She Seemed Much
Altered For The Worse, Poor, And Of Little Consequence.
The first words she
said to Mr Pickersgill were, Earee mataou ina boa, Earee is
frightened, you can have no hogs.
By this it appeared that she had little
or no property, and was herself subject to the Earee, which I believe was
not the case when I was here before. The wind, which had blown westerly all
day, having shifted at once to the east, we put to sea; and I was obliged
to dismiss my friends sooner than they wished to go; but well satisfied
with the reception they had met with.
Some hours before we got under sail, a young man, whose name was Poreo,
came and desired I would take him with me. I consented, thinking he might
be of service to us on some occasion. Many more offered themselves, but I
refused to take them. This youth asked me for an axe and a spike-nail for
his father, who was then on board. He had them accordingly, and they parted
just as we were getting under sail, more like two strangers than father and
son. This raised a doubt in me whether it was so; which was farther
confirmed, by a canoe, conducted by two men, coming along-side, as we were
standing out of the bay, and demanding the young man in the name of Otoo. I
now saw that the whole was a trick to get something from me; well knowing
that Otoo was not in the neighbourhood, and could know nothing of the
matter. Poreo seemed, however, at first undetermined whether he should go
or stay; but he soon inclined to the former. I told them to return me the
axe and nails, and then he should go, (and so he really should,) but they
said they were on shore, and so departed. Though the youth seemed pretty
well satisfied, he could not refrain from weeping when he viewed the land
astern.[1]
[1] Mr G.F. has been so successful in his Otaheitan delineations, that
though the subject occupied no small space of our preceding volume,
and must again engage our attention, when we treat of Cook's third
voyage, nevertheless we cannot help running the risk of the reader's
impatience by a transcript of some of his sketches. Speaking of the
natives first met with, he says, "The people around us had mild
features, and a pleasing countenance; they were about our size, of a
pale mahogany brown, had fine black hair and eyes, and wore a piece of
cloth round their middle of their own manufacture, and another wrapped
about the head in curious picturesque shapes like a turban. Among them
were several females, pretty enough to attract the attention of
Europeans, who had not seen their own countrywomen for twelve long
months past. These wore a piece of cloth with a hole in the middle,
through which they had passed the head, so that one part of the
garment hung down behind, and the other before, to the knees; a fine
white cloth like a muslin, was passed over this in various elegant
turns round the body, a little below the breast, forming a kind of
tunic, of which one turn sometimes fell gracefully across the
shoulder.
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