Voyages and Travels round the World by the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet ... compiled ... by James Montgomery. The second edition, corrected, etc

Front matter

RISV? BASS* 1 ______ TYEEMAH. ■ VOYAGES AND TRAVELS EOUND THE WORLD, BY THE Rev. DANIEL TYERMAN and GEORGE BENNET, Esq. deputed rnoM tue LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY TO VISIT THEIR VARIOUS STATIONS IN THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS, AUSTRALIA, CHINA, INDIA, MADAGASCAR, AND SOUTH AFRICA, BETWEEN. THE YEARS 1821 AND 1829. COMPILED FROM ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS BY JAMES MONTGOMERY. THE SECOND EDITION, CORRECTED. BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED WITH TWENTY-SIX ENGRAVINGS. *' Glorify ye the name os the Lord God os Israel in the isles of the sea.— From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous." — Isaiah xxiv. 15, 1G. LONDON: PUBLISHED BY JOHN SNOW, 35, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1841. LONDON: Printed hy William Ci.owcs and Sons, Stamford Street. TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. (WILLIAM IV.)

Sire, Bk Your Majesty's gracious permission, the Directors of the London Missionary Society, with profound sentiments of loyalty and respect, have the honour to present to Your Majesty the following ' Journal of Voyages and Travels,' performed by a Deputation from the Society commissioned to visit its Missionary Stations, in the South Pacific Ocean and various other parts of the World. More than thirty years have elapsed since the Founders of the Society dedicated to Your Majesty's August Father 'The Missionary Voyage of the Ship Duff;' under taken to convey to the inhabitants of Otaheite, and other islands in that part of the Pacific, (he Missionaries whose persevering labours, in conjunction with those of others who have followed them in the same benevolent career, have, by the blessing of the Almighty, led to the happy change of which Your Majesty will in these volumes find an Authentic Narrative.

That the Knowledge of the Divine Author of our Holy Religion is thus diffused amongst Mankind cannot fail to afford high satisfaction to Your Majesty, as a Philanthropist ; that any portion of the Subjects of your Realm should be rendered the instruments of promoting that Object will increase the happiness enjoyed by Your Majesty, as the Father of your People. That Your Majesty may long reign over a free, loyal, religious, and happy People, and may at last receive the Crown of Immortal Life, is the devout prayer of Your Majesty's Most humble, Most dutiful, And most devoted Subjects and Servants, THE DIRECTORS OF THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY a

Introduction

. other quarters of the world : — " The great ob jects of the Deputation will be, to make them selves thoroughly acquainted with the state of the Missions, and of the islands ; and to suggestj and, if possible, carry into effect, such plans as shall appear to be requisite for the furtherance of the gospel, and for introducing among the natives the occupations and habits of civi lised life. In order to the attainment of these objects, it is proposed to form such arrangements as shall tend to the introduction of Christian Churches ; the establishment and improvements of schools for the children of the Missionaries and of the natives, and, eventually, of trades ; and a proper and constant attention to the cultivation of the ground." The Missionary Society,* founded on the Ca tholic principle of union among Christians of various denominations, was established in the autumn of 1795.

The first undertaking of its founders and patrons was to send the Gospel to the islands of the Pacific Ocean. Accordingly in the year following, the ship Duff, commanded by Captain Wilson, sailed with twenty-nine Mis sionaries (of whom several were married, and had their wives and children with them) on board, and arrived in March, 1797, at Tahiti, then, and still, by some reputable writers, mis called Otaheite, where the greater part of the company took up their residence. Others were settled at St. Christiana and Tongatabu. For nearly seventeen years, under many adverse and discouraging circumstances, the work (thus be gun) was continued with apparently little suc cess. It afterwards pleased God, in his own good time and way, to display his power and glory among the people who there sat in darkness and the shadow of death ; nor hath his word, since that time, ceased to grow and prevail : island after island has abandoned idolatry, and, while multitudesof the inhabitants have professed obedience to the faith, many have given satisfactory evidence of genuine conversion.

All the prin cipal events contributing towards this great change, or accompanying and following it, are touched upon in the volume here submitted to the public, with sufficient clearness, itis hoped, to render any explanations unnecessary in this place. These first objects of their appointment being fulfilled, the Deputation were subsequently in structed by the directors to proceed to Java, the East Indies, &c, on a like embassy of good will and friendly enquiry, to the numerous establishments, insular and continental, in that quarter of the world, where the society had agents, doing the work of evangelists. These additional duties having been likewise accom plished, the Deputation, under special circumstances, were authorised to survey another field of Missionary labour in Madagascar, where important results might be expected from their presence at that particular time.

There, how ever, Mr. Tyerman was suddenly removed by death ; and Mr. Bennet, in consequence of a political revolution in the island, was compelled to leave it. After visiting some of the stations in South Africa, he reached England in the summer of 1829 ; and, as early as arrange ments could be made, the work now presented to the public was undertaken. In the year 1821, the Rev. Daniel Tyerman, of the Isle of "Wight, and George Bennet, Esq. of Sheffield, were deputed by the Parent Society to visit the various stations in those uttermost parts of the sea, both for the purpose of cheer ing the hearts and strengthening the hands of the Missionaries, and, as representatives of the Christian community at home, to witness and report what great things the Lord had done for the heathen there. The following quotations from a circular, issued by the Directors, in 1820, will more particularly show their inten tions in making the appointment which, at first embraced the South Sea Islands only, though, in the sequel, it included the Stations in the The documents, official and private, from which this volume has been composed, were of great bulk, and exceedingly multifarious.

They consisted chiefly of a journal kept by both members of the Deputation, jointly, during the first two years of their travels, and a separate one by Mr. Tyerman, continued to nearly the day of his death. Mr. Bennet subsequently furnished several interesting narratives and other valuable contributions. These materials however, were so extensive and miscellaneous, as well as so minute, that it became the duty of the compiler, instead of abridging or condensing the mass, to recompose the whole, in such a * Now known by the name ofthe London Missionary Society, to distinguish it from similar institutions of later date, and which are confined principally to the particular bodies of Christians to which they are respectively attached.

INTRODUCTION.

. V it, collected from other sources, would be exceedingly deficient, if the authentic information furnished by resident M issionari es, and collected by the late Deputation, were not now rescued from oblivion, and put upon record, in such publications as Mr. Ellis's Polynesian Researches and the following Journal. From the plan ofthe latter it will be found that the same topics are occasionally referred to again and again ; but in each instance presented under new phases, and with additional particulars, as the travellers obtained fuller and clearer intelligence on points which were continually the object of inquiry and examination. In a few years all traces of the former things which are now done away would have been' for ever obliterated : the old who still remember them would be dead ; the rising generation, of course, are brought up in the knowledge of those better things which are regenerating society throughout all the Christianised islands.

This, then, which would have been expedient under any circumstances, has become necessary at the present time, when the grossest fictions are invented, industriously circulated, and in some instances eagerly received — to bring the Missionaries and their labours into contempt. form as should enable him to bring forth, in succession, as they occurred to the travellers themselves, the most striking and curious facts relative to their personal adventures, or which came to their knowledge by the way. He has therefore trod step by step after them, confin ing himself; as faithfully as practicable, to the order of subjects, under the original dates, after exercising his best discretion in the use of his materials, chiefly consisting of memoranda, generally rough and unshapen — the first thoughts, in the first words of the writers, at the time, and upon the spot, recording the actual impres sions and feelings awakened or confirmed by the things themselves.

These he has endeavoured so to exhibit as to do full justice to the individuals whose journals he was thus retra cing, and on whose authority the statements derived from them must rest. Throughout the whole of this ample narrative and the occasional episodes, great care has been taken to preserve as many personal, national, and moral traits of character, traditions, fragments of history, and anecdotes of the superstition, forms of government, manners, customs, and practices, of the inhabitants of the South and North Pacific Islanders, as could be published without offence to decorum. But it must be plainly stated that the half of their abominations may not be told — however harmless, amiable, and happy they have been represented in their former state by occasional visitors, too many of whom loved them for their licentiousness, and knew little, and cared less, about the reckless tyranny of their chiefs, the diabolical frauds of their priests, their wars of massacre, and their unnatural cruelties one towards another, especially their nearest connexions.

Nothing which has contributed to make a class of human beings either better or worse than otherwise they would have been, and at the same time different from all others of their fellowcreatures, can be insignificant or uninteresting ; and however puerile, absurd, horrible, or revolting, many things here stated may be in themselves, it was from the accumulation and pressure of these that society, through unregistered ages, took its form in the most fertile and beautiful regions of the Pacific. Hence the slightest memorial of the least influential of such co-operating causes must be of some value, andworthy of preservation, if it add but an atom to our knowledge of human nature, essentially the same everywhere, though varying in its aspect according to external contingencies. A chapter would have been wanting in the his tory of our species, or at best the contents of In chapter xxxii. page 170, of this work, will be found some mention of a visit paid by the Russian Captain Kotzebue to Tahiti, at a time when the Deputation were there.

There has lately been published in England what is called " A New Voyage Round the World," &c. by this gentleman. In a section of more than a hundred pages, entitled " O Tahaiti," the writer has thought proper to assert as his torical facts things which never happened under the sun, and to express sentiments concerning the Missionaries and their converts, which no man could entertain who was not under strong prejudice, if not actual delusion. This is not the place to expose his errors in detail. That will, probably, be done from another quarter, and by an abler hand ; but two or three of his misrepresentations must not be passed over, as they stand in direct contradiction to much that will be found in the following pages respecting the introduction of Christianity and its benign effects in the Society Islands.

The captain says : — *' After many fruitless efforts, some English Missionaries succeeded at length, in the year 1797, in introducing what they called Chris tianity into Tahaiti, and even in gaining over to their doctrine King Tajo, who then governed the whole island in peace and tranquillity. This conversion was a spark thrown into a powder magazine, and was followed by a fearful explosion. The maraes were suddenly de-

INTRODUCTION.

. VI being spared, this chief and all his people sub mitted to the conqueror, who restored to the former his sovereignty, and to the latter their insular independence. [See this Journal, chap. xxvi. p. 145. J The universal rejection of heathenism, and acceptance of the gospel, in each of these cases, followed the merciful use of victory by the champions of the truth. There are on record shocking instances of the murder of natives for embracing the "new religion," by the bigoted adherents of the old ; but Cap tain Kotzebue may be safely challenged to pro duce one example of an individual being put to the alternative of preferring " death to the re nunciation of his ancient faith." It rests with him also to show when, how, where, and by whom, "whole races were exterminated;" — certainly not in any island, whose inhabitants have been converted to Christianity, in the South Seas.

What he means at p. 169, vol. i., by " the bloody persecution instigated by the Mis sionaries, which performed the work of a deso lating infection," he would find hard to explain before the bar of God or man. At each he is answerable for it. stroyed by order ofthe king — every memorial of the former worship defaced — the new religion forcibly established, and whoever would notadopt it put to death. With the zeal for making pro selytes, the rage of tigers took possession of a people once so gentle. Streams of blood flowed ; whole races were exterminated ; many resolutely met the death they preferred to the renunciation of their ancient faith," &c. *****'< King Tajo, not content with seeing, in the remains of his people, none but professors of the new faith, resolved on making conquests, that he might force it on the other Society Islands.

He had already succeeded with most of them, when a young warrior, Pomare, King of the little island of Tabua, took the field against him. What he wanted in numbers was supplied by his unexampled valour, and his superiority in the art of war. He subdued one island after another, and at last Tahaiti itself, and, having captured its king, offered the zealous murderer of his subjects as a sacrifice to their manes." — Vol. i. pp. 159, 160. How much truth is there in this straight forward statement? Let the reader judge. — There never existed such a personage as King Tajo. Pomare the First was King of Tahiti during the early residence of the Missionaries in that island. He died in 1803, having never so much as pretended to embrace Christianity. He was succeeded in the sovereignty by his son, Otu ; who eventually assumed the name of Pomare II. — Christianity was not received, " after many fruitless efforts," in 1797 ; nor till 1814 were a "praying people" found among the inhabitants.

After that time they rapidly multiplied. In the latter end of the following year, 1815, the only battle that ever took place between Christians and idolaters, in Tahiti, was fought, in which the latter were the aggressors, and, after being defeated in the field, were wholly subdued by the clemency of Pomare in sparing his vanquished enemies, a thing unheard of before in the exterminating wars of these islanders. Since then neither war nor battle has been known throughout the whole windward group. [See Ellis's Polynesian Researches, vol. I. chap. x. pp. 245 to 280; and this Journal, chap. vi. p. 40.] In the Leeward Islands, at Huahine, an idolatrous army of rebels yielded, without a blow, to Hautia, when that Christian chief offered them pardon and peace. [See this Journal, chap. xiii. p. 75.]

In Tahaa the idolaters, under King Fenuapeho, -were routed by Tamatoa King of Raiatea, and after the conflict the lives of the prisoners, including Fenuapeho himself, He roundly affirms, that "the religion taught by the Missionaries is not true Christianity." [Vol. i.p. 168.] If that which Captain Kotzebue practices be " true Christianity," assuredly that which the Missionaries teach is not. Try him by his own test. In an interview with the queen, he says, " She asked me whether I was a Christian, and how often I prayed daily? I merely replied, that we should be judged according to our actions, rather than the num ber of our prayers." [Vol. i.p. 183.] Every page of his fables and lucubrations, respecting the Mis sionaries and their people, proves that he is not of that religion which says, " Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."

One example may suffice. Vol. i. p. 193, he observes, " Though the vice of theft has certainly greatly diminished among the Tahaitans, they cannot always refrain from endeavouring to appro priate the articles they prize so highly. For in stance, I think, if any one of the Tahaitan ladies had found an opportunity of stealing a bit of the mock gold-lace, the temptation would be too great to withstand." Thus, as an in stance of irresistible thieving propensity in '■the Tahaitan ladies," he thinks if something which did not happen had happened, then a certain consequence would have followed i What can any honest man think of " Otto von Kotzebue, Post Captain in the Russian Imperial Navy, and Commander of the ship Pred priatie V

INTRODUCTION.

. VII The rest of his slanders, sarcasms, and insinuations, (especially at pp. 196-7, which are fitter for a court of justice than of criticism,) may be left, for the present, to the exposure which awaits them. It must be acknowledged that in these the renowned circumnavigator has afforded the public opportunity enough for judging of his Christianity by his "actions;" — one cannot help wishing, however, that he had left one solitary specimen of his "prayers." If he had, it is not uncharitable to suppose that it might have begun thus : " God, I thank thee that I am not like," &c. The reader may fill up the form ; and, to assist him in doing this, the following paragraph may be useful. It seems that, on a former voyage, Captain Kotzebue had introduced yams into Otdia, one of the Navigators' Islands, where, during his absence, they had been so successfully cultivated, that on his visit there after leaving Tahiti, he was " shown a pretty large field very well stocked with them."

He says, " The delightful feelings with which I surveyed the new plantation may be imagined, when it is recollected that these poor islanders, from want of means of subsistence, are compelled, assuredly with heavy hearts, to murder their own offspring, and that this yam alone is sufficient to remove so horrible a necessity. I might joyfully affirm, that, through my instrumentality, the distressed mother need no longer look forward to the birth of her third or fourth child with the dreadful consciousness that she has endured all her pains only to deliver a sacrifice to the hand of the murderer. When she should clasp her child to her breast, and see her husband look on it with a father's tenderness, they might both remember Totabu,* and the beneficent plants which he had given them." — The man who had done this good deed, and could enjoy, by anticipation, such a reward of it in his own bosom, might have been taught, by his better feelings, to " think" and speak otherwise than he has done of men, who have not only introduced fruits and roots, but herds, and flocks, mechanic arts, reading and writing, civilised manners and domestic comforts, (to say nothing of " true Christianity,") into not one but many islands — men who, according to his own confessions, have almost banished drunkenness, thieving, and profligacy, so far as their influence has reached ; — men, through whose " instrumentality," not in imagination, but in fact, thousands of mothers have been taught to 6pare all their children, instead of " delivering" — not the " third or the fourth'' only, but three-fourths of them, as soon as they were born, as "sacrifices to the hand of the murderer."

To return to the main burthen of the present Journal of the first Missionary Voyage ever made round the world : — an authority of a far higher standard in literature and morals than Captain Kotebue thus speaks of the humanis ing effects of the gospel : — " Even over the wild people, inhabiting a country as savage as themselves, the Sun of Righteousness arose with healing under his wings. Good men, on whom the name of saint (while not used in a superstitious sense) was justly bestowed, to whom life and the pleasures of the world were as nothing, so they could call souls to Christianity, undertook, and succeeded in the perilous task of enlightening these savages. Religion, although it did not at first change the manners of nations waxed old in barbarism, failed not to introduce those institutions on which rest the dignity and happiness of social life.

The law of marriage was established among them, and all the brutalising evils of polygamy gave place to the consequences of a union which tends, most di rectly, to separate the human from the brute species. The abolition of idolatrous cere monies took away many brutalising practices ; and the gospel, like the grain of mustard-seed, grew and flourished, in noiseless increase, in sinuating into men's hearts the blessings inse parable from its influence." — Sir Walter Scott's History of Scotland. All this has been literally realised in the islands of the South Seas, so far as they have received Christianity. Innumerable proofs of it will appear in the following pages. The former and present circumstances of these minute por tions ofthe inhabited globe are notless truly than poetically contrasted by a living writer : — " Where, in the furthest deserts ofthe deep.

The coral-worm its architecture vast Uprears, and new-made islands have their birth, The Paphian Venus, driven from the west. In Polynesian groves, long undisturb'd. Her shameful rites and orgies foul maintain'd ; The wandering voyager, at Tahiti, found Another Daphne. On his startled ear. What unaccustomed sounds come from those shores. Charming the lone Pacific ? — Not the shouts Of war, nor maddening songs of Bacchanals ; But, from the rude Marae, the full-toned Psalm Of Christian praise.— A moral miracle 1 Tahiti now enjoys the gladdening smile Of Sabbaths. Savage dialects, unheard At Babel, or at Jewish Pentecost, Now first articulate divinest sounds, Aud swell ttie universal Ameu." From the Star in the East, by Josiah Conder, * Kotzebue, in t e island-dialect. May 2, 1831. HE PACIFIC OCEAN ON THE TIDES IN T TO JAMES MONTGOMERY, ESQ. letter of our excellent Missionary, the Rev. John Davis, many years resident in lamti, dated Papara (west side of Tahiti), Jan. li, 1834 ; received also on June 23rd, 1834 : " You inquire about the tides, &c. I have not much to say on the subject ; yet, having observed that the common theory about the in fluence of the moon did not apply to these islands, I have at different times at the full and change of the moon, the quarter, and the whole of the lunar month, observed and marked the rise and fall of the sea on our shores (of Tahiti), and the result of my observations is, that the tide is not perceptibly and regularly governed by the age of the moon.

There are no observ able differences of spring and neap tides ; but there is a change every six hours ; at sun-rise or about six o'clock the sea is lowest, and the same about sun-down or six o'clock in the evening. At noon, or ten minutes past twelve, the sea is highest, and the same again at mid night. When the sea is not affected by wind, the rise or difference between high and low water is from nine to fourteen inches ; or, upon an average, about a foot. When it differs from this, it seems to me to be caused by the wind, or the position of the shores, as to capes, inlets, &c. There is often an irregularity in conse quence of the wind retarding or impelling the water on the shores. I am not aware of any material difference besides what I have men tioned in any of these islands, viz. : Tahiti, Eimeo, Maioiti, the Society Islands, Paumotu, Tubuai, Raivavai ; but in the islands far to the west there is.

I was in the Figiis in 1810. I there observed that the tide varied with the age of the moon, and also that it rose very high. Occasionally also we have seen at Tahiti an uncommon swell and rise of the sea without any wind in our neighbourhood, the waves rolling on the shores and rising many feet." The following is a copy from a letter of my late esteemed and beloved friend, the lamented My Dear Friend, Immediately, aster perusing Kotzebue's gross aud unfounded attacks on the Missions and Missionaries in the South Seas, particularly at Tahiti ; and, perceiving the inexcusable profes sional blunders which he has committed in re gard to the tides on the shores of that island, as well as respecting the position of Pape ete har bour, and the small island Motu utu, — I wrote to several of our oldest and most intelligent Missionaries, desiring that they would transmit to me, by letter, a description of the actual phenomena of the tides in Tahiti and the islands adjacent.

At the same time I stated to each of them what Mr. Tyerman and myself had re corded from our three years' daily observation on the subject, namely, that there are always two full and two ebb tides in every twenty-four hours ; that the full tide occurred regularly at twelve o'clock in the day, and again at twelve in the night ; while the ebb tide, in strict cor respondence, was always at six o'clock in the morning, and again at six o'clock in the even ing ; moreover, that the tide seldom rose higher than fifteen inches. But, as the accuracy of our testimony had in this country been questioned since my return, I desired them individually to say what they knew to be the actual condition of the tides in Tahiti, &c. In June 1834 I received a letter from my much valued friend, — our excellent Missionary, Mr. Nott,— dated Tahiti, Jan. 18, of that year, from which the following is a faithful extract : — " With respect to your inquiries about the tides, from what I have observed during a long residence here, the rise of the tide is seldom more than a foot or fifteen inches, and there is no difference between what is called the neap and the spring tides ; or, in other words, there is no difference in the tides at Tahiti, whether it be the full or change of the moon, half moon, or quarter.

There is, however, sometimes a higher sea about the change of the moon, because a change of the wind then frequently (but not always) happens. Nevertheless, this higher sea is not a higher tide, but it is owing to the change of the wind, or some great commotion at a distance, and never lasts more than four or five days, during which time the tides continue as usual, namely, high or full tide about noon (or from twelve to one in the day) and about twelve at night, and ebb tide about six o'clock in the morning and about the same hour in the even ing. This is uniformly the time of full and ebb tides at Tihiti. Respecting the tides at the islands to the westward — as the Figiis, and Samao (Navigators) islands — I believe they rise several feet, but whether the times of high and low water are the same as here I am not prepared to say.

At the island of Tubuai and Raivavai the tide is much greater than at Ta hiti, rising about two feet and a half." The following is also a faithful extract from a John Williams, from the South Seas, dated March 1834, in reply to my questions made to him: — In answer to your inquiries concerning the tides in the Tahitian and other islands in the great South Pacific, I forward you the following observations : — they contain the substance of information obtained by a long residence, as you know, in those parts. In the Georgian and Society groups, comprising the following named islands : — Tahiti, Eimeo, Sir Charles Sanderson's Islands, Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa, Borabora, and Maioiti, the tides are regular as to the ebb and flow ; also as to tbe height to which the tide rises, that is, it is invariably low water at six o'clock in the morning, high water at twelve o'clock in the day, and low water again at six in the evening, and again hi<_i water at twelve at night.

From this surprisin regularity, there is little or no deviation from ON THE TIDES IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN. IX the beginning to the end of the year. The rise and fall also are very inconsiderable, averaging from twelve to eighteen inches. The islands (as you, my friend, well know) are surrounded by that admirably adapted and invulnerable barrier, which we designate the reef. When strong winds prevail, they throw what is termed a heavy surf over the reef: this occasions a slight additional rise on that part of the shore which may be exposed to its effects. In addition to this, there is another rather singular circumstance connected with the rise of the sea on the Tahitian and Georgian islands. On the south-west, and as far as the north-west sides of the islands, there are annually what are termed heavy seas, rolling in whether the winds prevail that way or not.