Joseph Banks

“ In the middle of all near the Pyramid was a small image of stone very roughly workd, the first instance of carving in stone I have seen among these people, and this they seemd to value as it was coverd from the weather with a kind of shed built purposely over it; near it were three sculls of men laid in order, very white and clean and quite perfect. From hence we proceeded to Papárra, the district of our freinds Oama and Oborea, where we proposd to sleep tonight; we came there an hour before night and found that they were both from home, they were gone to Matavie to see us. ”

“ The fish in the Canoes stink most immoderately so as in some winds to render our situation in the tents rather disagreable. This evening Oborea, Otheothea and Tuarua came to visit us for the first time since the affair of the Jacket; they were very desirous of sleeping in the fort but my Marque [e] was full of Indians and no one else chose to entertain them, so they were obligd to repair to their Canoes to sleep there rather out of humour.
1769 June 20. This morn early Oborea and Co came to the tents bringing a large quantity of provisions as a present, among the rest a very fat dog. ”

“ Standing is not the fashion among these people, I must provide them a seat,, which I did by unwrapping a turban of Indian cloth which I wore instead of a hat and spreading it upon the ground; upon which we all sat down and the kings present was brought Consisting of a hog, a dog and a quantity of Bread fruit Cocoa nuts etc. I immediately sent a canoe to the Observatory to fetch my present, an adze a shirt and some beads with which his majesty seemd well satisfied. Tubourai and Tamio who came with us now came from the observatory ”

“ The hills in general came nearer to the water and flats were consequently less, and less Fertile, than at Otahite--the low point near which we lay was composd intirely of sand and coral. Here neither Breadfruit nor any usefull vegetables would grow; it was coverd over with Pandanus tectorius and with these grew several plants we had not seen at Otahite, among them Iberis [] , which Mr Gore tells me is the plant calld by the voyagers scurvy grass which grows plentifully upon all the low Islands. ”

“ After a few miles rowing we landed in a District calld Annuúhé, the Name of the chief of which was Maraitátá (the burying place of men) and his father Pahairedo (the stealer of boats) names which did not a little confirm Tituboalos relation. These gentlemen however notwithstanding their terrible titles receivd us with all manner of civility, gave us provisions and after some delay sold us a very large hog for a hatchet. ”

“ Soon after day break we saw an Indian canoe and upon hailing her she shewed us an inlet through the reef, into [which] we pulld and soon fixd upon a Coral rock about 150 yards from the shore as a very proper situation for our Observatory; it was about 80 yards long and 60 broad and had in hte middle of it a bed of white sand large enough for our tents to stand upon. The 2nd Lieutent and people therefore immediately set about it while I went upon the main Island to trade with the inhabitants for provisions, of which I soon bought a sufficient supply. ”

“ The stones are also polished and as well and truly as stones of the kind could be by the best workman in Europe, in that particular they excell owing to the great plenty of a sharp coral sand which is admirably adapted to that purpose and is found everywhere upon the seashore in this neighbourhood. ”

“ I lay in the woods last night as I very often did. At day break I was calld up by Mr Gore and went with him shooting, from which party we did not return till night when we saw a large number of Canoes in the river behind the tents, of which we had this account. Last night an Indian was clever enough to steal a Coal rake out of the fort without being perceivd. ”

“ I cannot however promise that an European dog would eat as well, as these scarce in their lives touch animal food, Cocoa nut kernel, Bread fruit, yams etc., being what their masters can best afford to give them and what indeed from custom I suppose they preferr to any kind of food. ”

“ This marai and aparatus for sacrafice belongd we were told to Oborea and Oamo. The greatest pride of an inhabitant of Otahite is to have a grand Marai, in this particular our freinds far exceed any one in the Island, and in the Dolphins time the first of them exceeded every one else in riches and respect as much. The reason of the difference of her present apearance from that I found by an accident which I now relate: in going too and coming home from the Marai our road lay by the the sea side, and every where under our feet were numberless human bones cheifly ribbs and vertebrae. ”

“ The Indians seeing us entertaind with their musick, askd us to sing them an English song, which we most readily agreed to and receivd much applause, so much so that one of the musicians became desirous of going to England to learn to sing. These people by what we can learn go about from house to house, the master of the house and the audience paying them for their musick in cloth, meat, beads or any thing else which the one wants and the other can spare. ”

“ The labour of forming them when got must also have been at least as great as the getting them; they have not shewn us any way by which they could square a stone but by means of another, which must be most tedious and liable to many accidents by the breaking of tools. ”

“ Dr Solander met him by accident close by the gate and laying hold of his hand he followd him in before the people were aware; those in the tents however very soon sent him out again. Upon inquiry we find that this boy is son to Oamo and Oborea who are husband and wife, but have long ago been parted by a mutual consent which gives both leave to enjoy the pleasures of this life without controul from their former engagements. The girl about 16 is intended for his wife but he being not more than 8 years old they have not yet cohabited together. ”

“ With much dificulty and labour I at last got the following account of them, viz, that in their month of Pepére which answers to our January 1768 2 Spanish ships came here commanded by a man whoom they calld To Otterah; that they lay 8 days in a bay calld Hidea, some leagues to the eastward of Matavie where the ship now lies; that during their stay they sent tents ashore and some slept in them; that they were cheifly connected with a cheif whose name was Orétte, whose younger brother they carried away with them promising to return in nine months; that they had on board their ships a woman ”

“ It is almost beyond beleif that Indians could raise so large a structure without the assistance of Iron tools to shape their stones or mortar to join them, which last appears almost essential as the most of them are round ”

“ The steps for instance which range along its greatest lengh are not streight, they bend downward in the middle forming a small Segment of a circle: possibly the ground may have sunk a little under the greatest weight of such an immense pile, which if it happend regularly would have this effect. ”

“ The labour of the work is prodigious: the quarry stones are but few but they must have been brought by hand from some distance at least, as we saw no signs of quarry near it tho I lookd carefully about me ”

“ He said that two Indians seizd him and stopping his mouth forcd him away, but as he was out of the fort after a woman this account apeard improbable, the man was however not punishd.
1769 June 27. Our freinds all went to the westward last night; nothing material happend during our solitude. The market has been totaly stoppd ever since the boats were seizd, nothing being offerd to sale but a few apples; our freinds however are liberal in presents so that we make a shift to live without expending our bread, which and spirits are the most valuable articles to us. ”

“ Our Freinds with us as usual. One of our seamen a Portugese was last night missing; as there was no news of him this Morning we concluded that he was run away and meant to stay among the Indians. Captn Cooke therefore offerd a hatchet to any man who would bring him back, one soon offerd and returnd with him at night. ”

“ We were upon this very desirous of shewing them all the respect we could as well as learning who they were: we could not however prevail upon the woman to come into the tents tho she seemd very desirous of it, the people all joind in preventing her by their advice at some times almost using force ”