The Society Isles Alone Are Fortunate
Enough To Possess Both The Domestic Quadrupeds, The Dog And The Hog.
New Zealand And The Low Islands Must Be Content With Dogs Alone; The
Marquesas, Friendly Isles, And New Hebrides, Have Only Hogs; And
Easter Island And New Caledonia Are Destitute Of Both.
There is only
one tame species of birds, properly speaking, in the tropical isles of
the South Sea, viz.
The common cock and hen; They are numerous at
Easter Island, where they are the only domestic animals; they are
likewise in great plenty at the Society Isles, and Friendly Isles, at
which last they are of a prodigious size: They are also not uncommon
at the Marquesas, Hebrides, and New Caledonia; but the low isles, and
those of the temperate zone, are quite destitute of them. The natives
of the Friendly and Society Isles sometimes catch and tame certain
sorts of parroquets and pigeons, but never have any breeds of them, so
that they can scarcely be reckoned as domestic birds. The South Sea is
rich in fish, and has a great variety of species, most of which are
good eating, many very delicious, and but a few capable of noxious or
fatal effects. - E.
[5] This custom is not peculiar to the inhabitants of the Friendly
Isles. See Recherches Philosophiques sur les Americains, tom. ii. p.
253, &c. Of this custom, and of many of the topics mentioned in this
Section, besides others of equal interest, the reader will be supplied
with very ample accounts when he comes to the relation of the 3d
voyage. - E.
[6] It appeared upon the whole, that the customs and language of these
islanders have a great affinity with those of the Otaheitans, and it
would not therefore be very singular to find a coincidence even in
their amusements. The greatest differences between these two tribes,
who must have originated from the same stock, seem to be owing to the
different nature of these islands. The Society Isles are well
furnished with wood, and the tops of these mountains are still covered
with inexhaustible forests. At the Friendly Isles this article is much
scarcer, the surface (at least of those which we have seen) being
almost entirely laid out in plantations. The natural consequence is,
that the houses are lofty and of immense extent in the first group of
islands, but much smaller and less convenient in the last. In one the
canoes are numerous, I may almost say innumerable, and many of a vast
size; and, in the other, very few in number, and much smaller. The
mountains of the Society Isles continually attract the vapours from
the atmosphere, and many rivulets descend from the broken rocks into
the plain, where they wind their serpentine course, and glide smoothly
to the sea. The inhabitants of those islands take advantage of this
gift of bountiful nature, and not only drink of the salutary element,
but likewise bathe so frequently in it, that no impurity can long
adhere to their skin. It is very different with a people who are
absolutely denied this blessing, and who must either content
themselves with putrid stagnant rain water in a few dirty pools, or go
entirely without it. They are obliged to have recourse to expedients
in order to preserve a certain degree of cleanliness, which may
preclude various distempers. They, therefore, cut off their hair, and
shave or clip their beards, which doubtless makes them look more
unlike the Otaheitans than they would otherwise do. Still these
precautions are not sufficient, especially as they have no fluid for
drinking in any quantity. The body is therefore very subject to
leprous complaints, which are perhaps irritated by the use of the
pepper-root water or awa. Hence also that burning or blistering on
the cheekbones, which we observed to be so general among this tribe,
that hardly an individual was free from it, and which can only be used
as a remedy against some disorders. The soil of the Society Isles in
the plains and vallies is rich, and the rivulets which intersect it
supply abundance of moisture. All sorts of vegetables, therefore,
thrive with great luxuriance upon it, and require little attendance or
cultivation. This profusion is become the source of that great luxury
among the chiefs, which we do not meet with at Tonga-tabboo. There the
coral rock is covered only with a thin bed of mould, which sparingly
affords nourishment to all sorts of trees; and the most useful of all,
the bread-fruit tree, thrives imperfectly on the island, as it is
destitute of water, except when a genial shower happens to impregnate
and fertilize the ground. The labour of the natives is therefore
greater than that of the Otaheitans, and accounts for the regularity
of the plantations, and the accurate division of property. It is
likewise to this source we must ascribe it, that they have always set
a higher value on their provisions than on their tools, dresses,
ornaments, and weapons, though many of these must have cost them
infinite time and application. They very justly conceive the articles
of food to be their principal riches, of which the loss is absolutely
not to be remedied. If we observed their bodies more slender, and
their muscles harder than those of the Otaheitans, this seems to be
the consequence of a greater and more constant exertion of strength.
Thus, perhaps, they become industrious by force of habit, and when
agriculture does not occupy them, they are actuated to employ their
vacant hours in the fabrication of that variety of tools and
instruments on which they bestow so much time, patience, labour, and
ingenuity. This industrious turn has also led them, in the cultivation
of all their arts, to so much greater perfection than the Otaheitans.
By degrees they have hit upon new inventions, and introduced an active
spirit, and enlivening cheerfulness even into their amusements. Their
happiness of temper they preserve under a political constitution,
which does not appear to be very favourable to liberty; but we need
not go so far from home to wonder at such a phenomenon, when one of
the most enslaved people in all Europe (the French, no doubt, are
intended; this was published in 1777,) are characterised as the
merriest and most facetious of mankind.
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