However, Their Favours Did Not Depend Upon
Their Own Inclination, But The Men, As Absolute Masters, Were Always
To Be
Consulted upon the occasion; if a spike-nail, or a shirt, or a
similar present, had been given for their
Connivance, the lady was at
liberty to make her lover happy, and to exact, if possible, the
tribute of another present for herself. Some among them, however,
submitted with reluctance to this vile prostitution: and but for the
authority and menaces of the men, would not have complied with the
desires of a set of people, who could, with unconcern, behold their
tears and hear their complaints. Whether the members of a civilized
society, who could act such a brutal part, or the barbarians who could
force their own women to submit to such indignity, deserve the
greatest abhorrence, is a question not easily to be decided.
Encouraged by the lucrative nature of this infamous commerce, the New
Zealanders went through the whole vessel, offering their daughters and
sisters promiscuously to every person's embraces, in exchange for our
iron tools, which they knew could not be purchased at an easier rate.
It does not appear, that their married women were ever suffered to
have this kind of intercourse with our people. Their ideas of female
chastity are, in this respect, so different from ours, that a girl may
favour a number of lovers without any detriment to her character; but
if she marries, conjugal fidelity is exacted from her with the
greatest rigour. It may therefore be alleged, that as the New
Zealanders place no value on the continence of their unmarried women,
the arrival of Europeans among them does not injure their moral
characters in this respect; but we doubt whether they ever debased
themselves so much as to make a trade of their women, before we
created new wants by shewing these iron tools, for the possession of
which they do not hesitate to commit an action, that, in our eyes,
deprives them of the very shadow of sensibility. It is unhappy enough,
that the unavoidable consequence of all our voyages of discovery has
always been the loss of a number of innocent lives; but this heavy
injury done to the little uncivilized communities which Europeans have
visited, is trifling when compared to the irretrievable harm entailed
upon them by corrupting their morals. If these evils were compensated
in some measure by the introduction of some real benefit in these
countries, or by the abolition of some other immoral custom among
their inhabitants, we might at least comfort ourselves, that what they
lost on one hand, they gained on the other; but I fear that hitherto
our intercourse has been wholly disadvantageous to the natives of the
South Seas; and that those communities have been the least injured,
who have always kept aloof from us, and whose jealous disposition did
not suffer our sailors to become too familiar among them, as if they
had perceived in their countenances that levity of disposition, and
that spirit of debauchery, with which they are generally reproached."
A little afterwards, relating a trip over to Long Island, it is said,
"In the afternoon, many of our sailors were allowed to go on shore,
among the natives, where they traded for curiosities, and purchased
the embraces of the ladies, notwithstanding the disgust which their
uncleanliness inspired. Their custom of painting their cheeks with
ochre and oil, was alone sufficient to deter the more sensible from
such intimate connections with them; and if we add to this a certain
stench which announced them even at a distance, and the abundance of
vermin which not only infested their hair, but also crawled on their
clothes, and which they occasionally cracked between their teeth, it
is astonishing that persons should be found, who could gratify an
animal appetite with such loathsome objects, whom a civilized
education and national customs should have taught them to hold in
abhorrence." - G.F.
May this sad picture have the same effect, which the fathers of Sparta
expected from the exhibition of their drunken slaves! - E.
[4] A few miscellaneous observations respecting New Zealand, collected
from Mr G.F.'s work, may be given here with interest to some
readers: - The arrival at New Zealand, was most delightful to men who
had so long suffered the inclemencies and hardships of a navigation in
the southern sea. Every object seen on the land afforded some
agreeable sensation, heightened in no ordinary degree by the contrast
which memory presented. No wonder then, that the description given of
the scenery should be somewhat enthusiastic; besides, for every
obvious reason, one might be inclined to expect, that Mr G. Forster
should exceed even Cook in the warmth of colouring. It is so. He
speaks in evidently poetical feeling of the delightfully fair weather,
the lightly wafting airs, the numerous evergreens mingling with the
various shades of autumnal yellow, the wild notes of the feathered
tribe, &c. This was on getting sight of Dusky Bay. The effects of such
charming panorama were visible on all the crew; "emotions of joy and
satisfaction," he tells us, "were strongly marked in the countenance
of every individual." He is quite aware of the magic at work in his
own mind, when contemplating the picture, and accordingly very
candidly and very justly says, "So apt is mankind, after a long
absence from land, to be prejudiced in favour of the wildest shore,
that we looked upon the country at that time, as one of the most
beautiful which nature, unassisted by art, could produce. Such are the
general ideas of travellers and voyagers long exhausted by distresses;
and with such warmth of imagination they have viewed the rude cliffs
of Juan Fernandez, and the impenetrable forests of Tinian!" So much,
by the bye, as a hint for understanding the works of some other
painters! But all was not mere semblance of good. Several substantial
advantages were enjoyed, abundance of excellent fish and water-fowl,
plenty of wood and water, &c. To a naturalist besides, there was much
to occupy attention and excite curiosity, as a store of animal and
vegetable bodies was perceived, bearing little or no resemblance to
known species.
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