The Hills Are Of Such A Height As To Be Seen Fifteen Or Sixteen
Leagues.
Off the south end, are two rocky islets, lying near the shore.
The
north and east points of the island rise directly from the sea to a
considerable height; between them and the S.E. side, the shore forms an
open bay, in which I believe the Dutch anchored. We anchored, as hath been
already mentioned, on the west side of the island, three miles to the north
of the south point, with the sandy beach bearing E.S.S. This is a very good
road with easterly winds, but a dangerous one with westerly; as the other
on the S.E. side must be with easterly winds.
For this, and other bad accommodations already mentioned, nothing but
necessity will induce any one to touch at this isle, unless it can be done
without going much out of the way; in which case, touching here may be
advantageous, as the people willingly and readily part with such
refreshments as they have, and at an easy rate. We certainly received great
benefit from the little we got; but few ships can come here without being
in want of water, and this want cannot be here supplied. The little we took
on board, could not be made use of, it being only salt water which had
filtered through a stony beach into a stone well; this the natives had made
for the purpose, a little to the southward of the sandy beach so often
mentioned, and the water ebbed and flowed into it with the tide.
The inhabitants of this island do not seem to exceed six or seven hundred
souls, and above two-thirds of those we saw were males. They either have
but few females amongst them, or else many were restrained from making
their appearance during our stay, for though we saw nothing to induce us to
believe the men were of a jealous disposition, or the women afraid to
appear in public, something of this kind was probably the case.[1]
In colour, features, and language, they bear such an affinity to the people
of the more western isles, that no one will doubt they have had the same
origin. It is extraordinary that the same nation should have spread
themselves over all the isles in this vast ocean, from New Zealand to this
island, which is almost one-fourth part of the circumference of the globe.
Many of them have now no other knowledge of each other, than what is
preserved by antiquated tradition; and they have, by length of time,
become, as it were, different nations, each having adopted some peculiar
custom or habit, &c. Nevertheless, a careful observer will soon see the
affinity each has to the other. In general, the people of this isle are a
slender race. I did not see a man that would measure six feet; so far are
they from being giants, as one of the authors of Roggewein's voyage
asserts. They are brisk and active, have good features, and not
disagreeable countenances; are friendly and hospitable to strangers, but as
much addicted to pilfering as any of their neighbours.
Tattowing, or puncturing the skin, is much used here. The men are
marked from head to foot, with figures all nearly alike; only some give
them one direction, and some another, as fancy leads. The women are but
little punctured; red and white paint is an ornament with them, as
also with the men; the former is made of turmeric, but what composes the
latter I know not.
Their clothing is a piece or two of quilted cloth, about six feet by four,
or a mat. One piece wrapped round their loins, and another over their
shoulders, make a complete dress. But the men, for the most part, are in a
manner naked, wearing nothing but a slip of cloth betwixt their legs, each
end of which is fastened to a cord or belt they wear round the waist. Their
cloth is made of the same materials as at Otaheite, viz. of the bark of the
cloth-plant; but, as they have but little of it, our Otaheitean cloth, or
indeed any sort of it, came here to a good market.
Their hair in general is black; the women wear it long, and sometimes tied
up on the crown of the head; but the men wear it, and their beards, cropped
short. Their headdress is a round fillet adorned with feathers, and a straw
bonnet something like a Scotch one; the former, I believe, being chiefly
worn by the men, and the latter by the women. Both men and women have very
large holes, or rather slits, in their ears, extending to near three inches
in length. They sometimes turn this slit over the upper part, and then the
ear looks as if the flap was cut off. The chief ear-ornaments are the white
down of feathers, and rings, which they wear in the inside of the hole,
made of some elastic substance, rolled up like a watch-spring. I judged
this was to keep the hole at its utmost extension. I do not remember seeing
them wear any other ornaments, excepting amulets made of bone or shells.[2]
As harmless and friendly as these people seemed to be, they are not without
offensive weapons, such as short wooden clubs and spears; the latter of
which are crooked sticks about six feet long, armed at one end with pieces
of flint. They have also a weapon made of wood, like the Patoo patoo
of New Zealand.
Their houses are low miserable huts, constructed by setting sticks upright
in the ground, at six or eight feet distance, then bending them towards
each other, and tying them together at the top, forming thereby a kind of
Gothic arch. The longest sticks are placed in the middle, and shorter ones
each way, and a less distance asunder, by which means the building is
highest and broadest in the middle, and lower and narrower towards each
end.
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