A Shirt Here Is Full As Necessary As A Piece
Of Gold In England.
The ladies at Otaheite, after they had pretty well
stripped their lovers of shirts, found a method of clothing themselves with
their own cloth.
It was their custom to go on shore every morning, and to
return on board in the evening, generally clad in rags. This furnished a
pretence to importune the lover for better clothes; and when he had no more
of his own, he was to dress them in new cloth of the country, which they
always left ashore; and appearing again in rags, they must again be
clothed. So that the same suit might pass through twenty different hands,
and be as often sold, bought, and given away.
Before I finish this account of these islands, it is necessary to mention
all I know concerning the government of Ulietea and Otaha. Oree, so often
mentioned, is a native of Bolabola; but is possessed of Whenooas or
lands at Ulietea; which I suppose he, as well as many of his countrymen,
got at the conquest. He resides here as Opoony's lieutenant; seeming to be
vested with regal authority, and to be the supreme magistrate in the
island. Oo-oo-rou, who is the Earee by hereditary right, seems to
have little more left him than the bare title, and his own Whenooa
or district, in which I think he is sovereign. I have always seen Oree pay
him the respect due to his rank; and he was pleased when he saw me
distinguish him from others.
Otaha, so far as I can find, is upon the very same footing. Boba and Ota
are the two chiefs; the latter I have not seen; Boba is a stout, well-made
young man; and we were told is, after Opoony's death, to marry his
daughter, by which marriage he will be vested with the same regal authority
as Opoony has now; so that it should seem, though a woman may be vested
with regal dignity, she cannot have regal power. I cannot find that Opoony
has got any thing to himself by the conquest of these isles, any farther
than providing for his nobles, who have seized on best part of the lands.
He seems to have no demand on them for any of the many articles they have
had from us. Oedidee has several times enumerated to me all the axes,
nails, &c. which Opoony is possessed of, which hardly amount to as many as
he had from me when I saw him in 1769. Old as this famous man is, he seems
not to spend his last days in indolence. When we first arrived here, he was
at Maurana; soon after he returned to Bolabola; and we were now told, he
was gone to Tubi.
I shall conclude this account of these islands, with some observations on
the watch which Mr Wales hath communicated to me. At our arrival in Matavai
Bay in Otaheite, the longitude pointed out by the watch was 2 deg.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 322 of 461
Words from 167164 to 167673
of 239428
