KEARAKEKUA BAY-THE RATTLE-STICK PERFORMER. parently paying the most humble deference to a female who occupied the chief place, and who was not ungracefully attired in a scarlet woollen under-dress, of European manufacture, and an upper robe of fine native cloth. She wore, also, a curious necklace, composed of a great number of flat circular black beads, fastened upon a thick cord, which was tied behind; a crooked ornament, made of the tooth of the spermaceti whale (Physeter macrocephalus),* being suspended in front. Over her bosom, also, was slung a small looking-glass, by a slip of brown list. Her demeanour was remarkably modest. We learned that she was the woman of highest rank in the village. March 31. We are just arrived in Kearakekua Bay, where Captain Cook lost his life. It was like entering a British harbour; here being no less than eleven American whalers, from 300 to 350 tons burthen each. Numerous canoes immediately flocked round our anchorage, which is within a quarter of a mile of the beach. These came, not from idle curiosity, but to offer their merchandize and provisions, of various kinds, for sale. All the American captains visited us, in the course of the day, with the most hospitable offers of anything which we might want and their ships could supply. Many native women and girls having come on board to see our Tahitian female friends, the latter, perceiving how much the Hawaiians were gratified with their personal attire, took the opportunity frankly to reprove them for appearing abroad with so little clothing on; assuring them that in the southern islands no modest woman durst go out of doors so unbecomingly exposed. They added, moreover, "and we will not acknowledge you to be women if you do not dress more decently." The dialects of both nations are so nearly akin that the natives can converse very well with one another. CHAPTER XVII. Landing at the Point where Captain Cook was killedNative Huts-The Rattle-stick Performer-Incidental Notices Entertainment by American Captains-Coast Population-Mr. Young-Idolatry abolished in the Sandwich Islands in 1819-Intoxication and Smoking -Native Amusements-Salt-works-LicentiousnessIrregularity of Seasons-Providential Deliverance from the upsetting of a Whale-boat-Want of Water-Sterility of the Land-Animals-Cooking-Canoes-Various Sandwich Notices-Landing at Oahu-Introduction to Rihoriho, King of the Islands, and his Court-American Missionaries. APRIL 2. We landed this morning near the point where Captain Cook fell, and were conducted to the rock on which he stood when he received the fatal wound. It is part of the volcanic scoria, which encrusts much of the surface of this section of the island, and occasionally runs out, as here, into the sea. A small native house, and some stunted cocoa-nut trees, are the landmarks of a spot at which the eye of every stranger who visits this coast will These are found from sixty to ninety feet in length; they have teeth only in the lower jaw, which fit into bony sockets in the upper. 99 look with intense curiosity and interest, and of which every reader of the voyages of the great circumnavigator will have his own ideal picture; and this, however little like the reality, must be far more distinct than such creations of fancy often are, from the minute descriptions of the scene, and details of the tragic event, repeatedly given to the public by the eye-witnesses of the latter and the visitors of the former. We need not dwell on either. The bay is about three miles across in the widest, and two in the narrowest, direction. The neighbouring village consists of about sixty huts; all, except two or three, exceedingly mean, and the circumstances of the inhabitants proportionally wretched. We crept into one of these hovels, through a hole in the side, which required that we should stoop nearly double to get admittance. Though all was slovenly within, there were various articles of domestic convenience, such as calabashes, stools, mats, &c. Observing, among other things, a stick rather neatly fashioned, five feet long, and tapering to a point at each end, with a hole towards one of these, we inquired the use of it. On this, the master of the house, an old man, started up, and produced a companion-stick, something shorter, which we found was to be to it what the bow is to the fiddle. Grasping the first by the middle, he began to beat upon it with the second, while a boy, with two other corresponding sticks, did the same, to something like measured time, which the master kept with his left foot. This miserably monotonous clatter of sticks, which was anything but music, was accompanied, by both minstrels, with noises which were anything but singing; the old man, all the while, writhing his limbs and distorting his visage in the most grossly ludicrous manner, which it would be as difficult to describe as it will be to forget. Brutes never make themselves ridiculous; that is the peculiar prerogative of men. The former, in their strangest vagaries, act according to nature; while the latter, in trying to go beyond her, render themselves contemptible in the eyes of others, just in proportion as they excel in their own. Proceeding along the beach, over an immense bed of lava, we arrived at a marae of great extent, now neglected, and falling into ruins. It consisted of an enclosure of rough stone walls, a hundred feet square and six feet high, within which cocoa-nut trees are growing, and idolimages stood. Two of the latter remain on the north-east side. These are notched posts, twelve feet high, across the middle of each of which something to resemble a human face has been carved, of monstrous size and uncouth features, once regarded with awe and veneration worthy of men who could think such bugbears divinities. They affect to know better now, and profess to have renounced all their idols. To say the truth, they have done this literally; but their escape from the superstitions of their ancestors as yet amounts to no more than this: -that he who formerly worshipped an idol, "which is nothing in the world," now worships "nothing in the world," not even an idol. 100 RELICS OF CAPTAIN COOK WORSHIPPED-MR. YOUNG, A SETTLER. In the course of our ramble our guide pointed out the hollow, in the volcanic mass, where the body of Captain Cook was roasted, and, a little further on, the place where his arms and legs were submitted to the same process. This was, in fact, the highest honour that his murderers (with the inconsistency of savages) could show to his remains; the corpses of their kings and chiefs being prepared in a similar manner, that the flesh might be more easily separated from the bones, and the skeleton afterwards be put together and preserved, as an object not only of reverence, but even of religious homage. The relics of Cook were thus worshipped in a temple of Rono, one of the gods of Hawaii, of whom the people had a notion that the British navigator was the representative, if not an incarnation of him. The torrent of lava, now fixed as adamant, must have rolled in tremendous force and quantity from the far-distant and elevated crater to the coast, being at this place two miles in breadth, of great thickness, and presenting a surface of utter desolation. In a cavern which we passed we found a quantity of unfinished cloth, and the wooden instruments with which it is beaten out of bark. Hard by was a little walled enclosure, where we were told that the body of an American was interred, who, for some offence given to the islanders, had been stoned to death. In a native burying-ground adjacent, over one grave a pole had been erected, on the top of which were suspended, according to the native usage, two bags of provisions for the deceased, which, however, he had left behind him on the long journey whither he had gone, and whence he could not return to take anything out of his house. We dined this day with all the American captains, on board the Planta, Captain Coffin, and were treated with great hospitality. Besides the twelve ships now at anchor here, there are seven others visible in the offing, and endeavouring to get in. The commerce with these islands, through the American whalers, and certain other vessels which come hither principally to obtain sandal-wood for the China market, is very considerable. In our excursion this day we counted twenty-nine villages, containing, as nearly as might be ascertained by cursory inspection, sixteen hundred and forty-four dwellings, which, computing five persons to a family, give a population of eight thousand two hundred and twenty, in a line of twelve miles along the shore. Mr. Young, to whom we have been introduced to-day, and who has resided thirty-six years on this island, informs us that the whole circuit of coast is equally well peopled, but that there are comparatively few inhabitants residing more inland, among the woods and mountains, where the climate is colder and the soil less productive. Mr. Young, above-named, whom we met at the governor's house, is now seventy-eight years of age. He was made prisoner here at first, but has voluntarily remained for nearly half of his long life; having found favour with kings, chiefs, and people, among whom in reality he soon became a great and influential character. He is yet warmly attached to England, as his native country, and has had it in his power, on many occasions, to render essential services to vessels touching on these shores. For nine years he was governor of Hawaii, during the absence of the king. He is married to a native woman, by whom he has had six children. Accompanied by him we visited a neighbouring marae, which, like other obsolete abominations of the kind, is now a ruin. house has been built on that part where the corpse of the late king was laid, previous to the flesh being taken from the bones, the latter distributed among his principal chiefs, and the former committed to the flames, according to ancient usage. A At this funeral pyre five hun dred dogs were sacrificed with the royal remains-a holocaust of no mean value, when it is considered that such animals constitute the most precious article of food to the rich and luxurious in these islands. From this marae we went to the house where, in the year 1819, idolatry was abolished, by the present king Rihoriho, at a feast given by him in commemoration of his late father, Tamehameha. In this large building, nearly a hundred feet long by thirty broad, separate tables were set for the men and the women; the latter being held, if possible, in more contempt in the Sandwich than in the Society Islands. When all the guests (including many foreigners from ships or residing in the vicinity) were in their places, and ready to fall upon the abundant provisions 'spread before them, the king rose up and said to Mr. Young, "Cut up those fowls and that pig;" which being done, instead of partaking with the company of his own sex, he suddenly started off, and went to the women's table, where, seating himself by his queens and their attendants, he began to eat with a fury of appetite that showed he was doing violence to himself, but determined, whatever might be the issue, to overcome both superstitious fear and habitual repugnance at doing what had heretofore been deemed unlawful, and not to be attempted but at the peril of life-sacrilege itself not being more abhorrent to the gods than the condescension of lordly man to eat of the same food, at the same table, as his bosom-slave, woman. The whole native assembly was struck with horror and consternation at the sight, but, no harm to the king ensuing, they at length cried out, with one voice, "The tabu is broken! The eating-tabu is broken!" When the feast was ended the king issued his commands that all the maraes should be destroyed, the idols overthrown, and the priesthood abolished. Thus, in a day, a nation abjured its false gods, though, as yet, they know not the living and true God. Here, then, was a people without religion, but waiting till the only true one should be brought to them. It is remarkable that the American Missionaries, bringing what they wanted, were on their voyage at that very time, and soon afterwards landed on a shore prepared to receive IDOLATRY ABOLISHED IN THE SANDWICH ISLANDS-SALT-WORKS. 101 them. The priests, a reprobate gang of impostors banded together to deceive the multitude and rule even the princes, were enraged at this sudden revolution by which their craft was prohibited. Availing themselves of the influence which they possessed, they stirred up an insurrection so formidable that it required the utmost force of the king to encounter them in the field. A terrible battle was fought, in which the leader of the idolatrous party, a priest, named Trimaga, being slain, covered with wounds, and his wife also falling at his side, with arms in her hands, by a death as heroic as his own, the rebels fled, after a conflict of sixand-thirty hours. They afterwards submitted, favourable terms of peace being granted to them, and the king's authority has thenceforward been universally recognised. he would not choose to be separated, nor they like to lose him. "Oh!" said they, "we will send a ship to Huahine, and fetch them hither." April 4. Mr. Young informs us that eruptions of the volcanoes occasionally take place, and that earthquakes are not unfrequent during the longer intervals of these. We passed a valley of considerable depth, which was filled up by the lava about sixteen years ago. Observing certain lines like roads (one of them a mile in length) descending on the slopes of the mountains, we inquired for what purpose these had been formed, as they were evidently not adapted for the convenience of pedestrians. We were answered, that on great festivals a singular kind of amusement was practised here. A board is conveyed to the highest part of the hill, at which the road terminates. A man throws himself at full length upon this, and, with daring and dexterous force, propels it forward, when the board carries him, with increasing velocity, straight down to the The right of the soil here belongs solely to the king, and his subjects hold their portions on payment of certain taxes, or rents, of dogs, hogs, or canoes, according to special agree-foot of the descent. ments. Mr. Young occupies so much land that his contribution amounts to a hundred dogs per annum. The government is purely despotic, the sovereign's will being the only law, beyond which every man lays one down for himself, and does, at his peril, whatsoever is right in his own eyes, injuring his neighbour or taking vengeance, as opportunity or temptation may offer. Thus, if a thief be detected in the act of stealing anything, however small-for example, cutting down a sugar-cane-the owner may kill him upon the spot, and no account of his death will be required. The only check upon such sanguinary violence is the reaction of it; the friends of the deceased may retaliate, and destroy the destroyer, if they please. From the highest to the lowest the natives are addicted to intoxication with ardent spirits, when they can procure them from ships or of home manufacture. Smoking of tobacco is a common and very social practice-nor have we seen it indulged to excess. A company of eight or ten, men, women, and children, squat on the ground; a pipe is lighted; one takes three or four puffs and passes it on; and so from hand to hand and lip to lip it goes till the last spark dies out, each retaining the precious fume as long as he can, and then breathing it gently forth from mouth and nostrils. April 5. We had an opportunity of seeing how the natives collect salt, of which they furnish large quantities to ships, besides what they consume themselves. Small ring-fences of masonry-work are formed near to the sea, within which are placed rude stones, of all shapes, having deep cavities, which may hold from one to two or three gallons of water. These being filled and evaporated from time to time, the salt is deposited and ready for use without further trouble. In one of these basins we observed about half a gallon of fine salt. Mr. Young informs us that though idolatry is abolished, yet the multitude of gods of wood and stone, formerly worshipped, have been rather hidden than extirpated, many of its inveterate abettors still hoping for a counter-revolution in their favour; a notion fostered by the priests, who have lost their occupation, but naturally exercise their subtle influence to recover it. Not a single image has been brought to us for sale, and the only one that we have obtained was a gift from the governor. But the change of system, from a religion of devils to no religion at all, it is acknowledged, has produced some beneficial effect on the morals of the people. They are certainly less dishonest than they were formerly, both among themselves and towards strangers. We have lost nothing either from the ship or on shore. The only theft of which we have heard was one committed by a man who stole a hat when he was drunk, and brought it back when he became sober, with Spending the evening with Governor Adams, Mr. Young, and several native chiefs, we proposed family worship, to which they courteously assented. In the course of conversation after-humble and penitent confession of his fault. A wards, they expressed a desire to have English Missionaries; saying that, since they regard their country as belonging to King George (this idea seems to have taken strong possession of the minds of all classes of natives), any plan countenanced by him, and any persons acting as under him, would be well received. It was proposed by one of the company to tabu our Missionary companion, Mr. Ellis, and thus prevent him from returning to the southern islands. We told them that if they did so they must also tabu Mr. Ellis's wife and children, from whom sailor belonging to an American vessel lying The 102 IRREGULARITY OF SEASONS-PROVIDENTIAL DELIVERANCE. shore, is most public and shameless here. But this is a subject on which we must not, we dare not, record "what we have seen and do know." The utter abolition of this infamy in the Christianized islands of the Southern Pacific is one of the most signal triumphs of the gospel in the history of human wickedness in any age or part of the world. It is painful to add (as we have intimated before), that for this very cause the gospel and its other triumphs are evil spoken of by many Christians (falsely so called) who visit these seas, and are filled with rage, disappointment, and malice, when they find that they cannot riot in licentiousness, as former voyagers did, on these once polluted shores; therefore do they abhor the change, and calumniate those who have been instrumental in its production.* April 6. This island has no regular dry and rainy seasons, such as are usual between the tropics. Planting and sowing go on as fruits and harvests come in. Fresh water is very scarce, there being none near the coast, so that what is used must be brought from considerable distances and generally from the high lands. The principal mountain is seldom entirely divested of a coronet of snow, and sometimes the upper region appears altogether clothed with a splendid mantle of the same. Our Tahitians, whom the Missionaries could never make perfectly to understand how water could become solid, were much delighted with the first view of snow and ice on this elevation, and proposed climbing thither to bring away, and take home with them to Huahine, some of the hard water. Whenever rain falls upon the peak it freezes ; and on the slopes, whenever there is a shower, calabashes are placed under the slanting leaves of fara and other trees, to catch the precious moisture as it drops from the extremities. In some instances we have seen the keels of old canoes fixed in a sloping position, having the hollow side uppermost, to conduct the water into vessels placed at the lower end. To-day, when we called at a native cottage on the declivity, an old man gave us a delicious draught of water, which he had brought home in a calabash, as he told us, a long way. The whole of this portion of the soil being crusted over with volcanic matter, there is no possibility of digging wells by such implements as the natives employ. April 7. We went on shore in a whale-boat belonging to one of our new friends, an American captain. Besides the boat-steerer and oarsmen, there were with us our two personal servants, natives of Huahine, whom we had engaged to accompany us on our voyage to the Sandwich and Marquesan Islands. On both sides of this bay there is always a turbulent surf, fluctuating with greater or lesser vehemence, alternately on the north and on the south shore. On the latter, where we intended to land, the surge was It is satisfactory to know that the same moral improvement has since followed the introduction of the gospel into the Sandwich Islands; while it is melancholy to add that the change has, in some instances, brought upon the Missionaries and natives the most shameful outrages from individuals bearing the name of Britons as well as of Christians. breaking, at this time, with full fury. The vessel lay about a mile from thence, and the steersman of the boat directed her course right thitherward, without asking any question. We doubted not, therefore, that he had been previously on shore, and well knew what he was about. But when we came upon the larger swells, seaward of the breakers on the reef, what was our dismay to hear the inconsiderate fellow asking us where was the best place to land!-as if anything could then be done in the midst of peril so imminent as that into which he had blindly led us, except to dart (if possible) over the surf, with the head of the boat kept right ashore. Mr. Tyerman, who was seated at the fore-end (unaware of the consequence of swerving a hair's-breadth on either hand), pointed to a spot at some distance, and said, "We landed there yesterday."—Mr. Bennet must supply the sequel. "The stupid steersman immediately brought our long, narrow, and shallow boat, nearly broadside against the swell, and the next moment it was completely upset. Sitting at the stern, and foreseeing, as I did, this inevitable result of the sudden tack, I laid fast hold with both hands of the seat (or thwart, as the sailors call it), that, as I could not swim, being my only resource, though how my life was to be saved by it I did not consider in the instinctive act of self-preservation. I felt a sharp wrench in either arm as the boat turned over, and held me under it, suspended by the hands, in darkness, and amidst the weltering water. Here I found that I could just continue to breathe, while I buoyed myself up so as to keep the top of my head close to the inside of the boat, except when the dreadful rushes of the sea broke under, and for a moment filled the hollow of the inverted vessel, sometimes dashing into my face, sometimes booming against the back of my head. "Once more, as on a similar occasion (November 12, last year) in the South Pacific, I felt perfectly assured that I was about to enter into eternity, for the boat was afloat in deep water, and I being completely concealed beneath it, none of my companions, if they had escaped, or were even swimming about, could see where I was. I also recollected that there were numberless sharks, always on the scout, in this bay. I, therefore, committed myself at once, with resignation, to that merciful and faithful Creator at whose bidding, I was fully persuaded, I had come hither from England: nor did I feel any regret that I had come, because I believed that I was in the path of duty. During this brief but dreadful interval, which seemed an age of suspense, something suddenly clasped me round the loins; I recoiled with inexpressible horror, imagining, at the first touch, that my body was within the jaws of a shark, whose fangs I expected instantly to feel cutting me asunder at a crash. But experiencing a softer pressure, and a gentle pulling, I carefully put down one hand, and found that they were human arms, not a sea-monster's jaws, that enfolded me;-in fact, they were the arms of my faithful, pious, and affectionate Tahitian STERILITY OF THE LAND-DEXTERITY IN SWIMMING. 103 servant Purahah. Readily then I loosened my other hand, and committed myself to his strength, dexterity, and courage, to bear me through the breakers. He did so triumphantly, and set me on land unharmed, except a little nauseated with having taken in some large draughts of salt water. On asking Purahah how he happened to discover where I was, since I must have disappeared from among my companions, he answered, I looked on this side, and on that side, and on every side, and when I saw that you were not anywhere about, the thought grew up in my heart-perhaps he is under the boat; so I went and looked, and found you there.' These people, as we have repeatedly observed, are half amphibious, and from habit can see almost as well under water as out of it. I have no words to express my gratitude to God for this new deliverance. Ought not the dexterity and affectionate devotion of such a servant to be honoured? I need not add how lively and grateful are the recollections which I must entertain to the end of life of the noble form and olive countenance of my heroic preserver, when he stood up before me after having thus accomplished my deliverance. I had the happiness to find my friend Mr. Tyerman safe on shore. He had been flung out from the head of the boat, where he was sitting, among the breakers, but his Tahitian servant and the seamen, having leaped out before the overset, saved both themselves and him, at no other inconvenience than a thorough drenching of their clothes, and a temporary but truly terrific alarm." April 9. Though the climate of the Sandwich Islands is fine, yet the soil, generally, is much less productive than that of the Society group. The volcanic devastations have rendered great tracts of land utterly steril for ages to come. The higher eminences are less affected by this evil, consequently the largest trees and the most luxuriant vegetables grow on their slopes or in their sunny hollows. There, also, are found the purest springs of water. We have seen few insects here, except a species of ant, black and very small, two or three moths, as many dragonflies, and several kinds of common flies, resembling those which most abound in England. We heard a singing-bird among the mountains the other day. To our ears, long unaccustomed to such music, the notes were very sweet, and carried us home with awakened affections. A beautiful red paroquet, much like a bullfinch, and a green bird, the size of a sparrow, are frequently seen. Domestic fowls, common in the southern islands, are scarce here, and very inferior. The hogs and dogs, though the favourite animal food of the natives, are wretched creatures, and at this time of drought are many of them half famished. Observing several small companies seated on the rocks over against the harbour, and engaged apparently in cheerful conversation, while others were preparing different repasts for them, we had the curiosity to examine the utensils, materials, and manner of their cookery. In the smaller cavities were reservoirs, from three to six feet in diameter, the sides and bottoms of which were lined with leaves, containing a thin kind of pudding-batter, to the depth of three inches, which persons were stirring about with their fingers. This was composed of taro (arum costatum), reduced by hand to the consistency of pulp, after having been baked, and then mixed with water. To us the taste was perfectly insipid, but, poor as such food must be, the people look well. We remarked the preparation of another dish, scarcely more savoury -a yellowish kind of bark, which a woman was pounding to powder in a wooden trough. An oven for roasting sweet potatoes next attracted our notice. It was differently formed from the earth-bedded ovens of Tahiti, being a hollow dome-shaped pile of stones, within which the fire was kindled, and kept up till the whole structure was sufficiently heated. A man was employed in making a canoe near the same place. In this art these islanders excel. The bottom was the trunk of a tree, carefully hollowed out; over which the sides were raised of light-coloured planks, skilfully fitted together, and bound with cinet. The principal tool with which this simple shipwright wrought was a small adze, and it was surprising to note with what precision he used it, seldom missing a stroke. Canoes thus constructed look very neat, being formed of different coloured woods, besides being remarkably well shaped, and adapted to desultory and coast-navigation. They are all furnished with outriggers, which are absolutely necessary to prevent them from upsetting, the bottoms being deeply concave, and the ends high and peaked. The people whom we have seen were generally tatooed, an operation performed here very early in life. The goat is the favourite figure, which they bear on their legs and arms; but the artists are not so expert as those of the Society Islands, neither are the designs so curious, nor are the colours so clear and delicate, as the latter employ and execute. There are fewer personal deformities met with in this island than we have been accustomed to see elsewhere, with the exception of many hideous ulcers, and some horrid ravages of that disease which is the consequence of profligacy. The women do not swaddle their new-born infants; several we have seen, without any covering, held by their mothers on their arms, across a little mat. Men, women, and children, of course, can all swim, and delight to refresh themselves, even to weariness, if the expression may be allowed, in the water. One day an old woman, being on board of our vessel, while her little canoe was rocking at some distance on the waves, when she wished to return ashore made no more ado than to leap overboard, and swim to it; but, arriving at the wrong end for entering without danger of capsizing, she instantly dived under, re-appeared on the other side, sprang into the vessel, and paddled away with the agility of a young rower and the skill of an old one. April 11. The schooner, which had parted from us on our voyage from Huahine, and for |