Broiling and baking are the only two modes of ap-
plying fire to their cookery. Captain WalHs ob-
serves, that having no vessel in which water could
be subjected to the action of fire, they had no more
idea that it cou5d be made hot, than that it could be
made solid; and he mentions that one of the attend-
ants of the supposed queen, having observed the sur-
geon fill the teapot from an urn, turned the cock
himself, and received the wat^r in his hand ; and
that as soon as he felt himself scalded, he roared out
and began to dance about the cabin with the most
extravagant and ridiculous expressions of pain and
astonishment ; his companions, unable to conceive
what was the matter, staring at him in amaze, and
not without some mixture of tensor.

One of Oberea's peace-offerings to Mr. Banks, for
the robbery of his clothes committed in her boat,
was a fine fat dog, and the way in which it was pre-
pared and baked was as follows. Tupei, the high-
priest, undertook to perform the double office of
butcher and cook. He first killed him by holding
his hands close over bis mouth and nose for the
space of a quarter of an hour. A hole w^as then

* A Missionary Voyage lo the Southern Pacific Ocean, Appendix,
p. S36, Si:'.



36 OTAHEITE.

made in tlie ground about a foot deep, in which a
fire was kindled, and some small stones placed in
layers, alternately with the wood, to be heated.
The dog was then singed, scraped with a shell, and
the hair taken off as clean as if he had been scalded
in hot water. He v/as then cut up with the stime
instrument, and his entrails carefully washed. When
the hole was sufficiently heated, the fire was taken
out, and some of the stones, being placed at the bot-
tom, were covered with green leaves. The dog,
with the entrails, was then placed upon the leaves,
and other leaves being laid upon them, the whole
was covered with the rest of the hot stones, and the
mouth of the hole close stopped witli mould. In
somewhat less than four hours, it was again opened,
and the dog taken out excellently baked, and the
party all agreed that he made a very good dish.
These dogs, it seems, are bred to be eaten, and live
wholly on bread-fruit, cocoanuts, yams, and oth
vegetables of the like kind.

The food of the natives, being chiefly vegetable,
consists of the various preparations of the bread-
fruit, of cocoanuts, bananas, plantains, and a great
variety of other fruit, the spontaneous products of
a rich soil and genial climate. The bread-fruit,
when baked in the same manner as the dog was, is
rendered soft, and not unlike a boiled potato ; not
quite so farinaceous as a good one, but more so than
those of the middling sort. Much of this fruit is
gathered before it is ripe, and by a certain process
is made to undergo the two states of fermentation,
the saccharine and acetous, in the latter of which
it is moulded into balls, and called mahie. The
natives seldom make a meal without this sour paste.
Salt water is the universal sauce, without which no
meal is eaten. Their drink in general consists of
water, or the juice of the cocoanut, the art of pro-
ducing liquors that intoxicate by fermentation being
at this time happily unknown among them ; neithei



OTAHEITE. ^ 37

did they make use of any narcotic, as the natives
of some other comitries do opium, betel-nut, and
tobacco. One day the wife of one of the chiefs
came running to Mr. Banks, who was always applied
to in every emergency and distress, and with a mix-
ture of grief and terror in her countenance, made
him understand that her husband was dying, in con-
sequence of something the strangers had given him
to eat. Mr. Banks found his friend leaning his head
against a post, in an attitude of the utmost languor
and despondency. His attendants brought out a
leaf folded up with great care, containing part of the
poison of the effects of which their master was now
dying. On opening the leaf Mr. Banks found in it
a chew of tobacco, which the chief had asked from
some of the seamen, and imitating them, as he
thought, he had rolled it about in his mouth, grind-
ing it to powder with his teeth, and ultimately swal-
lowing it. During the examination of the leaf he
looked up at Mr. Banks with the most piteous coun-
tenance, and intimated that he had but a very short
time to live. A copious draught of cocoanut milk,
however, set all to riglits, and the chief and his at-
tendants were at once restored to that flow of cheer-
fulness and good-humour, which is the characteristic
of these single-minded people.

There is, however, one plant from the root of
which they extract a juice of an intoxicating quality,
called ava, but Cook's party saw nothing of its
effects, probably owing to their considering drunk-
enness as a disgrace. This vice of drinking ava is
said to be peculiar almos*^ to the chiefs, who vie
with each other in drinkmg the greatest number of
draughts, each draught being about a pint. They
keep this intoxicating juice with great care from the
women.

As eating is one of the most important concerns
of life here as well as elsewhere. Captain Cook's
description of a meal made bv one of the chiefs of



38 . OTAHEITB

tlie island cannot be considered as uninteresting, and
is here given in his own words.

" He sits down under the shade of the next tree,
or on the shady side of his house, and a large quan-
tity of leaves, either of the bread-fruit or bananas,
are neatly spread before him upon the ground as a
tablecloth ; a basket is then set by him, that contains
his provision, which, if fish or flesh, is ready dressed,
and wrapped up in leaves, and two cocoanut shells,
one full of salt water and one of fresh. His attend-
ants, which are not fev/, seat themselves round him.
and when all is ready, he begins by washing his
hands and his mouth thoroughly with the freshwater,
and this he repeats almost continually throughout
the whole meal. He then takes part of his provi-
sion out of the basket, which generally consists of
a small fish or two, two or three bread-fruits, four-
teen or fifteen ripe bananas, or six or seven apples.
He first takes half a bread-fruit, peels off" the rind,
and takes out the core with his nails ; of this he
puts as much into his mouth as it can hold, and
while he chew^s it, takes the fish out of the leaves
and breaks one of them into the salt w^ater, placing
the other, and what remains of the bread-fruit, upon
the leaves that have been spread before him. When
this is done, he takes up a small piece of the fish
that has been broken into the salt water, with all
the fingers of one hand, and sucks it into his mouth,
so as to get with it as much of the salt w-ater as
possible. In the same manner he takes the rest by
diff'erent morsels, and between each, at least very
frequently, takes a small sup of the salt water,
either out of the cocoanut shell, or the palm of his
hand. In the mean time one of his attencants lias
prepared a young cocoanut, by peeling off the outer
rind Avith his teeth, an operation which to a Euro-
pean appears very surprising; but it depends so
nmch upon sleight, that many of us were able to do
it before we left the island, and some that coulc*



OTAHEITE. 39

scarcely crack a filbert. The master when he
chooses to drink takes the cocoanut thus prepared,
and boring a hole through the shell with his fingers,
or breaking it with a stone, he sucks out the hquor.
When he has eaten his bread-fruit and fish, he begins
With his plantains, one of which makes but a mouth-
ful, though it be as big as a black-pudding ; if in-
stead of plantains he has apples, he never tastes
them till they have been pared ; to do this a shell is
picked up from the ground, where they are always
in plenty, and tossed to him by an attendant. He
immediatoly begins to cut or scrape off the rind,
but so awkwardly that great part of the fruit is
wasted. If, instead of fish, he has flesh, he must
have some succedaneum for a knife to divide it; and
for this purpose a piece of bamboo is tossed to him,
of which he makes the necessary implement by
splitting it transversely with his nail. While all
this has been doing, some of his attendants have
been employed in beating bread-fruit with a stone
pestle upon a block of wood; by being beaten in
this manner, and sprinkled from time to time with
water, it is reduced to the consistence of a soft
paste, and is then put into a vessel somewhat like a
butcher's tray, and either made up alone, or mixed
with banana or mahie, according to the taste of the
master, by pouring water upon it by degrees and
squeezing it often through the hand. Under this
operation it acquires the consistence of a thick cus-
tard, and a large cocoanut shell full of it oeing set
before him, he sips it as we should do a jelly if we
had no spoon to take it from the glass. The meal
is then finished by again washing his hands and
his mouth. After which the cocoanut shells are
cleaned, and every thing that is left is replaced in the
basket."

Captain Cook adds, " the quantity of food which
these people eat at a meal is prodigious. I have
seen one man devour two or three fishes as big as



40 OTAHEITE.

a perch ; three bread-fruits, each bigger than two
fists ; fourteen or fifteen plantains or bananas, each
of them six or seven inches long, and four or five
round ; and near a quart of the pounded bread-fruit,
which is as substantial as the thickest unbaked cus-
tard. This is so extraordinary that I scarcely expect
to be believed ; and I would not have related it upon
my own single testimony, but Mr. Banks, Dr. So-
lander, and most of the other gentlemen have had
ocular demonstration of its truth, and know that I
mention them on the occasion."

The women, who, on other occasions, always mix
in the amusements of the men, who are particularly
fond of their society, are wholly excluded from their
meals ; nor could the latter be prevailed on to partake
of any thing when dining in company on board ship ;
they said it was not right ; even brothers and sisters
have each their sepaiate baskets, and their provi-
sions are separately prepared ; but the English offi-
cers and men, when visiting the young ones at their
own houses, frequently ate out of the same basket
and drank out of the same cup, to the horror and
dismay of the older ladies, who were always offended
at this liberty ; and if by chance any of the victuals
were touched, or even the basket that contained them,
they would throw them away.

In this fine climate houses are almost unneces-
sary. The minimum range ^f the thermometer is
about 63°, the maximum 85°, giving an average of
74°. Their sheds or houses consist generally of a
thatched roof raised on posts, the e-aves reaching to
within three or four feet of the ground ; the floor is
â–  covered with soft hay, over which are laid mats, so
that the whole is one cushion, on which they sit by
day and sleep by night. They eat in the open air,
under the shade of the nearest tree. In each dis-
trict there is a house erected for general use, much
larger than common, some of them exceeding two
hundred feet in length, thirty broad, and twenty high.



OTAHEITE. 4 1

The dwelling-houses all stand in the woody bel
which surrounds the island, between the feet of th •.
central mountains and the sea, each having a very
small piece of ground cleared, just enough to keen
the dropping of the trees from the thatch. An Ot;;-
heitan wood consists chiefly of groves of hrearl-
fruit and cocoanuts, without underwood, and inter-
sected in all directions by the paths that lead from
one house to another. " Nothing," says Cook,
" can be more grateful than this shade, in so warm
a climate, nor any thing more beautiful than these
walks."

With all the activity they are capable of display-
ing, and the sprightliness of their disposition, they
are fond of indulging in ease and indolence. The
trees that produce their food are mostly of sponta-
neous growth, — the bread-fruit, cocoanut, bananas
of thirteen sorts, besides plantains, — a fruit not un-
like an apple, which, when ripe, is very pleasant ;
sweet potatoes, yams, and a species of arum ; the
pandanus, the jambu, and the sugar-cane; a variety
of plants whose roots are esculent — these, with
many others, are produced with so little culture,
that, as Cook observes, they seem to be exempted
from the first general curse that " man should eat
his bread in the sweat of his brow." Then for
clothing they have the bark of three different trees,
the paper mulberry, the bread-fruit tree, and a tree
which resembles the wild fig-tree of the West
Indies ; of these the mulberry only requires to be
cultivated.

In preparing the cloth they display a very consid-
erable degree of ingenuity. Red and yellow are
the two colours most in use for dying their cloth ;
the red is stated to be exceedingly brilhant and
beautiful, approaching nearest to our full scarlet ; it
is produced by the mixture of the juices of two
vegetables, neither of which separately has the least
tend >ncy to that hue : one ^ ^he cordm sebesthiuy the



42 OTAHEITE.

other a species of Jicus; of the formei the leaves,
of the latter the fruits yield the juices. The yellow
die is extracted from the bark of the root of the
morinda citr'ifoUa, by scraping and infusing it in
water.

Their matting is exceedingly beautiful, particularly
that which is made from the bark of the hibiscus
iiliaceus^ and of a species of pandamis. Others are
made of ruslies and grass with amazing facility and
despatch. In the same manner their basket and
wicker work are most ingeniously made ; the
former in patterns of a thousand different kinds.
Their nets and fishing-lines are strong and neatly
made, so are their fish-hooks of pearl-shell; and
their clubs are admirable specimens of wood-
carving.

A people so lively, sprightly, and good-humoured
as the Otaheitans are, must necessarily have their
amusements. They are fond of music, such as is
derived from a rude flute and a drum ; of dancing,
wrestling, shooting with the bow, and throwing the
lance. They exhibit frequent trials of skill and
strength in wrestling ; and Cook says it is scarcely
possible for those who are acquainted with the ath-
letic sports of very remote antiquity, not to remark
a rude resemblance of them in a wrestling-match
(which he describes) among the natives of a little
island in tlie midst of the Pacific Ocean.

But these simple-minded people have their vices,
and great ones too. Chastity is almost unknown
among a certain description of women : there is a
detestable society called Arreoy, composed, it would
seem, of a particular class, who are supposed to be
the chief warriors of the island. In tliis society
the men and women live in common ; and on the
birth of a child it is immediately smothered, that its
bringing up may not interfere with the brutal plea-
sures of either father or mother. Another savage
practice is that of immolating human beings at the




'.'tiier Jd



JIL-nnTi. f- {â– Uinii-



^tHty'£\.i// , ^/dM/^u- ^Of^ /C^^ei//;



OTAHEITE. 43

morals, which serve as temples as well as sepulchres.
"With regard to their worship," Captain Cook does
the Otaheitans but justice iii saying-, " they reproach
many who bear the name of Christians. You see
no instances of an Otaheitan drawing near the Eatooa
with carelessness and inattention. He is all devo-
tion ; he approaches the place of worship with reve-
rential awe ; uncovers when he treads on sacred
ground; and prays with a fervour that would do
honour to a better profession. He firmly credits
the traditions of his ancestors. None dares dispute
the existence of the Deity." Thieving may also be
reckoned as one of their vices; this, however, is
common to all uncivilized nations, and, it may be
added, civilized too. But to judge them fairly in
this respect, we should compare their situation \vith
that of a more civilized people. A native of Ota-
heite goes on board a ship, and finds himself in the
midst of iron bolts, nails, knives, scattered about, and
is tempted to carry off a ^ew of them. If we could
suppose a ship from El Dorado to arrive in the
Thames, and that the custom-house officers, on
boarding her, found themselves in the midst of bolts,
hatchets, chisels, all of solid gold, scattered about
the deck, one need scarcely say what would be hkeiy
to happen. If the former found the temptation irre-
sistible to supply himself with what was essentially
useful, the latter would be as little able to resist that
which would contribute to the indulgence of his ava-
rice, or the gratification of his pleasures, or of both.
Cook appears not to have exercised his usuai judg-
ment in estimating the population of this island.
After stating the number of war-canoes at seventeen
hundred and twenty, and able men to man them at
sixty-eight thousand eight hundred, he comes to the
conclusion that the population must consist of two
hundred and four thousand souls ; and, reflecting on
the vast swarms which everywhere appeared, "I
was convinced," he says, " that this estimate was



44 OTAMEITE.

not much, if at all, too great." By a survey of the
first missionaries, and a ceasus of the inhabitants
taken in 1797, the population was estimated at six-
teen thousand and fifty souls. Captain Waldegrave,
in 1830, states it to be nuich less.

The island of Otaheite is in shape two circles
united by a low and narrow isthmus. The larger
circle is named Otaheite Mooe, and is about thirty
miles in diameter; the lesser, named Tiaraboo, about
ten miles in diameter. A. belt of low laud, termi-
nating in numerous valleys, ascending by gentle
slopes to the central mountain, which is about seven
thousand feet high, surrounds the larger circle, and
the same is the case with the smaller circle on a pro-
portionate scale. Down these valleys flow streams
and rivulets of clear water, and the most luxuriant
and verdant foliage fills their sides and the hilly
ridges that separate them, among which are scat-
tered the smiling cottages and little plantations of
the natives.

[The following remarks, by Mr. C. S. Stewart, in
relation to these islanders, are worthy of the en-
lightened mind of the author, and forcibly contras'
the former with the present state of the people : —

" If the aspect of the people in general, and liie
animated declaration and lively sensibility, even to
tears seemingly of deep feeling, of those who have a
full remembrance, and who largely share in their
own experience of the evils of heathenism, are to be
accredited, the islanders themselves are far from
bemg insensible to the benefit and blessing of the
change they naie experienced; and would not for
worlds be deprived of the light and mercy they have
received, or again he subjected to the mental and
moral darkness and various degradation from which
they have escaped.

" Yet there are those who have visited the South
Seas — men bearing the Christian name, with a repu-
tation for science, and holding stations of honour —



THE BREAD-FRUIT. 45

who have affected to discover a greater degree of
depravity and more wretchedness at Tahiti and Rai-
atea than was known in the reign and terror of idol-
atrv: and have ventured to proclaim to the woild.
that Christianity has here, for the first time in eigh
teen nandred years, had the effect of rendering the
inhabitants vindictive and hateful, indolent and cor-
rupt, superstitious and unhappy, and more pitiable in
all their circumstances than when fully in a pagan
state : and that the wars introduced and encouraged
by the messengers of peace have nearly exterminated
the race !

" Whence the data for such a sentiment could have
been drawn must for ever remain a mystery, at least
to all who, like ourselves, have had the advantage of
a personal observation in the case."]



CHAPTER II.



THE BREAD-FRUIT.

• " The happy shores without a law.

******

Where all partake the earth without dispute,

And bread itself is gather'd as a fruit ;

Where none contest the fields, the woods, the streams,

The (loldless age, where gold disturbs no dreams,

Inhabits or inhabited the shore,

Till Europe taught them better than before." — Bvron.

In the year 1787, being seventeen years after
Cook's return from his first voyage, the merchants
and planters resident in London, and interested in
the West India possessions, having represented to
his majesty that the introduction of the bread-fruit
tree into the islands of those seas, to constitute an
article of food, would be of very essential benefit td

D



46 THE BREAD-FRTIIT.

the inliabitants, the king was graciously pleased to
comply with their request : and a vessel was ac-
cordingly purchased, and fitted at Deptford with the
necessary fixtures and preparations for carrying
into effect the benevolent object of the voyage. The
arrangements for disposing the plants were under-
taken, and completed in a most ingenious and efilsc-
tive manner, by Sir Joseph Banks, who superintended
the whole equipment of the ship with the greatest
attention and assiduity till she was in all respects
ready for sea. He named the ship the Bounty, and
recommended Lieutenant Bligh, who had been with
Captain Cook, to command her. Her burden was
about two hundred and fifteen tons; and her estab-
lishment consisted of one lieutenant, who was com-
manding officer, one master, three warrant officers,
one surgeon, two master's mates, two midshipmen,
and thirty-four petty officei s and seamen, making in
all forty-four ; to which were added two skilful and
careful men, recommended by Sir Joseph Banks, to
have the management of the plants intended to be
carried to the West Indies, and others to be brought
home for his majesty's garden at Kew : one was
David Nelson, who had served in a similar situation
in Capain Cook's last voyage; the other Wilham
Brown, as an assistant to him.

The object of all the former voyages to the
South Seas undertaken by command of his majesty
George HI., was the increase of knowledge by new-
discoveries, and the advancement of science, more
particularly of natural history and geography : the
intention of the present voyage was to derive some
practical benefit from the distant discoveries that had
already been made ; and no object was deemed more
likely to realize the expectation of benefit than the
bread-fruit, which afl'orded to the natives of Olaheite
60 very considerable a portion of their food, and
which it was hoped it might also do for the black



THE BREAD-FRt) rx. 47

population of the West India islands The bread-
fruit plant was no new discovery of either Wallis or
Cook. So early as the year 1688, that excellent old
navigator Dampier thus describes it : — " The bread-
fruit, as we call it, grows on a large tree, as big and
high as our largest apple-trees ; it hath a spread-
ing head, full of branches and dark leaves. The
fruit grows on the boughs like apples ; it is as big as
a penny loaf, when wheat is at five shillings the
bushel ; it is of a round shape, and hath a thick
tough rind ; when the fruit is ripe it is yellow and
soft, and the taste is sweet and pleasant. The
natives of Guam use it for bread. They gather it,
when full grown, while it is green and hard ; then
they bake it in an oven, which scorcheth the rind and
makes it black, but they scrape off the outside black
crust, and there remains a tender thin crust ; and the
inside is soft, tender, and white, like the crumb of a
penny-loaf. There is neither seed nor stone in the
Inside, but all is of a pure substance like bread. It
luust be eaten new ; for if it is kept above twenty-
four hours, it grows harsh and choaky ; but it is very
pleasant before it is too stale. This fruit lasts in
season eight months in the year, during which the
natives sat no other sort of food of bread kind. I
did never see of this fruit anywhere but here. The
natives told us that there is plenty of this fruitgrow-
ing on the rest of the Ladrone Islands ; and 1 did
never hear of it anywhere else."

Lord Anson corroborates this account of the
bread-fruit, and says that while at Tinian it was
constantly eaten by his officers and ship's company
during their two months' stay, instead of bread ; anid
so universally preferred, that no ship's bread was
expended in that whole interval. The only essential
difierence between Dampier's and Cook's descrip-
tion is, where the latter says, which is true, that this
fruit has a core^ and that the eatable part lies be-
tween the skin and the core. Cook says also that



48 THE BREAD-rRUIT.