Friendly Islands

“ The inhabitants were in general remarkably handsome, and were of the same race as those of the Society Islands. Thence a course was steered for Hervey Island, seen on the previous voyage. Though then supposed not to be inhabited, several canoes came off, carrying men of a somewhat darker hue and a more fierce and warlike aspect than the natives of Mangeea, though probably of the same race.
On the passage to the Friendly Islands, the ships called off Palmerston Island, where scurvy-grass, palm-cabbages, and fodder for the animals and birds, and cocoa-nuts for the crew, were obtained. ”

“ There is New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, the Friendly Islands, the Societies' Islands, the Marquesas, Tahite, and the Pelew Islands; but each navigator gives them a new name, so that it is hard to say which is which; all you can do is to say that there is an island in latitude so and so and longitude so and so, but the name is almost out of the question. ”

“ By nature a lovely island, picturesque in the extreme, there is a gloom in its loveliness. The friendly native has fled for his life; the patches of lowland once planted with sweet potatoes or rows of hemp-trees, are merging into jungle for want of the tillerʼs hand. The voice of an unseen man gives one a shudder, lest it be that of a fanatic lurking in the cogon grass to seek his fellowʼs blood. Near the coast, half-burnt bamboos show where villages once stood ”

“ They are not less expert at another game of the same nature, tossing up in the air, and catching, in their turns, a number of these balls; so that we frequently saw little children thus keep in motion five at a time. With this latter play the young people likewise divert themselves at the Friendly Islands.
The great resemblance which prevails in the mode of agriculture and navigation, amongst all the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands, leaves me very little to add on those heads. Captain Cook has already described the figure of the canoes we saw at Atooi. ”

“ At eleven o'clock in the forenoon of the 21st we saw the island Caow from the masthead, bearing north-west by west three-quarters west. This island is a high mountain with a sharp-pointed top, and is the north-westernmost of all the Friendly Islands. At noon we saw it very distinctly from the deck, it being then nineteen leagues distant from us. ”

“ The Friendly Islands, though a British Protectorate, and, as regards all matters in which European interests are involved, under the jurisdiction of the High Commissioner of the Pacific, still have a native king and Parliament. The inhabitants are Christians, and are in a sense the most school-taught people in the Pacific. They seem to delight especially in mathematics and music, while shorthand is their usual method of writing. Tonga was the last of the independent kingdoms to come under European control. ”

“ I shall regain the Friendly Islands, and carry out the instructions I have received with regard to the northern portion of New Caledonia, to Santa Cruz de Mendana, to the land south of the Arsacides of Surville, and to the Louisiade of Bougainville, and also ascertain, if possible, whether the latter constitutes a portion of New Guinea, or is a separate continent. At the end of July, 1788, I shall pass between New Guinea and New Holland by some other channel than the Endeavour; that is to say, if there be another. ”

“ Pitcairn Island lies at the south-eastern extremity of a chain of islands, which, including the Society and Friendly Islands, exceed a hundred in number, many of them wholly uninhabited, and the rest but thinly peopled, all speaking the same or nearly the same language, which is also spoken by the natives of Pitcairn Island; and all of the two groups are richly clothed with the spontaneous products of nature fit for the use of man. ”

“ The skin of the people of the Friendly Islands is tawny, because they frequently expose themselves to the heat of the sun; but the women, who remain pretty constantly within doors, or in the shade of their trees, have very fair complexions. ”

“ Under the denomination of the Friendly Islands must be included not only the group of Hapaee, but all those islands that have been discovered nearly under the same meridian, to the north, as well as some others, which, though they have never hitherto been seen by any European voyagers, are under the dominion of Tongataboo. From the information which our commander received, it appears, that this archipelago is very extensive. Above one hundred and fifty islands were reckoned up by the natives, who made use of bits of leaves to ascertain their number ”

“ It is the largest by far of all the Friendly Islands, being some twenty miles long and twelve broad, and it is very beautiful, though not rising anywhere more that sixty feet above the level of the sea. ”

“ The mutineers must naturally have concluded that we could have no other place of refuge than the Friendly Islands for it was not likely they should imagine that, so poorly equipped as we were in every respect, there could have been a possibility of our attempting to return homewards: much less can they suspect that the account of their villainy has already reached their native country. ”

“ Several white men have been killed, boats' crews cut off, vessels wrecked.
'We shall hear more of such doings; and really I can't blame the islanders. They are perfectly friendly to friends; though there is much suspicion shown even towards us, where we are not well known.
'As far as I can speak of my own plans, I hope to stay at Mota for a time, till the "Southern Cross" returns from Norfolk Island; then go to the Solomon Islands; return by way of Santa Cruz and probably Tikopia, to Mota; thence to Norfolk Island; thence probably to New Zealand, to take the steamer for Fiji. ”

“ Leaving there, we continued our cruise to return to the ships, and touched at some places where we had been before, the natives receiving us in a friendly manner, and giving us what they had, because they were much afraid of the muskets we carried. We sailed further on to a port, where, during our previous stay, we had been received peacefully. We got water there; and they gave us a hog and almost filled the brigantine with panoes, which is the food they eat. It is a very good harbour for the ships, and lies under the shelter of an island. There are many inhabitants. ”

“ If you open the map of the world and rule a transverse line, passing through the Sandwich Islands in the North Pacific and the Friendly Isles in the South, you will perceive that the groups lying to the east are the Navigators, Fiji, the Hervey Isles, Tahiti, the Paumotu, the Marquesan, the Austral Isles, and New Zealand, every one of which is peopled by comparatively fair-skinned races, with hair which by nature is straight and black, although in many of the isles, as in Samoa, custom requires that it should be dyed or bleached, cut short and stiffened, so as to produce the effect of a wig. ”

“ The principal groups of islands included in Polynesia are New Zealand, the Friendly or Tonga Islands, the Samoan or Navigators Islands, the Hervey or Cook Islands, the Society Islands, including Tahiti, the Marquesas Islands, and Hawaii or the Sandwich Islands. ”

“ From the Society Islands the Resolution and Adventure sailed westward, discovered Hervey's Island, and rediscovered the Tonga archipelago already visited by Tasman. Here they met with such a kindly reception, the natives coming out to meet them in canoes, [99] and running along the shore displaying small white flags, that the group was afterwards christened the "Friendly Isles". [The Tonga archipelago under a native king is now a British protectorate.] The people supplied them with abundance of fowls, pigs, bananas, and coconuts. ”

“ In the afternoon more sailing canoes arrived, some of which contained not less than ninety passengers. We purchased eight hogs, some dogs, fowls, and shaddocks. Yams were in great abundance, very fine and large; one yam weighed above forty-five pounds. Among the people that came this afternoon were two of the name of Tubow, which is a family of the first distinction among the Friendly Islands; one of them was chief of the island Lefooga; with him and Tepa I went on shore to see the wooding place. ”

“ On the 15th, we saw another island, which proved to be Otutuelah, [136-3] which has been already described. Here we found some of the French navigator's cloathing and buttons; and there is little doubt but they have murdered them. [136-4]
On the 18th, saw the group of islands we discovered on our way here; and on the 19th, ran down the north side till we came to an opening, where we saw the sea on [137] the other side. A sound is formed here by some islands to the south east and north west, and interior bays, which promises better anchorage than any other place in the Friendly Isles. ”

“ The group lies between the south end of New Ireland and the north end of the great Bougainville Island in the Solomon Archipelago, and consists of six low, well-wooded and fertile islands, enclosed within a barrier reef, forming a noble atoll, almost circular in shape. All the islands are thickly populated at the present day by natives, who are peaceable enough, and engage in bêche-de-mer and pearl-shell fishing. ”

“ But with its imposing groves of oak, its golden wealth of orange-trees, its odorous lanes of oleander.
its broad grazing-meadows yellow-starred with wild camomile, Grande Isle remains the prettiest island of the Gulf; and its loveliness is exceptional. For the bleakness of Grand Terre is reiterated by most of the other islands,—Caillou, Cassetete, Calumet, Wine Island, the twin Timbaliers, Gull Island, and the many islets haunted by the gray pelican,—all of which are little more than sand-bars covered with wiry grasses, prairie-cane, and scrub-timber. ”

“ They were placed in the canoes, waved their hands feebly, and started for the shore.
Pleasant Island is a very beautiful island, and well does it deserve its name, if we say nothing of its inhabitants. It is moderately high, and more thickly covered117 with verdure than any island of the group. The natives are the most finely-built of any we have yet seen—large, athletic, and ferocious-appearing, presenting quite a contrast to some of the diminutive natives of the Windward Islands. ”

“ Sometimes a passing ship would leave one or more of her crew, who were ill, that they might be restored by the vegetables and fruits, the pure air and clear water of the island.
It happened once, nearly ninety years after the first discovery, that an English crew landed for refreshment, and wandering about the island approached the little church. They believed themselves the only human beings on the island, and were therefore greatly surprised to hear a voice singing within the church. ”

“ Far away from any other land, in the midst of the South Pacific Ocean, there is a little island, a mere speck in the sea, for it is not six miles across at its widest point. A passing ship might leave this tiny island unnoticed, save for the lofty cliffs and precipices which guard its shores, running down to the white waves, ever curling and breaking at their feet. ”

“ It may now perhaps be wondered at that an island so exquisitely furnished with the conveniencies of life, and so well adapted not only to the subsistence but likewise to the enjoyment of mankind, should be entirely destitute of inhabitants, especially as it is in the neighbourhood of other islands, which in some measure depend upon this for their support. ”

“ We go across the sands amid piles of seaweed, picking up lovely trophies of the deep in mother-of-pearl and pink shells, until we reach the black wooden torii at the base of the island. What a picturesque entry into the island it is, for we walk through the quaintest and narrowest village street, where the upper stories of the houses nearly meet, and where below, there is that strange medley of the every-day life of a people carried on in full view of the public eye. Up we climb, pass the shops full of shells, corals and marine curiosities, until we reach many winding flights of mossy steps. ”

“ A precipitous path leads to the top of the island, where the people, with their habitations, a few sheep, and their little church, remain two thousand feet above the ocean. The islands are basaltic, like Fingal’s Cave and the Giant’s Causeway; but, instead of being one or two hundred feet in height, rise like immense columns, nearly half a mile above the sea. The inhabitants draw their entire subsistence from the ocean and the cliffs, catching codfish and killing sea-birds, myriads of which haunt the rocks of their sea-girt shores. The sea-fowl furnish large quantities of feathers. ”

“ We are likely to find land either on one side or the other, perhaps not far off, though we are unable to see it now, and we must manage to reach it and carry provisions for our support, as we are not likely to find much more than cocoa-nuts and fish. One satisfactory thing is that the people hereabouts are not cannibals, and are generally disposed to be friendly to white men, so that if the island we may reach is inhabited we are not likely to be ill-treated. ”

“ Of all the foreign ships which reach there five sixths are of our country. Such are the ties of beneficence and of commerce by which we are bound to these islands. No other nation there has an interest comparable in character or amount to ours. Meanwhile the native population is constantly decaying, so that I presume now it is not more than fifty thousand.
This brief review furnishes a glimpse of our interest in these islands. They are the wards of the United States. We cannot turn away from them. The Government must add its contribution also. ”