We Were
Much Surprised To Hear That He Knew The Name Of An Animal Which Did
Not Exist In His Country, And Made Him A Present Of One Of Each Sex,
With Which He Went On Shore In An Extacy Of Joy." - G.F.
[5] "I remained on board all this day to arrange the collection of
plants and birds which we had made on our first excursion, and which
was far from despicable, considering the small size of the island.
The
natives continued to crowd about our vessels in a number of canoes,
whilst many were swimming to and from the shore, who were probably not
rich enough to possess a canoe. Among the great numbers who surrounded
us, we observed several whose hair seemed to be burnt at the ends, and
were strewed with a white powder. Upon examination we found that this
powder was nothing else than lime, made of shells or coral, which had
corroded or burnt the hair. The taste of powdering was at its height
in this island. We observed a man who had employed a blue powder, and
many persons of both sexes who wore an orange powder made of
turmerick. St Jerom, who preached against the vanities of the age,
very seriously reprehends a similar custom in the Roman ladies: 'Ne
irrufet crines, et anticipet sibi ignes Gehennae!' Thus, by an
admirable similarity of follies, the modes of the former inhabitants
of Europe are in full force among the modern antipodes; and our
insipid beaux, whose only pride is the invention of a new fashion, are
forced to share that slender honour with the uncivilized natives of an
isle in the South Seas," - G.F.
[6] "Upon enquiry, some of the sportsmen who had met with this man
near Maria Bay, had been repeatedly told, that he was the chief of the
whole island, in the same manner as Cookee (Captain Cook) was chief of
our ships, and that they called him Ko-Haghee-too-Fallango. Whether
this was his name or his title I cannot determine, as we never heard
it mentioned again by the natives; but they all agreed in telling us,
that he was their Areghee, or king. They added, that his name was
Latoo-Ni-pooroo, of which we concluded that the former part (Latoo)
was a title, it being the same which Schooten and La Maire, the Dutch
navigators, in the year 1616, found at the Cocos, Traytors, and Horne
islands, which are situated in this neighbourhood, only a few degrees
to the northward. We were confirmed in this opinion by the great
correspondence of the vocabularies, which these intelligent seamen
have left us, with the language which was spoken at Tonga-Tabboo, and
still more so by the entire similarity in the behaviour and customs of
these islanders." - G.F.
[7] Mr G. Forster agrees with Cook as to the toper-like qualities of
this priest, but speaks of his having great authority among the
people. This merely apparent difference of statement is quite easily
understood, by what one may witness in some other countries, where
respect for the ecclesiastical office is not unfrequently accompanied
with the most thoroughly merited contempt of the self-degraded
hirelings that sustain it. The three-bottle vicar still continues in
England, to obtain the accustomed reverence to his surplice, from the
wondering parishioners, though the companions of his jovial hours have
long ceased to feel the slightest compunctions arising from inward
respect, when they laugh at his heinously red nose, or chorus in his
ribaldry. The islanders of the South Sea are not singular then, in
mentally disjoining official dignity from moral excellence. - E.
[8] "Here, however, as in all other societies of men, we found
exceptions to the general character, and had reason to lament the
behaviour of vicious individuals. Dr Sparrman and myself having left
the beach where the Latoo attracted the attention of all our people,
entered the wood in pursuit of farther discoveries in our branch of
science. The first discharge of my fowling-piece at a bird brought
three natives towards us, with whom we entered into conversation, as
far as our superficial knowledge of their tongue would permit. Soon
after, Dr Sparrman stepped aside into a thicket in search of a
bayonet, which he had lost from the end of his musket. One of the
natives, finding the temptation of the moment irresistible, grasped my
fowling-piece, and struggled to wrest it from me. I called to my
companion, and the two other natives ran away, unwilling to become the
accomplices in this attack. In the struggle, our feet were entangled
in a bush, and we both fell together; but the native, seeing he could
not gain his point, and perhaps dreading the arrival of Dr Sparrman,
got up before me, and took that opportunity of running off. My friend
joined me immediately; and we concluded, that if there was something
treacherous or vicious in the behaviour of this fellow, our separation
was also imprudent, because it had furnished him with an opportunity
to exercise his talents." - G.F.
[9] "We had made such good use of the four months, after our departure
from New Zealand, as to have crossed the South Sea in the middle
latitudes, in the depth of winter, examined a space of more than forty
degrees of longitude between the tropics, and refreshed our people at
Otaheite, the Society Islands, and the Friendly Islands, during one
and thirty days. The season for prosecuting our discoveries in high
southern latitudes advanced, and the savage rocks of New Zealand were
only to give us shelter, whilst we changed our fair-weather rigging,
for such as might resist the storms and vigours of more inhospitable
climates." - G.F.
SECTION III.
A Description of the Islands and their Produce; with the Cultivation,
Houses, Canoes, Navigation, Manufactures, Weapons, Customs, Government,
Religion, and Language of the Inhabitants. [1]
These islands were first discovered by Captain Tasman, in January, 1642-3,
and by him called Amsterdam and Middleburg.
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