58 MANUAL OCCUPATIONS OF THE NATIVES. foundations of their stupendous structures upon the rocks, from which the washing of the sea had cleared the earth and looser strata. As the reefs grew beneath the flood, the force of the ocean against the land would be gradually diminished; and when the former reached the surface of the water, they would afford (as they do now) protection to the shore from all further encroachment on the part of the tide. Depositions from the sea, and earth brought by rains from the high lands, would gradually fill up the space left between the reefs and the mountains. This has been done to a considerable extent, and the soil so accumulated is now covered with the richest vegetation. Thus those immense basins (called lagoons, so far as they are occupied by water) were formed, of which the coral ramparts on the one side, and the tall cliffs on the other, are the boundaries. In some cases, the reefs run to the foot of the mountains; but, in general, they rise at some distance-from a few yards to two or three miles. Upon these rugged circumvallations the waves beat with perpetual violence; while, in those hollows between them and the low flat coast, the lagoon is diffused in blue tranquillity, and, except when lashed into turbulence by the winds, scarcely a breaker is seen on the beach. Under the direction of a wise and beneficent Providence, how much are these islands indebted to the poor and slender coral insect, for the construction of those mighty moles that curb the fury of the mightier deep, and, by their happy interference, have occasioned those fruitful lines of level soil to spread between the hills and floods, which furnish the inhabitants with the principal part both of their food and rai ment! CHAPTER X. Manual Occupations of the Natives-Plan for an Insurrection-Native Carpentry-The Bread-fruit TreeAromatic Grass-Mountain Prospect-The Cocoa-nut Tree. Dec. 17. THE daily occupations of these islanders are household affairs, providing food, building their houses, constructing canoes, sailing, fishing, planting their grounds, making fences, manufacturing cloth, hats, bonnets, all kinds of apparel, &c. Before Christianity found them, the principal part of their time was spent in eating, sleeping, and profligacy; but now their hours are generally employed in honest and profitable labour, or useful and pleasant engagements, among which school-learning and tasks at home are highly prized. Few indulge themselves in unnecessary sleep, even in the middle of the day. The kings, queens, and chiefs of both sexes, take the lead, and love to excel in all sorts of work. Though they have many persons at their command, and ready to execute all their wishes, they are not ashamed to labour with their own hands, both for example's sake, and for the delight they take in doing every thing well-yea, better than others. If any of their dependants should leave them behind in carpentry, boat-building, or other handicraft, the highest among them would be mortified. In the same spirit, if any of the female servants of a principal woman could make a finer cloth, or devise more elegant patterns wherewith to ornament it, than she, the mistress would feel herself humbled. Dec. 18. About half a year ago, a spirit of insubordination manifested itself in Huahine. There were upwards of a hundred of the most headstrong young men in the island, who, being dissatisfied with the strictness of Christian discipline, determined to restore or at least among themselves to practise, the old habits of licentiousness. They had conspired to take away the life of Hautia, the regent; and hoping that the raatiras would join them against the Hui Arii (royal family) and the Christians, they actually took up arms,-though their array was not very formidable, a few muskets, clubs, and spears being all the weapons they could collect. The civil authority mustered its forces promptly, and coming suddenly upon the rebels demanded their immediate unconditional surrender. They acquiesced, and the ringleaders were brought to justice. It was found that they had tattooed themselves, which, though harmless in itself, is now contrary to law, as associated with obsolete abominations; by them it was used as a symbol of their dissatisfaction with the better order of things, and a signal for revolt against the existing government. Many of these malcontents proved to be refugees from other islands, who had resorted hither that they might return to their heathen freedom from religious restraint. These aliens were all sent home, and the natives were condemned to hard labour on the public works, such as roads, piers, &c. Their chief, a youth of high rank, was equally degraded and punished with the rest. It is remarkable that, about the same time, there were similar insurrections in Tahiti and Raiatea, but in both those islands the projects of the factions were detected and frustrated. The Hui Arii here, having just now received a communication from Tahiti, requesting their attendance at that metropolitan station, to consent to the young Pomare's accession to his late father's sovereignty, Mahine came to consult the Missionaries; for the confidence which all ranks place in their teachers leads them to ask their advice on anything of importance; and truly these excellent men are worthy of the esteem and confidence reposed in them. Mahine, being king of Eimeo, and chief of a large district in Tahiti, it was necessary that he at least should make the voyage. But mark the active piety of this venerable man. Recollecting that his other island, Maioiti, was not yet fully supplied with copies of all the translated portions of the Scriptures, he requested to have a hundred copies of the Gospel of St. John, which is only just printed, that he might call and distribute them among his subjects there, on his way. Dec. 19. The Deputation agreed to address a letter of condolence to the queen of Tahiti, on the death of her husband, Pomare, which was done, and intrusted to the care of Mahine, NATIVE CARPENTRY-THE BREAD-FRUIT TREE. at whose house we spent a pleasant afternoon. In the evening he and several chiefs, with their suite, between seventy and eighty persons in all, embarked in a large boat, with a favourable breeze, hoping to reach Tahiti in twenty-four hours. We took the dimensions of the chapel here, and found them a hundred feet by sixty. One end of this spacious structure was built by king Mahine, the other by Hautia, the regent, and the middle by the raatiras. The pews were put up by the different chiefs, according to their respective taste and fancy, yet following a general plan laid down for them. The workmanship was executed by hands which had never done anything of the kind before. When this is considered, and also that they had scarcely any tools (those which they had being indifferent ones), it must be confessed that the result of their labours was very creditable to their skill and industry; though, being unaccus 59 tomed to square and line, some parts lean one way and some another; while the whole, of course, is more compact than symmetrical. The pulpit, however, is a fair piece of carpentry. One ingenious workman, who had made a sofa for his seat in the chapel, to his utter astonishment, when he placed it there, discovered that it would not stand upon its legs, though it had six substantial ones. When he sat down at one end, the other tilted up no small height in the air; and when he rose, down came that which had been in the ascendant, according to the laws of gravitation. Not discouraged by this ill-omened beginning, he addressed himself to construct another on more geometrical principles. This perfectly answered his hopes, and very quietly bears both its own weight and his. Such pieces of furniture are now made, with great neatness and accurate adjustment, for private houses. 60 THE BREAD-FRUIT TREE-AROMATIC GRASS. of the green coating, and split, is thrown together in a heap, and covered with leaves, for from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, as the state of the weather may be. The pile is then opened, and the cores of all the split pieces being extracted, these are again laid together; after which the whole undergoes a process of fermentation, and becomes soft. It is then stowed in the pit, covered with grass, and the grass pressed down with stones. The breadfruit thus cured is taken out of these store-pits from time to time, as it may be wanted, in the state of a sour paste, when it is dressed according to every man's taste. Though the natives, from habit, are fond of it in this way, the food is difficult of digestion, and by no means whole some. Dec. 22. We walked up the valley this afternoon, that we might reach, if practicable, the summit of the right-hand mountain, and examine the rocks which crown it. Having tracked the stream for some distance, we began to climb the steep acclivity through a forest so tangled with underwood that it was often difficult to thread or force our way. Many of the trees grow to a prodigious bulk, especially the mape, a species of large chesnut, (tuscarpus edulis,) the fruit of which the natives roast and reckon delicious. This tree writhes itself into most unlike that tree in form and the colour of its bark. The branches affect an upright position. The leaves are much like those of the fig, but more deeply indented, besides growing to a far greater size, some being a foot and a half long. Its appearance is very stately and luxuriant. The fruit is egg-shaped, and sometimes measures twenty-two inches in its shortest, and twentyfive in its largest circumference. The rind is smooth, green, and marked with hexagonal specks. Under this skin lies the pulp which is eaten, and within that a fibrous core, containing the seeds. The tree is propagated by scions springing from the root of the old stock. These are either suffered to remain and grow up in a clump, or are transplanted singly. They require to be carefully attended to; the ground must be kept clear from weeds for some time, and also well fenced from the hogs, who devour the plants greedily wherever they can light upon such dainties. They are cultivated almost entirely on the low grounds, rarely thriving on the mountain-sides, or very near the sea. The trees retain perennial verdure, and bear four crops of fruit in the year. The manifold bounty of Providence is remarkably manifested in giving this valuable product of a soil not copious in variety of plants to the people of these islands. It supplies them with food, raiment, and timber-fantastic shapes, and attains an enormous each in its kind abundant and excellent. Their canoes are hollowed out of its trunk, or framed from its planks; the beams, rafters, and flooring of their houses are hewn out of its substance; and it also furnishes a good pitch, in the gum which exudes from holes bored into its stem. Of the bark a very useful description of cloth is prepared, and with this, indeed, they would want no other. The fruit is a delicate and wholesome substitute for bread; being very nutritious, and of a sweet and pleasant flavour. Various modes of dressing this food are in use among the natives, which is never eaten without being cooked. The skin being pared away, the pulp is most generally split and roasted, or rather baked, in earthen ovens, upon and under hot stones; and it is often thus cooked with part of a hog, a fowl, or a fish. When taken out, it is soft and mealy, much resembling, in colour and taste, fine sponge biscuit. The natives frequently beat or squeeze it in their hands, and dip the pieces in salt water, when they eat it. This fruit, in fact, is the principal support of the people, who seldom make a meal without a large proportion of it. They call it maiore. Though there are about thirty varieties of this tree, which come in contemporaneously, or in close succession, each bringing four crops in the year, yet there are more than three months out of the twelve when the fruit is either not to be obtained or very scarce. To compensate this inconvenience, the inhabitants preserve great quantities of that which is quite ripe, in pits, about four feet deep, and of the same width. These pits are carefully lined with grass, and then with the leaves of the tii-plant, dracœna terminalis, which give an agreeable flavour to the preserved fruit. The latter, being cleared breadth as well as height. The trunk is singularly indented, like a deeply and irregularly fluted pillar, leaving in some places scarcely more than the thickness of a plank in the middle. Some specimens were evidently of incomputable age, measuring from forty to fifty feet in girth. Higher up the mountain we found traces of ancient but long-forsaken dwellings, and contiguous to them groves of bread-fruit trees that once had fed the generations gone by. A great variety of parasitical plants, especially ferns, clothed the stems and branches of the old trees to the very top. One fern displayed leaves from three and a half to fourteen feet in length. It was growing on the side of a deep ravine, and was of that kind the roots of which the natives, in times of great scarcity, are constrained to eat, but it is very indifferent food even to their taste. Dec. 24. We scaled the mountain Aridi, on the south of Mr. Ellis's house. The sides are very steep, and it was a laborious effort to gain the top, which is computed to be three thousand feet above the lagoon. Red and blue clay, and stone of the same colours, compose this mountain. Among other plants we observed many tufts of a short kind of grass, which the natives call More tohe noanoa on account of its strong aromatic scent, which is most rank in the tohe, or part above ground: in the blade there is nothing remarkable. From the crest of this eminence the panorama of land and sea is truly sublime; and the mind is expanded and elevated as the eye expatiates over its various and richly-contrasted features. There are but two points of land so high as to interrupt the sight from losing itself within a ring of horizon immeasurably spread. At the head of the bay, and the foot of the hill, lies the Missionary set MOUNTAIN PROSPECT-THE COCOA-NUT TREE. 61 feet. The stem tapers from the bottom gradually to the top, without branch or offset; but at the summit it shoots forth from twenty to thirty vast leaves, some of which are six or seven yards in length. These hang in a graceful tuft all round the crown of the trunk. When young and small the leaves are entire, but as they lengthen they divide into narrow slips, each of which has a wiry rib running up the middle, and diverging from the spinal stalk of the leaf-as it may be called. Though strong at the point of contact with the tree, the weight of this enormous foliage would soon break it tlement, with its multitude of small buildings in every stage of erection. Northward, a gracefully curved tongue of land, green and flourishing with tropical fruit-trees, runs several miles into the sea. North-east appear the sharp ridges which, rising abruptly tier above tier, accumulate into the great mountain already mentioned as the loftiest in the island. This may be five thousand feet above the sea; and, from the champaign below even to the peak, it is clad with copses and woods covering the fissures and ravines which descend along its sides towards a deep valley, that opens to the harbour, and pours into the lagoon its perpe-off, but, where it branches out, a cloth-like subtual stream of clear, fresh water. A little below, the summit of this mountain juts out of the broad face of an immense rock, striped with various strata, some nearly horizontal and others dipping towards the north-west, at an angle of about 45°. The extremity of the subjacent valley forms a vast amphitheatre, crowded with majestic trees. The chain of heights appears continuous with this paramount one, quite round the south to south-west; and, over the hollows of the undulated outline, the sea gleams blue and crystalline beyond. The harbour of Haapape lies at the foot of the hill on which we stood, and which, on this flank, is nearly perpendicular. The basin is deep to the very shores, which are coral-reefs, where ships may lie close and perfectly secure. South-west of this lagoon an eminence, loftier than that which we now occupied, rises with imposing grandeur of form and ruggedness of character. Instead of being clothed from head to foot, like the former and superior one, on the opposite quarter, with tall groves and verdant thickets, this sterner mass is composed of rocks, of which the abrupt edges and diversified strata, at various degrees of obliquity, break out, at frequent intervals of space, from the top to the bottom. Turning our eyes seaward, the islands of Raiatea and Tahaa, at the distance of thirty miles, lay in miniature beauty, yet filling the mind with the idea of remote magnificence by the boldness of their contour; while the pyramidal peaks of Borabora, at thrice the breadth of intervening water, were distinctly visible. But words cannot paint images with sufficient accuracy to justify lengthened description; on no subject is the impotence of language so perplexingly felt, by those who best know its utmost capabitities of delineating natural scenery, as when one man, from personal knowledge, endeavours to convey to the apprehension of another the colour, form, arrangement, and effect of fixed and definite objects. Dec. 25. Being Christmas-day, we were in spirit at home, among our English friends and kindred; and trusted that they would alsothough unknowing where we were-remember us, at "the ends of the earth," or "afar off upon the sea." Next to the bread-fruit, already described, the cocoa-nut tree, cocos-nucifera, is the most valuable product of the soil in these islands. It grows to the height of seventy or eighty stance called Aa, whose fibres run at right angles with each other, is formed, and invests the tree with a strong and needful intertexture, running also about twenty-four inches up the leaf, and affording it complete support. From among the junctures of these leaves with the head of the stock spring branches of tendrils, on which grows the fruit, a nut enveloped with a husk about two and a half inches thick, green on the outside, and composed of close tough fibres, which run longitudinally from end to end, presenting an oval shape, rather angular at the sides. The shell is hard and black, the kernel white, lining the shell, and containing the milky water within; but the nut being often brought to England, no minute description can be necessary in this place. Some trees will produce, at the same time, a hundred nuts, each containing from half a pint to a wine-quart of the liquor: and these noble fruits closely encircle the top of the stem, like a beaded belt, or coronet, beneath the pendent crest of plume-like leaves. The trunk of this remarkable tree is a bundle of fibres closely connected by a cementing mat ter. Within two or three feet of the ground, these fibres spread forth into thousands of small roots, which insinuate themselves through the superficial earth, and spread horizontally twelve or fourteen feet from the bole in all directions. This cordage must be amazingly strong, for it supports the whole tree with all its bulk and weight of stem, foliage, and fruit. The bark seems to be of little use in this species, as it generally rots off towards the ground at an early stage. We have seen cocoa-stocks decayed through the heart, and others of which large portions of the outside had been cut away to a considerable depth, which yet continued to thrive and bear leaves and nuts. The timber (if these live fagots of well-packed fibres can be called timber) is of some value, being used for rafters in sheds and cut into short lengths for fences; spears were formerly made of it. The leaves are turned to better account, being platted into mats, shaped into baskets, and occasionally manufactured into bonnets.-The fibres of the husks are twisted into ropes and lines of various sizes, which are exceedingly strong.The shell of the nut is converted into drinkingcups, lamps, and other small vessels.-The water is a delicious beverage, always cool and refreshing; those who have only tasted it in England have no idea what a luxury it is be 62 COASTING-TOUR ROUND HUAHINE-ROCKING-STONE. tween the tropics.-The kernel, when scraped out of the shell, is either eaten raw, or, being squeezed through the fibres of the husk, yields a pleasant and nutritious milk, which is sometimes mixed with arrow-root, and a kind of pudding is compounded of both. The kernel also produces the oil, now so abundantly made here by a process formerly described in this journal. Thus timber, fuel, mats, baskets, ropes, drinking-vessels, a wholesome beverage, good food, liquor-strainers, bonnets, oil, and bowls for lamps, are produced from this convenient tree; which, with the bread-fruit,there no other sources of supply,-would nearly meet all the necessities of the people. -were The natives distinguish the cocoa-nut by various names, according to its various stages of growth. When young and before the kernel is formed, they call it orio; when it has only a thin jelly within it is called nina; when the kernel becomes more palpable, nimaha; when harder still, omoto; when quite ripe, opaa;afterwards, when the whole interior is filled up with a kernel, from which the young leaves spring, it is called uto; at this time the outside turns brown, and it is from the fruit in this state that the oil is drained. When the nuts are intended for propagation they are hung, being quite ripe, upon a tree. In about six months a green leaf shoots out of one of the three holes at the smaller end. The nut is then put into the ground to the depth of the shell with the sprout upwards, when from the other two holes a pair of roots strike downward, and the plant is nourished by the decay of the nut till it can draw its entire sustenance from the soil; and such is its freedom of growth that there is scarcely a spot, however otherwise barren and unpropitious to vegetation, from which this stately plant will not spring up, with its diadem of beauty and girdle of fertility. In about six years it begins to bear; the fruit is nearly twelve months in coming to perfection. Though the cocoa-trees rise to such amazing height, the natives climb them with the facility of cats. This they do, sometimes, by what may be called walking up the stems, the motion of the leg following that of the hand; but more generally they effect their purpose by fastening their legs together, about twenty-four inches apart, with a rope; when, placing a foot on each side of the tree, they draw up their bodies by the action of their arms without difficulty. The the harbour. As we sailed along the cbast we admired the mountain precipices starting upright from the beach, and the gradual slopes beyond towering into wooded knolls or piked pinnacles, that sharpened into vanishing points amidst the immensity of heaven above. nether rocks were generally dark-coloured; the strata diverse in dip and material; in one instance the layer appeared slaty and horizontal. On the summit of a high cliff to the south stands a huge rocking-stone, shaped like a bishop's mitre, which moves to and fro on the application of a very small force. Expanding from their serpentine recesses between the inland mountains to the shore, valley after valley saluted our view, and gladdened our hearts with the exuberance of their vegetable riches, promising-yea, producing day by day, inexhaustible provisions for all that live around their precincts. At three o'clock we reached the island of Papeorea, on the south-western extremity of Huahine. This little spot, which seems but a hillock amidst the sea, stands about sixty feet above high-water mark, and is exquisitely adorned with the trees common to the climate. The rock is of the same black stone as prevails throughout the adjacent islands, intersected with breccia; though in one part we discovered a hard blue vein of basalt, in a contrary direction to the other strata, and nearly vertical. This is divided into fragments of various shapes, but all approaching to rude regularity of figure, -square, triangular, &c. In another place the formation is very singular, one portion being bent and pointed like horns, and another rounded like cylinders; the exterior of this stone is yellow, the interior slate-blue; and all these rocks are much impregnated with ferruginous matter. We are not aware, however, that iron, or indeed any other metallic ore, has been traced in any of these islands. Having perambulated the whole of this petty domain, won from the deep in some far distant age, we dined and supped in one meal, had family prayer in the Tahitian language, and made arrangements at an early hour to bivouac for the night. Our company, including the queen and her retinue (who met us here), consisted of a hundred persons. Our four small beds were put up in a native house, open at one side. This we contrived to partition with sails and blankets, and deemed ourselves very sufficiently sequestered in our tent-like chambers. The people without found no difficulty, consistently with their simple habits and few wants, in accommodating themselves on the ground, partly under another shed, and partly in the open air around it. We had not long composed our little camp to rest when we were suddenly assailed by a violent shower of rain, accompanied with a tempestuous wind which had nearly dislodged us all. The natives awoke im Dec. 26. ACCOMPANIED by Mr. Ellis and Mr.mediately; those under the shed were driven Barff, and their servants, together with the queen of Hautia, several of the royal family, and many people, we set off about noon to make a tour of this island. The day was favourable, and a gentle breeze wafted us out of out by the crazy roof coming down in fragments, though with no very heavy ruin, upon them. The out-of-door sleepers, of course, were soon roused by the pelting of the storm, and ran in all directions to the trees and bushes for refuge. |