Hiram Paulding

“ The Happah valley was a romantic spot. A plain, a league or two in circumference, stretched back to the mountains in a semicircular form, presenting in front a clear white sand beach about a mile long. The plain was covered with cocoa-nuts, with bread-fruit interspersed, and near enough to form a continued shade without presenting the appearance of a dense forest. Scattered about every where through these trees were the palm-thatched habitations of the natives. In the rear of the plain, the mountains rose precipitously, forming an insuperable barrier against the incursions of other tribes. ”

“ The natives listened to him, wondering at all he said, but not less at his singular manner of life,—to them unexampled, in all their acquaintance with the whites,—and, certainly, unparalleled amongst themselves. They had always seen the white men, who visited their islands, take liberties with their females, and mingle with them in all their pleasures, whilst this man, who called himself a messenger from the Great Spirit, lived a life of celibacy, retired from all that, to them, was amusing or agreeable. ”

“ Before we came to anchor, the water was covered with canoes, and people of both sexes and all ages swimming towards us, and as soon as the vessel lost her head way, they were crawling up on all sides like so many rats. They were not less delighted with our arrival than were the Happahs. Hundreds were collected on the shore, and all expressing their satisfaction by songs and dances. Amongst our first visitors, were two English sailors who had deserted from whale ships, and been long enough resident on the island to converse in the language of the natives. ”

“ The season for the whalers to visit the Island is the time of their harvest, when, besides their gains from entertaining the seamen, they frequently prevail upon them to desert for the sake of the reward for their apprehension, or to strip them of what little money or clothes they may be possessed of. Some of them have married women of the Island, and live much in the same way as the natives. Of all the permanent settlers at Onavoora, the most remarkable was a Spaniard by the name of Meninne, who had been in the Islands upwards of thirty years. ”

“ Bird's Island is an uninhabited rock, about a league in circumference, and the highest part from five to eight hundred feet above the ocean. Where our boat landed, is the only spot where a landing could be effected, and upon that side alone it has an inclination by which it may be ascended. Every where else it is perpendicular, and at a distance, looks like the work of art. It has a scanty vegetation.
At five, P.M., January the 11th, we made sail for the island of Oahoo, with a fine breeze from the westward and pleasant weather. ”

“ I saw one old woman run a spear in the back of one man, who was held by two natives, with a degree of violence that seemed far beyond her strength. I thought that all but myself were killed until the following evening. I had been taken to the islet where your schooner is anchored, and where all the chiefs were assembled, when they brought Huzzy, to show me that there was one living besides myself. After an interview of a few hours, Huzzy was taken away to live with Lugoma, who had saved his life, and I was taken to live with the old man who had saved mine. ”

“ Like all other men, whether civilized or uncivilized, they have different grades of rank in their society, from the high chief down to the farthest remove of relationship to royalty. The different islets that are inhabited, are partitioned off to different chiefs, who acknowledge their subordination to the high chief, by sending him a part of whatever grows, or is taken within the limits of their government. They send him a portion of their cocoa-nuts, bread-fruit, and bup, and of the fish or birds, that may be caught by themselves or any of their people. ”

“ They dissuaded them from it, of course, and filled them with apprehension, by declaring, repeatedly, that we were invincible, and that there was scarcely any thing we could not accomplish with our six-pounders; they even made them believe, trifling as our armament was, that we could sink the islands with our cannon: so ready is the human mind to receive for truth what it cannot comprehend, if recommended by superior intelligence, though it may be at variance with every thing in nature or reason. ”

“ A great many natives, most of them women and children, had assembled on the shore, opposite to us, where they remained all day, singing and amusing themselves. No females came off in the canoes.
We saw no water, except a small quantity that one or two of the natives had in cocoa-nut shells, and, much to our regret, from ignorance of their language, could not inquire where it was to be obtained. The land no where rose more than from three to seven feet above the level of the sea, and as we could not land with safety, we had no means of ascertaining whether any rivulets existed upon it. ”

“ Wilkinson was the first individual who ever attempted to put them in practice, upon a scale, sufficiently extensive to improve, materially, the agricultural condition of the islands, and thereby prove to the inhabitants the wealth they possess, in a rich soil, and one of the finest climates on the face of the globe. Should Mr. Wilkinson be successful, the result of his experiment will probably do more towards the civilization of the natives, and their ultimate advancement in knowledge and lasting prosperity, than has yet been effected by all the white men that have lived amongst them. ”

“ The bup-tree is the most remarkable of all the vegetable productions of the Mulgrave Islands. To shipwrecked seamen, it might be the means of sustaining life, when no other food could be found, and, as it is a never-failing resource, it ought to be generally known amongst those, who navigate the Pacific Ocean. The tree generally grows from twenty to thirty feet high,—sometimes singly, but more frequently in small clusters. The diameter of the body rarely exceeds six inches. It has a hard thick bark, but the wood is spongy, like that of the cocoa-nut tree. ”

“ The island seemed to produce nothing, but cocoa-nuts, which must be the only food of the natives, except when they are so fortunate as to catch fish. Towards evening we stood out of the bay, and hove to off the south-west point, where we sent a party on shore to collect a quantity of cocoa-nuts, of which there was a dense forest, that promised an abundant supply. Our people were no sooner on shore than they saw the natives approaching them in different directions, armed with spears and paddles, making signals to each other, and signs, for the intruders to depart. ”

“ Two or three large sail canoes came from a great distance over the inland sea, and approached us without fear. The natives told us that they had never seen white men before.
The captain landed upon a different island from myself, and the natives, having fled from their habitations as they did upon the island where I landed, he sent a few old people, that were found, commanding all the inhabitants to return to their homes, and, fearing his displeasure, in a few minutes their huts were occupied in the same manner as though the white-faced strangers had not appeared amongst them. ”

“ On the morning of the 29th of September, which was the last of our remaining in Comptroller's Bay, I made another excursion to the Typee Bay, taking with me the chief of the Happahs, who was very anxious to go. I wondered at this, as the tribes evinced so much dislike to each other; but afterwards saw, in my intercourse with the natives of the South Sea Islands, that uncivilized men are capable of as much duplicity towards each other as the educated and refined. ”

“ The valley of Lewis' Bay is not to be compared to either of the other places we visited on the island, for beauty or fertility. It is, however, quite populous, and the scenery is grand and picturesque. The land gradually rises from a small plain below, like the valley occupied by the Typees, in a succession of hills, and terminates in a perpendicular high ledge of rocks. In returning from Lewis' to Massachusetts' Bay, the wind was ahead, and we pulled close in with the shore, which, for nearly the whole distance, rises abruptly, from the ocean, to the height of six or seven hundred feet. ”

“ We were filled with solicitude for our party when beyond the reach of our assistance, knowing that they had no other means of safety than the opinion which might exist among the natives of their invincibility, and we were highly gratified, after an hour's watching, to see them returning to their old place of blockade—the coral bank.
It was now sundown, and the surf had increased so much that we did not believe it possible for a boat to reach the shore and return in safety; and to send men there without a prospect of their being enabled to return, would be but a useless sacrifice of lives ”

“ When once it was settled between Joe Banks and the chief of Pearl River Valley, that fire should be made, and our supper cooked, he provided for us in the most sumptuous native style. We had pigs, goats, fish, tarrow, and potatoes, in the greatest profusion. All was cooked after the manner of the natives, and as the same method is practised generally amongst the islanders of the Pacific Ocean, and knowing, from experience, that it is a very good one, I will here describe it. A hole is first dug a foot or two deep, and large, according to the size of the thing to be cooked. ”

“ The island is high and mountainous, covered everywhere with volcanic cinders, many of which are in huge masses. The men were at first very eager in their search for turtle, and the whole crew, if they had been permitted, would gladly have engaged in it.
They expected to have found the turtle near the shore; instead of which they had to scramble over rocks and climb mountains, half the time making their way through brambles, at the expense of scratches and torn clothes. Men were never more disappointed than our crew in the amusement of catching turtle. ”

“ Large farming establishments are every where to be seen, each comprehending thousands of acres, and previous to the revolution possessed by gentlemen of ample fortune. All of these are, now in ruins, and most of them unoccupied. The climate of Santa is mild, and almost unvarying. Here, as in nearly all the rest of Peru, bordering on the Pacific Ocean, it never rains, and wherever the land is cultivated it is watered from the rivers. ”

“ The body is lowered into the grave, and covered up, when a little canoe, with a sail to it, and laden with small pieces of cocoa-nut or other food, having been previously prepared, is taken to the sea-shore on the leeward part of the island, and sent off, with a fair wind, to bear far away from the island the spirit of the deceased, that it may not afterwards disturb the living. ”

“ Under the lee of the reef, we stood in, with the hope of finding anchorage, getting frequent casts of the lead, until, to our great disappointment, it was discovered that there was deep sea-water within a few feet of a bed of coral, that stretched off three or four hundred yards from the shore, farther to the south and west, a high surf was breaking, and this being the only place where we could land, and, desirous of exploring the island, we took a small kedge to the coral bank, by which we rode to the easterly trade winds. ”

“ The harbour of Massachusetts' Bay is spacious and affords good anchorage for ships of the largest class. The only part of it, however, where landing is not attended with difficulty and some danger, is the east side, where there is a fine sand beach from a quarter to half a mile long, at one extremity of which empties a small rivulet of pure and excellent water into the bay. Landing may be effected at the watering-place beyond Porter's Monument, where there is a more considerable stream of fresh water, but it is always difficult, and when the surf is high, cannot fail to be dangerous. ”

“ Their hair is long and invariably combed out with great neatness, and tied on the top of their heads. Their deportment is modest and manly, and after one becomes a little accustomed to their dress, they have always an air of gentility. They have a fine majestic walk, which one would hardly suppose, when it is considered that their way is everywhere paved with sharp coral. ”

“ They had not followed us long when two of the canoes came along side, one on each quarter, and the men crawled up the side and perched themselves upon the hammocks, like so many monkeys, where they called out in a loud voice, addressing themselves alternately to us and to the natives on the side of the vessel opposite to them,—one party exclaiming "Mattee, mattee, Typee!" ”

“ The mountains rose almost perpendicularly from the Ocean, and we sounded frequently, close to the shore, without getting bottom. In rounding the island, to the northward and eastward, we opened a valley, where there was a number of huts, and some patches of tarrow. A boat was sent in shore, and two of the natives came on board, who informed us that there was a harbour to the eastward. We continued on, and after landing at one or two other small valleys, where there were huts and tarrow patches, opened a beautiful deep bay, that had an appearance of great fertility. ”