This They Roast, And Are Almost
Continually Chewing.
It has a sweetish, insipid taste, and was liked by
some of our people.
Water is their only liquor, at least I never saw any
other made use of.
Plantains and sugar-canes are by no means in plenty. Bread-fruit is very
scarce, and the cocoa-nut trees are small and but thinly planted; and
neither one nor the other seems to yield much fruit.
To judge merely by the numbers of the natives we saw every day, one might
think the island very populous; but I believe that, at this time, the
inhabitants were collected from all parts on our account. Mr Pickersgill
observed, that down the coast, to the west, there were but few people; and
we knew they came daily from the other side of the land, over the
mountains, to visit us. But although the inhabitants, upon the whole, may
not be numerous, the island is not thinly peopled on the sea-coast, and in
the plains and valleys that are capable of cultivation. It seems to be a
country unable to support many inhabitants. Nature has been less bountiful
to it than to any other tropical island we know in this sea. The greatest
part of its surface, or at least what we saw of it, consists of barren
rocky mountains; and the grass, &c. growing on them, is useless to people
who have no cattle.
The sterility of the country will apologise for the natives not
contributing to the wants of the navigator. The sea may, perhaps, in some
measure, compensate for the deficiency of the land; for a coast surrounded
by reefs and shoals, as this is, cannot fail of being stored with fish.
I have before observed, that the country bears great resemblance to New
South Wales, or New Holland, and that some of its natural productions are
the same. In particular, we found here, the tree which is covered with a
soft white ragged bark, easily peeled off, and is, as I have been told, the
same that, in the East Indies, is used for caulking of ships. The wood is
very hard, the leaves are long and narrow, of a pale dead green, and a fine
aromatic; so that it may properly be said to belong to that continent.
Nevertheless, here are several plants, &c. common to the eastern and
northern islands, and even a species of the passionflower, which, I am
told, has never before been known to grow wild any where but in America.
Our botanists did not complain for want of employment at this place; every
day bringing something new in botany or other branches of natural history.
Land-birds, indeed, are not numerous, but several are new. One of these is
a kind of crow, at least so we called it, though it is not half so big, and
its feathers are tinged with blue. They also have some very beautiful
turtle-doves, and other small birds, such as I never saw before.[3]
All our endeavours to get the name of the whole island proved ineffectual.
Probably it is too large for them to know by one name. Whenever we made
this enquiry, they always gave us the name of some district or place, which
we pointed to; and, as before observed, I got the names of several, with
the name of the king or chief of each. Hence I conclude, that the country
is divided into several districts, each governed by a chief; but we know
nothing of the extent of his power. Balade was the name of the district we
were at, and Tea Booma the chief. He lived on the other side of the ridge
of hills, so that we had but little of his company, and therefore could not
see much of his power. Tea seems a title prefixed to the names of
all, or most, of their chiefs or great men. My friend honoured me by
calling me Tea Cook.
They deposit their dead in the ground. I saw none of their burying-places,
but several of the gentlemen did. In one, they were informed, lay the
remains of a chief who was slain in battle; and his grave, which bore some
resemblance to a large mole-hill, was decorated with spears, darts,
paddles, &c. all stuck upright in the ground round about it. The canoes,
which these people use, are somewhat like those of the Friendly Isles; but
the most heavy clumsy vessels I ever saw. They are what I call double
canoes, made out of two large trees, hollowed out, having a raised gunnel,
about two inches high, and closed at each end with a kind of bulk-head of
the same height; so that the whole is like a long square trough, about
three feet shorter than the body of the canoe; that is, a foot and a half
at each end. Two canoes, thus fitted, are secured to each other, about
three feet asunder, by means of cross spars, which project about a foot
over each side. Over these spars is laid a deck, or very heavy platform,
made of plank, and small round spars, on which they have a fire-hearth, and
generally a fire burning; and they carry a pot or jar to dress their
victuals in. The space between the two canoes is laid with plank, and the
rest with spars. On one side of the deck, and close to the edge, is fixed a
row of knees, pretty near to each other, the use of which is to keep the
masts, yards, &c. from, rolling over-board. They are navigated by one or
two lateen-sails, extended to a small lateen-yard, the end of which fixes
in a notch or hole in the deck. The foot of the sail is extended to a small
boom. The sail is composed of pieces of matting, the ropes are made of the
coarse filaments of the plantain-tree, twisted into cords of the thickness
of a finger; and three or four more such cords, marled together, serve them
for shrouds, &c. I thought they sailed very well; but they are not at all
calculated for rowing or paddling.
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