To These Are Tied Others Horizontally, And The Whole Is Thatched Over
With Leaves Of Sugar-Cane.
The door-way is in the middle of one side,
formed like a porch, and so low and narrow, as just to admit a man to enter
upon all fours.
The largest house I saw was about sixty feet long, eight or
nine feet high in the middle, and three or four at each end; its breadth,
at these parts, was nearly equal to its height. Some have a kind of vaulted
houses built with stone, and partly under ground; but I never was in one of
these.
I saw no household utensils among them, except gourds, and of these but
very few. They were extravagantly fond of cocoa-nut shells, more so than of
any thing we could give them. They dress their victuals in the same manner
as at Otaheite; that is, with hot stones in an oven or hole in the ground.
The straw or tops of sugar-cane, plantain heads, &c. serve them for fuel to
heat the stones. Plantains, which require but little dressing, they roast
under fires of straw, dried grass, &c. and whole races of them are ripened
or roasted in this manner. We frequently saw ten or a dozen, or more, such
fires in one place, and most commonly in the mornings and evenings.
Not more than three or four canoes were seen on the whole island, and these
very mean, and built of many pieces sewed together with small line. They
are about eighteen or twenty feet long, head and stem carved or raised a
little, are very narrow, and fitted with out-riggers. They do not seem
capable of carrying above four persons, and are by no means fit for any
distant navigation. As small and mean as these canoes were, it was a matter
of wonder to us, where they got the wood to build them with; for in one of
them was a board six or eight feet long, fourteen inches broad at one end,
and eight at the other; whereas we did not see a stick on the island that
would have made a board half this size, nor, indeed, was there another
piece in the whole canoe half so big.
There are two ways by which it is possible they may have got this large
wood; it might have been left here by the Spaniards, or it might have been
driven on the shore of the island from some distant land. It is even
possible that there may be some land in the neighbourhood, from whence they
might have got it. We, however, saw no signs of any, nor could we get the
least information on this head from the natives, although we tried every
method we could think of to obtain it. We were almost as unfortunate in our
enquiries for the proper or native name of the island; for, on comparing
notes, I found we had got three different names for it, viz. Tamareki,
Whyhu, and Teapy. Without pretending to say which, or whether any of them
is right, I shall only observe, that the last was obtained by Oedidee, who
understood their language much better than any of us, though even he
understood it but very imperfectly.
It appears by the account of Roggewein's voyage, that these people had no
better vessels than when he first visited them. The want of materials, and
not of genius, seems to be the reason why they have made no improvement in
this art. Some pieces of carving were found amongst them, both well
designed and executed.[3] Their plantations are prettily laid out by line,
but not inclosed by any fence; indeed they have nothing for this purpose
but stones.
I have no doubt that all these plantations are private property, and that
there are here, as at Otaheite, chiefs (which they call Areekes) to
whom these plantations belong. But of the power or authority of these
chiefs, or of the government of these people, I confess myself quite
ignorant.
Nor are we better acquainted with their religion. The gigantic statues, so
often mentioned, are not, in my opinion, looked upon as idols by the
present inhabitants, whatever they might have been in the days of the
Dutch; at least I saw nothing that could induce me to think so. On the
contrary, I rather suppose that they are burying-places for certain tribes
or families. I, as well as some others, saw a human skeleton lying in one
of the platforms, just covered with stones. Some of these platforms of
masonry are thirty or forty feet long, twelve or sixteen broad, and from
three to twelve in height; which last in some measure depends on the nature
of the ground; for they are generally at the brink of the bank facing the
sea, so that this face may be ten or twelve feet or more high, and the
other may not be above three or four. They are built, or rather faced, with
hewn stones, of a very large size; and the workmanship is not inferior to
the best plain piece of masonry we have in England. They use no sort of
cement, yet the joints are exceedingly close, and the stones morticed and
tenanted one into another, in a very artful manner. The side-walls are not
perpendicular, but inclining a little inwards, in the same manner that
breast-works, &c. are built in Europe; yet had not all this care, pains,
and sagacity, been able to preserve these curious structures from the
ravages of all-devouring time.
The statues, or at least many of them, are erected on these platforms,
which serve as foundations. They are, as near as we could judge, about half
length, ending in a sort of stump at the bottom, on which they stand. The
workmanship is rude, but not bad; nor are the features of the face ill
formed, the nose and chin in particular; but the ears are long beyond
proportion; and, as to the bodies, there is hardly any thing like a human
figure about them.
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