mentioned, that a considerable part of the expence of this institution is defrayed by a tax upon wine and spirits, and subscriptions of the gentlemen and other respectable inhabitants of the colony. This institution is under the direction of the clergyman and several respectable inhabitants, who act as trustees and managers of its funds; and it must be observed, that their method

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of conducting it is such as reflects the highest credit on themselves. The girls are taught needle-work, reading, and writing; and throughout the whole are as strictly attended to as many of the like institutions in this country; they are sixty in number; there are besides this, two others for the boys, who receive also some assistance from government. The governor, for the countenance and encouragement to the above institutions, is intitled to the highest credit. It would be unpardonable here to omit the mention of the encouragement and patronage which this institution of benevolence receives from the ladies of the colony. It must be said indeed, to the credit of their sex, that they always stand foremost in every work of charity; and that such institutions have only to be commenced, to receive their zealous support.

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One great difficulty in the government of this settlement is, to prevent the escape of the convicts. Scarcely a ship leaves the port without some attempt of this nature. The failure of one attempt is only the commencement of another.

Some time after the formation of the colony, a party of prisoners having effected their escape in an open boat, and reached Timor, the example produced such an effect, that every one began to indulge the same hopes. The most ignorant amongst them flattered themselves that they had only to commit themselves to the winds and waves; and that they could not fail to fall in with the continent. In these attempts, after incredible hardships, and the death of the greater part of them, the remainder have usually surrendered themselves, and again thrown themselves on the mercy of the governor.

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Their ignorance is indeed incredible: many of them are persuaded that if they follow their path through the woods, they may reach China on foot. However, they have been so often undeceived, and suffered so much in these rash attempts, that they have at length acquired more discretion.

Many of the restless and seditious who have been sent to this settlement, have not derived any encrease of wisdom or prudence from their punishment; they are still as restless as ever, and the peace of the colony is thus often interrupted.

The catholic priests, and a tribe of miscreants who live by fortune-telling, spare no efforts to foster this spark of rebellion. Before I left the island, upwards of two hundred of these desperadoes had actually raised an insurrection in the colony; and proceeded to

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such an excess of outrage as to seize the arms and ammunition of the settlers. They were further proceeding to the attack of the government store at Hawkesbury, when a party of the New South Wales corps, under the command of major Johnson, an old and experienced officer, after some parleying, reduced them to obedience. Several of the ringleaders, as may naturally be supposed, were made public examples, but I fear the minds of their comrades were too much hardened to derive much advantage from this salutary admonition.

To assist the military, and strengthen the hands of government in cases of emergency, the governor was embodying a company of volunteers 80 strong. These men receive no pay, but draw a ration of provisions at the expence of government. They find all their appointments except their arms, which are

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supplied them by government also. The town of Parramatta furnishes 50 on the same footing; those of Sydney were training under the direction of a gentleman, formerly captain and adjutant in the New South Wales corps.

The usual method of payment in this colony is by the barter of one commodity for another. Spirits, tea, sugar, and tobacco, are in greatest demand; and next to these the manufactures and productions of the mother country. These articles are received in exchange to the greatest advantage of the seller. Scarcely any specie is in circulation. The most common money, if such it may be called, is the notes of hand of individuals, which, however respectable as in some instances may be the credit of the drawers, is very inconvenient to adventurers, who can stay only a certain time, and cannot expect to pass such notes be-

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yond the colony. There is, however, a good quantity of copper coin in circulation, which passes for double its value. It is not to my present purpose to examine into the policy or inconvenience of this currency; but however it may answer a local purpose, it is by no means so well suited to external trade. The colonists experience this to their no inconsiderable loss when they make any wholesale bargain with shipping.

It was a subject of great rejoicing and general satisfaction to every rank of colonists, that previous to our quitting the colony, the governor had made a purchase of some thousands of dollars from the master of the ship, and was about to issue them in payment for grain taken into the store. The happy possessors of this specie would thus be enabled to make advantageous bargains with the Americans, or other ships proceeding to China.

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At this time the selling price of animal food was as follows:

Pork 10d. to IS. per lb.

Mutton 1s. 3d. to 1s. 6d.

Kangaroo 8d. to 9d.

Wheat 8s. per bushel.

Indian corn 4s. do.

Potatoes 8s. to 10s. do.

Onions 4d. per pound.

Poultry 2s. to 3s.

Geese 6s. to 7s.

Pumkins from 1s. 3d. to 1s. 6d.

It is to be understood that all these are for ready money; but here, as at Norfolk Island, a proportionate quantity of spirits will go much further.

For the information of shipping entering the port of Port Jackson, and our readers in general, the following public paper is subjoined.

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Public Orders.

The Governor being instructed to put a stop to the unwarrantable and scandalous monopolies that have existed in this colony, which have not only been the cause of much distress and ruin to the settlers, but also injurious to the public interest, and that of his majesty's service;

It is directed that in future, no person is to go on board vessels arriving here, until permission is signified by an Union Jack hoisted on board the vessel, excepting such persons as the governor may authorize for that purpose. As soon after such arrivals as possible, the inhabitants will be informed whether government purchases or receives the whole, or any part, of such private investments as may be brought for sale; and a notice published of the rate at

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which such articles will be delivered to the inhabitants from the public stores, under proper and equal restrictions; and should the governor decline purchasing or receiving on the public account, measures will be taken to ascertain the value of the articles for sale, and in no case will private retailers be allowed to charge more than 20 per cent. on the purchase from the ship. And in order to enforce this regulation, all civil or criminal courts of judicature, that may hereafter be convened, are directed and enjoined, not to take cognizance of any action, suit, or demand, where the price sued for shall exceed that specified by the notice to be published after every ship's arrival. And in case any articles are not mentioned therein, their value is to be estimated by an allowance of from 80 to 100 per cent. on the English or India price, and 20 per cent. on the retail. And

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precaution that will be used, it is expected that no forgeries can be practised, and this mode of circulating private notes be attended with much public benefit.

In consequence of the governor's instructions, no person whatever is allowed to sell or retail any spirituous liquors, and if any person shall presume to land spirits or wines from any ship, without the governor's own permit in writing, such persons offending in the above, will be punished as the law directs for selling spirits without a licence, exclusive of their being seized for the use of the crown, and a proper notice being taken of the offenders, agreeable to the governor's instructions on that behalf.

No greater demand for spirits, either by retail or wholesale, than 20 shillings

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per gallon, is to be admitted in any civil court or criminal prosecution.

By command of his excellency.

N. MACKELLAR, Secretary.

Given at Government House, Sydney, October 1st, 1800.

In consequence of instructions received by the Britannia, all masters of vessels arriving with goods for sale, importers or consignees, are to deliver to the governor's secretary, a signed copy of the original invoice and prime cost of such articles, (previous to permission being given to trade,) to the truth of which they are to make oath if required.

By command of his excellency.

W. N. CHAPMAN, Secretary.

Given at Government House, Sydney, April 3d, 1801.

These wholesome regulations, how-

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ever, exist only in this public order; the avarice of the retailers and petty traders renders these provisions nugatory, for by one means or another they contrive to evade them all. Instead of 20 per cent. they charge their own prices, which frequently exceed an 100 per cent.

The order with regard to the promissory notes, would be, it was hoped, of the most salutary effect; the superabundance of these, as I have said before, not only much impeding the external trade, but, according to the reasons assigned in the foregoing paper, facilitating the practice of forgery, and thus annihilating public confidence even in the best bills. Such proficients are many of these people in the art of forgery, that some of them being employed in the public offices, and thus having access to the records of the colony, have dexterously

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for a gratuity changed the term of transportation, indeed so dexterously, that it was not till after this practice had been long carried to a considerable extent that their villainy was detected.

Many and frequent are the repetitions of the salutary admonition in the above public orders, to abstain from spirituous liquors; their excess in this respect is the bane of the colony. Spirits, in moderation, are doubtless necessary to men fatigued with the labour and hardships unavoidable in an infant colony; in Botany Bay, however, they are not used in this manner, the inhabitants being for the most part such as have received these habits from their early life. No arguments are of any avail upon this point; reasoning and exhortation are equally lost. They observe absolutely no limits. Many of them, for the sake of a few gallons of

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spirituous liquors, have sold off all they possessed in the world, their farm, their stock, and every thing they either had for the present or expected in future. Others, to accomplish the same end, raising money no matter by what means, have subjected themselves, by bonds and other legal securities, to the caprice or rapacity of the traders. This latter description of men, generally speaking, are as destitute of mercy as moderation, and their unhappy debtors, from being comfortably situated, are thus reduced to begin the world anew.

It is lamentable for me here to observe that the women, instead of using any dissuasions in those instances, have more frequently urged them on to this ruinous practice, notwithstanding the degrading punishment to which they are subjected. Scarcely a week passes but some infamous transaction is traced to them as the original cause.

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CHAP. XLIV.

Character of the different Descriptions of Settlers.—Public Orders.

THE circumstances under which the colony was settled, and the very purpose of the settlement, has had a very visible effect upon the general manners, or what may be called the national character, of Botany Bay. The free settlers are not without something of the contagion, and have therefore nothing of that pride of integrity or sense of honour, which would otherwise belong to freemen. It is needless to say that this observation is not to be interpreted as having no exception: there are some, though indeed very few, who must take

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no part of this censure, but whose industry and upright conduct would do honour to any country.

In a country like this, nothing is so absolutely necessary, as a virtuous and industrious peasantry. At present these are composed of two descriptions of people, namely, the convicts whose terms of transportation being expired, or being released from the sentence of the law by emancipation, have been permitted to settle, and men with their families who have come free from England.

The first description of these were the first settlers, men of the most dissolute characters, whose conduct during the period of their servitude had the appearance of reformation, but was only restrained within the bounds of propriety from the fear of punishment; for no sooner were they restored to their rights and privileges as freemen, than their

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vicious depravity shewed itself in idleness, drunkenness, and all the crimes their certain effects.

I cannot enumerate above eight or ten instances in the whole where the smallest propensity to industry appeared, and of those the celebrated Barrington, whilst in the free exercise of his faculties, stood highly conspicuous. Another of the classes of free men who became settlers, were the soldiers (marines) who first embarked on the expedition, and as a reward for their services were discharged from the service, and were allowed to settle; these men, accustomed to restless lives, could not easily accustom themselves to domestic habits, they disliked hard work, and, released from the strictness of military discipline, they abandoned themselves to drunkenness and other vices already too prevalent in the colony, and in a very few years their

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farms were sold for the consideration of a few gallons of spirits, and themselves, wretched and miserable, glad to enlist again into the service.

There are another description of setlers, who consist of people who, with their families, have been sent from England by the government at a very heavy expence, for the express purpose of settling in it.

From these people much was expected, but in respect to them the government and the colony has been most grossly deceived.

From upwards of 100 families who have been sent from England, there are not above 8 or 10 between whom and the convicts the smallest degree of discrimination could be drawn. It may perhaps be deemed presumption in me to offer an opinion, but it is of the utmost importance to be guarded against the improper characters who offer themselves as

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candidates to settle in New South Wales, and do by one means or other get recommended. It is a matter of the greatest consequence both to government and the colony.

Amongst the numbers hitherto sent out as free settlers, have been characters of a very suspicious nature, who have narrowly escaped being sent out contrary to their inclinations; some of them low mechanics who had failed in business with large families; and who, had they remained in the country, would have become burdensome to their parishes. Others, men of dissolute idle habits, whose friends were glad to get rid of them by recommending them as settlers for New South Wales.

Such were the characters of many sent out to cultivate the country. In general they had no knowledge of farming; and having never been accustomed to habits of industry at

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home, they could not assume them in New South Wales; and after enjoying the indulgences granted by government to settlers, they were found unable to support their families, and became a burden both to the government and the colony. The indulgences granted by government to settlers, I am confident, are perfectly sufficient to place a man of industry in a situation to provide for his family within the term these indulgences cease. The proper objects for settlers in that country, would be the honest industrious peasant, born and brought up in the habits of temperance, hard labour, and industry. Settlers of that description would import with them habits of morality and industry, hitherto unknown in the colony; and would eventually tend to diminish the great expences of the government. In America, the settlers bought for a sum of money

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the services of the convicts; so that the government incurred no expence. These men, secluded from their vicious companions, accustomed to the regularity of a moral industrious family, an example which probably none of them had ever before the benefit of, came from that family, at the expiration of their term of transportation, a new set of people; and many afterwards became valuable members of society. This is not the case in New South Wales; there the free settler has often been detected as the accomplice of the convict in his villainous depredations.

If a sufficient number of free and respectable settlers were in the country, it is to be hoped that the government would render their condition more tolerable, by imparting to them some of the benefits of the free constitution of their native country. The trial by jury would

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in this case be very desirable, instead of that by civil and military officers.

Heavy complaints being made by the settlers, whilst in fact the fault rested with themselves, that however benevolent were the intentions of government, they were all frustrated and rendered ineffectual by the rapacity of a few monied men, who consulting their own interest, and utterly disregarding the good of the settlement, demanded most exorbitant prices for the imported commodities; government remedied this evil with equal wisdom and benevolence, and the following public orders were issued.

Public Orders.

His Majesty having taken into his most gracious consideration, the inconveniences that the inhabitants of this colony have in general laboured under, from the excessive prices demanded by adventurers and retailers, for articles

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of necessary use; and the better to enable them to raise grain at a cheap rate, has been pleased to direct a considerable quantity of articles for common consumption, to be shipped on board the Earl Cornwallis, which is shortly expected; and to be disposed of by the commissary, in exchange for grain, and animal food, supplied the public stores, at an advance of 30 per cent. on perishable, and 20 per cent. on unperishable articles; to indemnify the public for freight, losses, and issuing in small quantities.— A list of the articles will be published on Monday next, to prevent the inhabitants from making any purchases at an extravagant rate.

By command of his Excellency,

W. N. CHAPMAN, Secretary.

Sydney, May 30, 1801.

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Notice.

The undermentioned are the articles sent by government in the Earl Cornwallis, with the prices, and 30 per cent. added: at which rate they will be disposed of to the inhabitants, for their domestic uses, for money; and in exchange for grain, or animal food, supplied his majesty's stores.

Soap, from eightpence halfpenny to ninepence halfpenny per lb.

Glass, from sevenpence farthing to tenpence halfpenny per foot.

White-lead, sevenpence farthing per lb.

Red paint, fourpence per lb.

Linseed-oil, from seven shillings and one farthing to seven shillings and sevenpence per gallon.

Oval dishes, seventeen shillings and fourpence per set.

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Plates, from three halfpence to threepence each.

Other articles of earthen and glass ware in proportion, as per list at the commissary's office.

Ivory combs, from two shillings and twopence halfpenny to sixteen shillings and sixpence per do.

Wax candles, three shillings and elevenpence three farthings per lb.

Gilt buttons, from eight shillings and sevenpence farthing to thirteen shillings and ninepence per gross.

Children's shoes, nineteen shillings and twopence farthing to one pound seven shillings per dozen.

Girls do. one pound seventeen shillings and fourpence three farthings to two pounds eight shillings and fivepence halfpenny per dozen.

Women's do. stuff and leather, two

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pounds thirteen shillings and sixpence to three pounds seven shillings and ninepence halfpenny per dozen.

Coloured cloths, (yard wide) six shillings and twopence three farthings to six shillings and sixpence halfpenny per yard.

Duck, one shilling and ninepence farthing per yard.

Welch flannel, two shillings and a halfpenny to two shillings and fivepence farthing per yard.

Irish linen, two shillings and three farthings to three shillings and eight pence three farthings per yard.

Durants, one pound two shillings and sixpence to two pounds one shilling and sevenpence farthing per piece.

Callimancoes, one pound fourteen

VOL. III. O

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shillings and three halfpence per piece.

Wildboro's, one pound eighteen shillings and one halfpenny per piece.

Camblets, two pounds eight shillings and one penny farthing per piece.

Printed calicoes, two shillings to four shillings per yard.

Chintz handkerchiefs, two shillings and ninepence three farthings to two shillings and tenpence halfpenny each.

Cheque, one shilling and sixpence farthing per yard.

Muslin handkerchiefs, two shillings and sixpence to three shillings and threepence each.

Muslin, three shillings and fivepence three farthings to three shillings and eleven pence per yard.

Cotton cheque handkerchiefs, one

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shilling and eightpence farthing each.

Pollicat do. two shillings and threepence halfpenny each.

Women's black cotton and worsted hose, two shillings and eightpence halfpenny to three shillings per pair.

Black mode, four shillings and fourpence to five shillings and eightpence per yard.

Coloured persian, two shillings and fivepence per yard.

Ribands, eight shillings and sixpence to one pound ten shillings per piece.

Silk ferretings, six shillings and sixpence per piece.

Sewing silks, one pound eleven shillings and three pence to two pounds four shillings and threepence per lb.

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Silk twist, one pound eleven shillings and threepence per lb.

Thread, three shillings and sevenpence to two pounds and fourpence per lb.

Tapes, sixpence halfpenny to one shilling and fivepence per piece.

Bobbings, threepence to eightpence three farthings per piece.

Shirt-buttons, one shilling and fourpence to two shillings and tenpence, per gross.

Thread edging, one shilling and one penny farthing to two shillings and sevenpence farthing per yard.

Needles, seven shillings and twopence per thousand.

Pins, three shillings and eightpence three farthings per lb.

Fig blue, one shilling and fourpence halfpenny per lb.

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Applications to be made at my office, on Monday mornings, before ten o' clock, that they may receive the governor's approbation. No article will be issued until payment is made, or security given.

By command of his Excellency,

J. PALMER, Commissary.

Sydney, June 25, 1801.

The present plan bids fair to answer the purpose intended; for if the colonists had hitherto paid extravagantly both for necessaries and comforts, they now had them both as reasonably as they could have purchased them in the mother country. Sugar, in 1804, was retailing at tenpence per pound; and tea, from five to seven shillings; and every other article equally cheap in proportion.

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CHAP. XLV.

Conclusion.

UPON the first establishment of this settlement, the policy of the establishment was much doubted, and its future existence treated by many as visionary. The experiment of a regular government for fifteen years, in a region so extensive, and so distant from the mother country, has now been made, and the colony at present wears a favourable aspect.

Time, the great unraveller of all events, will confirm or ratify these conjectures, and show how far the knowledge of this lately discovered part of the globe may be directed towards the reformation of

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society, and to the honour of the present generation for whom it was reserved.

According to the present prospect it may be safely said, that, with some degree of forecast, and encouragement of agriculture, and particularly the growth and preservation of live stock, animal food will be in great abundance, and this and every other species of provisions will be much cheaper than in the mother country; nor will this probably be at any great distance of time. A few years may be reasonably expected to produce this change. The writer is also of opinion, that if the settlement continues in that tranquillity, which may be reasonably expected from the attention and liberality of government, the growth of manufactures, from the present state and circumstances of the colony, will be much more rapid than it has hitherto been. Government have already established a

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manufactory, of coarse woollen cloth from the country wool; and though their workmen are at present but few, and the quantity manufactured of course very moderate, it promises a very rapid increase. Several pieces of linen and canvas have been likewise manufactured from the country flax. An individual has established a kind of pottery for the coarser ware, at Parramatta. A watermill, the only one in the colony, was nearly completed. It is difficult to form a just estimate of the happiness of any nation; but, as far as our judgment and observations may be trusted, in our intercourse with the natives of the different countries which we visited, we found them all equally tenacious of their own habits and customs. This is so generally true, that we cannot except from it even the natives of New Holland, who, however barbarous, are still as attached

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to their former modes of life, as the inhabitants of the banks of the Ganges. No dawn of civilization has been as yet able to penetrate through the gloom of this tenfold darkness; and years, even centuries, must elapse before they can become so initiated in the very elements of civil life, as to be fit members of a social community, and fit objects for government and regulation.

As we now approach the conclusion of our narrative, the author begs leave to observe that in such a variety of matter, it must not be expected that his opinion will always perfectly coincide with that of others. There are few circumstances in which many men will be found to agree, every one making his own condition and habits of life the standard of his private judgment. It has been his undeviating effort throughout the whole of his work, to confine himself to those

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objects which were most suited to interest the general reader.

If mistaken in any of these opinions, he begs leave to assure the reader, that such errors are by no means intentional; and again to repeat, that it is principally through the persuasion of his friends, that ever they made their appearance.

The Calcutta having completed her repairs and cargo, the Captain, the companion of our toilsome enterprise, and myself, embarked on board that ship in very ill health, brought on by a long course of hardship and fatigue. On the following day we bad adieu to this settlement, where, from party divisions, and the ill habits of the convicts, it requires some discretion in a stranger to steer clear of offence. This colony has at all times suffered much from a want of union and co-operation amongst the servants of government; it would other-

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wise have possibly reached a higher point of prosperity. Let us indulge the hope that these divisions will soon terminate in a concord, as much to be wisked by the parties themselves, as advantageous to the circumstances of the colony. Twice during this voyage did I visit this settlement, and at both times found the same fatal disunion.

After having escaped so many imminent perils, we were now happy in the prospect of shortly reaching our native country, and once more returning to the blessings of enlarged society, to both of which we had now been long strangers.

The voyage of the Calcutta having been already given to the public, we shall not delay the conclusion of our narrative by a tedious repetition of circumstances with which the public are already acquainted. It would however be both unjust and ungenerous not to

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acknowledge the kindness and attention shown us whilst on board that ship.

At length, after an absence of four years and thirty-one days, the long-lost shores of Albion made their appearance; a sight, as the reader may naturally suppose, which produced in our minds the most grateful sensations to that beneficent Providence, who so often interposed in our behalf, when even hope itself had almost vanished. Two days after we anchored at Spithead, in the midst of a fleet of ships, the defence and just pride of their country.

THE END.