A General History & Collection of Voyages and Travels ... - Nauticus

Recommendations

Info

now entirely recovered from the blow which they had received in their late unfortunate war with thelesser peninsula, and of which they still felt the bad effects at our visit in August 1773."--G.F.Judging from these favourable circumstances that we should not mend ourselves by removing to anotherisland, I resolved to make a longer stay, and to begin with the repairs of the ship and stores, &c.Accordingly I ordered the empty casks and sails to be got ashore to be repaired; the ship to be caulked, andthe rigging to be overhauled; all of which the high southern latitudes had made indispensably necessary.In the morning of the 26th, I went down to Oparree, accompanied by some of the officers and gentlemen,to pay Otoo a visit by appointment. As we drew near, we observed a number of large canoes in motion; butwe were surprised, when we arrived, to see upwards of three hundred ranged in order, for some distance,along the shore, all completely equipped and manned, besides a vast number of armed men upon the shore.So unexpected an armament collected together in our neighbourhood, in the space of one night, gave rise tovarious conjectures. We landed, however, in the midst of them, and were received by a vast multitude,many of them under arms, and many not. The cry of the latter was Tiyo no Otoo, and that of the formerTiyo no Towha. This chief, we afterwards learnt, was admiral or commander of the fleet and troops present.The moment we landed I was met by a chief whose name was Tee, uncle to the king, and one of his primeministers, of whom I enquired for Otoo. Presently after we were met by Towha, who received me withgreat courtesy. He took me by the one hand, and Tee by the other; and, without my knowing where theyintended to carry me, dragged me, as it were, through the crowd that was divided into two parties, both ofwhich professed themselves my friends, by crying outTiyo no Tootee. One party wanted me to go to Otoo, and the other to remain with Towha. Coming to thevisual place of audience, a mat was spread for me to sit down upon, and Tee left me to go and bring theking. Towha was unwilling I should sit down, partly insisting on my going with him; but, as I knewnothing of this chief, I refused to comply. Presently Tee returned, and wanted to conduct me to the king,taking hold of my hand for that purpose. This Towha opposed; so that, between the one party and the other,I was like to have been torn in pieces; and was obliged to desire Tee to desist, and to leave me to theadmiral and his party, who conducted me down to the fleet. As soon as we came before the admiral'svessel, we found two lines of armed men drawn up before her, to keep off the crowd, as I supposed, and toclear the way for me to go in. But, as I was determined not to go, I made the water, which was between meand her, an excuse. This did not answer; for a man immediately squatted himself down at my feet, offeringto carry me; and then I declared I would not go. That very moment Towha quitted me, without my seeingwhich way he went, nor would any one inform me. Turning myself round I saw Tee, who, I believe, hadnever lost sight of me. Enquiring of him for the king, he told me he was gone into the country Mataou, andadvised me to go to my boat; which we accordingly did, as soon as we could get collected together; for MrEdgcumbe was the only person that could keep with me, the others being jostled about in the crowd, in thesame manner we had been.When we got into our boat, we took our time to view this grand fleet. The vessels of war consisted of anhundred and sixty large double canoes, very well equipped, manned, and armed. But I am not sure thatthey had their full complement of men or rowers; I rather think not. The chiefs, and all those on thefighting stages, were dressed in their war habits; that is, in a vast quantity of cloth, turbans, breast-plates,and helmets. Some of the latter were of such a length as greatly to encumber the wearer. Indeed, theirwhole dress seemed to be ill calculated for the day of battle, and to be designed more for shew than use. Bethis as it may, it certainly added grandeur to the prospect, as they were so complaisant as to shewthemselves to the best advantage. The vessels were decorated with flags, streamers, &c.; so that the wholemade a grand and noble appearance, such as we had never seen before in this sea, and what no one would
have expected. Their instruments of war were clubs, spears, and stones. The vessels were ranged closealong-side of each other with their heads ashore, and their stern to the sea; the admiral's vessel being nearlyin the centre. Besides the vessels of war, there were an hundred and seventy sail of smaller double canoes,all with a little house upon them, and rigged with mast and sail, which the war canoes had not. These, wejudged, were designed for transports, victuallers, &c.; for in the war-canoes was no sort of provisionswhatever. In these three hundred and thirty vessels, I guessed there were no less than seven thousand sevenhundred and sixty men; a number which appears incredible, especially as we were told they all belonged tothe districts of Attahourou and Ahopatea. In this computation I allow to each war canoe forty men, troopsand rowers, and to each of the small canoes eight. Most of the gentlemen who were with me, thought thenumber of men belonging to the war canoes exceeded this. It is certain that the most of them were fitted torow with more paddles than I have allowed them men; but, at this time, I think they were not complete.Tupia informed us, when I was first here, that the whole island raised only between six and seven thousandmen; but we now saw two districts only raise that number; so that he must have taken his account fromsome old establishment; or else he only meant Tatatous, that is warriors, or men trained from their infancyto arms, and did not include the rowers, and those necessary to navigate the other vessels. I should think heonly spoke of this number as the standing troops or militia of the island, and not their whole force. Thispoint I shall leave to be discussed in another place, and return to the subject.[6][6] So much curious information is given in the following passage, that, long as it is, there are fewreaders, it is believed, who would willingly dispense with it. "All our former ideas of the power andaffluence of this island were so greatly surpassed by this magnificent scene, that we were perfectlyleft in admiration. We counted no less than one hundred and fifty-nine war-canoes, from fifty toninety feet long betwixt stem and stern. All these were double, that is, two joined together, side byside, by fifteen or eighteen strong transverse timbers, which sometimes projected a great waybeyond both the hulls, being from twelve to four-and-twenty feet in length, and about three feet anda half asunder. When they are so long, they make a platform fifty, sixty, or seventy feet in length. Onthe outside of each canoe there are, in that case, two or three longitudinal spars, and between the twoconnected canoes, one spar is fixed to the transverse beams. The heads and sterns were raisedseveral feet out of the water, particularly the latter, which stood up like long beaks, sometimes neartwenty feet high, and were cut into various shapes; a white piece of cloth was commonly fixedbetween the two beaks of each double canoe, in lieu of an ensign, and the wind swelled it out like asail. Some had likewise a striped cloth, with various red chequers, which were the marks of thedivisions under different commanders. At the head there was a tall pillar of carved-work, on the topof which stood the figure of a man, or rather of an urchin, whose face was commonly shaded by aboard like a bonnet, and sometimes painted red with ochre. These pillars were generally coveredwith branches of black feathers, and long streamers of feathers hung from them. The gunwale of thecanoes was commonly two or three feet above the water, but not always formed in the same manner;for some had flat bottoms, and sides nearly perpendicular upon them, whilst others were bow- sided,with a sharp keel. A fighting stage was erected towards the head of the boat, and rested on pillarsfrom four to six feet high, generally ornamented with carving. This stage extended beyond the wholebreadth of the double canoe, and was from twenty to twenty-four feet long, and about eight or tenfeet wide. The rowers sat in the canoe, or under the fighting-stage on the platform, which consistedof the transverse beams and longitudinal spars; so that wherever these crossed, there was room forone man in the compartment. The warriors were stationed on the fighting-stage to the number offifteen or twenty. Their dress was the most singular, and at the same time the most shewy, in thewhole fleet. They had three large and ample pieces of cloth with a hole in the middle, put one aboveanother. The undermost and largest was white, the next red, and the uppermost and shortest brown.Their targets or breast-plates were made of wicker- work, covered with feathers and sharks' teeth,and hardly any of the warriors were without them. On the contrary, those who wore helmets werefew in number. These helmets were of an enormous size, being near five feet high. They consisted ofa long cylindrical basket of wicker- work, of which the foremost half was hid by a semi-cylinder of acloser texture, which became broader towards the top, and there separated from the basket, so as to
Page 1 and 2:
AGENERALHISTORY AND COLLECTIONOFVOY
Page 3 and 4:
Produce, and Inhabitants: Astronomi
Page 5 and 6:
SECTION I. Passage from Ulietea to
Page 7 and 8:
First Voyage, &c., second edition.
Page 9 and 10:
After leaving these islands, Quiros
Page 11 and 12:
of his instructions, he did not fin
Page 13:
had been well ascertained, and foun
Page 16 and 17:
[14] Till the discovery of what has
Page 18 and 19:
third lieutenants, the lieutenant o
Page 20 and 21:
have made, would have done honour t
Page 22 and 23:
learning from his voyage; that he w
Page 24 and 25:
long as the condition of the ships,
Page 26 and 27:
occasional use of fires to destroy
Page 28 and 29:
To record incidents such as these,
Page 30 and 31:
on this occasion, was not omitted.T
Page 32 and 33:
At two in the afternoon on the 29th
Page 34 and 35:
[10] Mr G.F. speaks with much more
Page 36 and 37:
steering directly for, till we were
Page 38 and 39:
ears; they immediately rowed toward
Page 40 and 41:
On the 24th, the wind blew from N.W
Page 42 and 43:
This longitude is nearly the same t
Page 44 and 45:
Myself, being the mean of six dista
Page 46 and 47:
land.At nine o'clock, the wind veer
Page 48 and 49:
elieve that land of any extent lay
Page 50 and 51:
seen in the heavens, similar to tho
Page 52 and 53:
and dashing of the waves into the c
Page 54 and 55:
longitude was 121° 9'. At three o'
Page 56 and 57:
We continued to advance to the N.E.
Page 58 and 59:
come nearer. After dinner I took tw
Page 60 and 61:
discover himself, had taken some li
Page 62 and 63:
These he never would suffer to go o
Page 64 and 65:
continued without intermission till
Page 66 and 67:
emote from the present trading part
Page 68 and 69:
which is not more remarkable for th
Page 70 and 71:
clouds, and seemed to forebode much
Page 72 and 73:
which appears supernatural, and wil
Page 74 and 75:
hills; plenty of water which falls
Page 76 and 77:
and with much difficulty we saved h
Page 78 and 79:
myself the morning after my arrival
Page 80 and 81:
lioness. It certainly bore much res
Page 82 and 83:
me before that time, he was then to
Page 84 and 85:
their existence. But nature, we may
Page 86 and 87:
subject, this disease was indigenou
Page 88 and 89:
and seldom higher than 54, at the s
Page 90 and 91:
the time, blew from different direc
Page 92 and 93:
inhabiting the lithophytes. They ra
Page 94 and 95:
were striking, and left us a little
Page 96 and 97:
After the first salutation was over
Page 98 and 99:
presented the king with two fine go
Page 100 and 101:
former. I told them to return me th
Page 102 and 103:
the harbour, I chose to turn in by
Page 104 and 105:
going. As his intention in coming i
Page 106 and 107:
which taught him to avoid the socie
Page 108 and 109:
On the 11th, early in the morning,
Page 110 and 111:
one; at last, all my enquiries gave
Page 112 and 113:
disease existed at Otaheite previou
Page 114 and 115:
is soft and pulpy, then they spit i
Page 116 and 117:
many parts of England."-G.F.After r
Page 118 and 119:
they did not seem willing to part w
Page 120 and 121:
extraordinary value at Otaheite and
Page 122 and 123:
After we had done examining this pl
Page 124 and 125:
The officer informed me that the na
Page 126 and 127:
ass kettle, a saw, two large spikes
Page 128 and 129:
[1] This subject is resumed in the
Page 130 and 131:
desirous of those we had on board.
Page 132 and 133:
Their ornaments are amulets, neckla
Page 134 and 135:
wants the common necessaries of lif
Page 136 and 137:
common features, and cannot, theref
Page 138 and 139:
"Though we were situated under the
Page 140 and 141: six o'clock, being off Cloudy Bay,
Page 142 and 143: eing persuaded they would take prop
Page 144 and 145: we embarked, in order to return on
Page 146 and 147: youth under twenty.[8][7] An instan
Page 148 and 149: in the history of almost all nation
Page 150 and 151: for Cape Teerawhitte, and afterward
Page 152 and 153: The Sun himselfe cannot forgetHis f
Page 154 and 155: place where they are formed.[3][3]
Page 156 and 157: manner, covered with ice; a hard ga
Page 158 and 159: improvement of discipline, the incr
Page 160 and 161: [10] A few days before, according t
Page 162 and 163: pintadoe peterel, some blue peterel
Page 164 and 165: south, which soon after freshened,
Page 166 and 167: Endeavour; so that this can hardly
Page 168 and 169: stocked with abundance of fowls and
Page 170 and 171: lackish brown cavernous and brittle
Page 172 and 173: passed along, they observed on a hi
Page 174 and 175: fresh water worth taking on board.
Page 176 and 177: towards each end. To these are tied
Page 178 and 179: perseverance of these islanders in
Page 180 and 181: I continued to steer to the west ti
Page 182 and 183: ut could not prevail on the chief t
Page 184 and 185: are a mile from each other, in the
Page 186 and 187: grounds, for such an inference.--E.
Page 188 and 189: abounding, I have been told, with f
Page 192 and 193: come forwards in a curve. This fron
Page 194 and 195: Next day we had a present of a hog
Page 196 and 197: dinner; after which I went down to
Page 198 and 199: more proper for me to go. All his a
Page 200 and 201: end; and all I could expect, after
Page 202 and 203: We had no sooner dispatched our fri
Page 204 and 205: send him red feathers in abundance.
Page 206 and 207: hundred and ten, besides smaller ca
Page 208 and 209: especially by the ladies; as many o
Page 210 and 211: went on shore with a boat's crew, a
Page 212 and 213: in the neighbourhood; but they were
Page 214 and 215: which, according to the simplicity
Page 216 and 217: their religion, customs, traditions
Page 218 and 219: Before I finish this account of the
Page 220 and 221: heights; and only myself, and four
Page 222 and 223: the same that Tasman watered at. In
Page 224 and 225: officer. One time, after he had bee
Page 226 and 227: uncultivated. There is, however, fa
Page 228 and 229: the 9th, when we had for a few hour
Page 230 and 231: small shot, I gave him the contents
Page 232 and 233: of a negroe. Their beards are very
Page 234 and 235: view of plying up to the eastward o
Page 236 and 237: acceptable entertainment, and were
Page 238 and 239: then, to pop out and throw a dart.
Page 240 and 241:
SECTION V.An Intercourse establishe
Page 242 and 243:
troublesome to the eyes.Early in th
Page 244 and 245:
island. Hence, that gentleman infer
Page 246 and 247:
expeditious as it can well be. They
Page 248 and 249:
observed, were planted as thick as
Page 250 and 251:
that were prevailed on to stay, ran
Page 252 and 253:
We understood that the little isle
Page 254 and 255:
weapons; almost every one of them c
Page 256 and 257:
appeared over the west end of Tanna
Page 258 and 259:
it. The wind being at south, we wer
Page 260 and 261:
[6] "Quiros had great reason to ext
Page 262 and 263:
went; and the middle of it is in la
Page 264 and 265:
untoward circumstances of the world
Page 266 and 267:
weather side of it, we stood in wit
Page 268 and 269:
appearance of the country.--"We wal
Page 270 and 271:
after my return on board.It was of
Page 272 and 273:
Accordingly I ordered them to be ta
Page 274 and 275:
of it. A nation of women, we may co
Page 276 and 277:
I have before observed, that the co
Page 278 and 279:
in their country, and the scanty su
Page 280 and 281:
hoisted in the boats, and made sail
Page 282 and 283:
leagues. In the afternoon, with a f
Page 284 and 285:
e done. We had from the top-mast-he
Page 286 and 287:
in a space of two hundred leagues;
Page 288 and 289:
eighteen fathoms water close to the
Page 290 and 291:
[3] "They continued from time to ti
Page 292 and 293:
A little within the entrance on the
Page 294 and 295:
then squatted herself down, on her
Page 296 and 297:
longitude 166° 15' W.On the 20th,
Page 298 and 299:
Two hours after, we made the land,
Page 300 and 301:
inlet was another, with several isl
Page 302 and 303:
harbour is not quite free from this
Page 304 and 305:
enough to spoil the appetite of any
Page 306:
which we called EMBOTHRIUM coccineu
show all

A General History & Collection of Voyages and Travels ... - Nauticus

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?