A Yachting cruise in the South Seas

Front matter

NEW BOOKS OF TRAVEL.

The Inner Life of Syria, Palestine, and the Holy Land.

By Mrs, Richard Burton. With Photographic Portraits of Captain Burton and the Author, and with Coloured Illustrations and Map. Demy 8vo. 24J.

Preface

URING the last eight years I have made several voyages amongst the South Sea Islands ; and although so much has been written and re-written about them, I have been induced to publish these few imperfect sketches of my last cruise by the belief that any facts relating to the manners and customs of these islanders, should not be allowed to perish.

In this cruise, I was accompanied by Mr. George Smith as photographic artist, who most ably performed his part, often under the most trying circumstances.

The opportunity of taking portraits of these people in their primitive condition will soon be lost, b

PRE FA CE, so rapid is the advance of so-called civilization. It is a melancholy fact, that wherever an English colony is planted, there the inferior race dies out.

The policy that annexes Fiji, tolls the knell of the Polynesian race. Speculative, money-grasping Europeans will now spread themselves over the other islands of the Pacific, being well assured that land bought from the ignorant native will, in due time, be secured to them by the protection of the British flag.

Before these pioneers of civilization, the present self-satisfied, lotus-eating Polynesian, whose character is as plastic as clay, will no doubt rapidly disappear.

And while yet learned ethnologists are differing amongst themselves as to the origin of this most romantic people, it seems by no means improbable that the whole race, leaving no history and no monuments, will have passed away from the face of their Ocean.

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Chapter I

ARLY in November, 1872, I left Liverpool by the Cunard line, and crossing the American continent by the Great Pacific Railway, sailed from San Francisco for New Zealand, calling at the Sandwich Islands. I reached Auckland on the first day of the new year.

The season for sailing with any degree of comfort in the tropics does not commence till April, so I took my time in looking out for a vessel that suited me. And the month of February saw me the possessor of an Auckland-built topsail schooner of ninety-two tons.

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I at once set to work to make her more suitable for my purpose, by making a dark room for photography, and additional cabin accommodation for myself.

To admit carpenters into a house or vessel is simply to illustrate the fable of the snakes and the porcupine. And these men spent a month in sharpening their tools, varied by occasionally driving in a nail, or in planing a board, with the sole apparent object of making more shavings, on which to sit down and eat their dinner. At length the work was finished, and from hold, deck, and cabin

The parting genius was with sighing sent." The captain and crew being engaged, and all our stores on board, we moved off into the stream, and on Saturday, April i8th, sailed out of Auckland Harbour. We were not destined to get far, for when we reached the island of Motu Tapu, and were just opening out the Hauraki Gulf, a gale sprang up in our teeth from the N.E., which necessitated our running back and casting anchor under the shelter of a reef of rocks that runs out from Rangitoto Island. Presently a brig came sailing past, but she too could make nothing of the weather, and had to put back and anchor near us. Shortly afterwards the American mail steamer came out, hoarsely bellowing us a farewell with her steam whistle; but when daylight broke next morning, we found she too had had to put back, and was anchored not far from us. The gale continued all Sunday, but as it appeared to moderate on Monday, we ventured out ; but towards noon it freshened again, and we ran in and anchored in Bon Accord harbour, at the back of Kawau Island, about thirty miles north of Auckland.

Here we found a whole fleet of wind-bound vessels of all sizes. Shortly after anchoring I received a message from Sir George Grey, the owner of the island, inviting me on shore, an invitation I was very glad to avail myself of. I took a long walk with him through his extensive grounds. The island, naturally most picturesque, has been much improved by the judicious planting of all sorts of pines and cypresses from every part of the world, and round the house large gardens have been laid out, well stocked with all the English fruits. In fact a young New Zealander who has never seen England, would here be able to form an idea of what an English country place is like. There must be something peculiar about this climate, for I saw growing in close proximity to gooseberries, currants, and strawberries, such tropical plants as cinnamon, ginger, coffee, and bananas. The covers round the house are abundantly stocked with pheasants and Californian quails, and occasionally a monster kangaroo would bound away on our approach. On the top of a hill that overlooks the sea, I was shown a colony of New Guinea kangaroo, remarkable from their habit of living in trees. Much of the island yet remains to be brought under cultivation, and retains the sub-tropical appearance of the ordinary New Zealand bush, but I returned on board feeling as if I had had a glimpse of my native land.

The bad weather still continued, causing a most vexatious delay, and the only resource we had was fishing. Fortunately we had excellent sport, catching more snapper and kawai than we could eat, so the crew were employed in salting them, for I knew that though we thought little of them now, they would be looked on as a great luxury in the tropics, where one has a perpetual diet of indifferent pork and worse fowl.

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On Saturday, April 26th, the glass had risen and the bad weather appeared to have broken up, so we sailed out of the harbour.

The barometer, however, was delusive, and fell as fast as it had risen. Bad weather still impeded our progress, and when we reached the neighbourhood of Sunday Island, we met with a very tempestuous sea. Heavy and irregular seas are the rule in the neighbourhood of this group, and I have always experienced them here myself.

Masters of vessels will tell you this arises from an uneven bottom. This may be the case, for Sunday Island itself is volcanic, and only a few years ago suffered such a shock as to alter its whole appearance. An enterprising Yankee who had taken up his quarters here, and made a living by supplying whalers with fresh provisions, was at that time obliged to leave, and I do not know that he has ever returned.

On Thursday, May 8th, in gloomy and boisterous weather, we saw high land looming through the mist. This proved to be Mount Washington, that forms the western end of Kendavu, the southernmost large island of the Fiji group. Leaving this to the eastward we sailed on north, and next day sighted the low and rugged island of Biva, while at a greater distance we could just distinguish the lofty and picturesque outline of Waia, both belonging to the Fiji group. The weather now was intensely hot and fine, and that feeling of drowsiness and languor came over me, which I have always experienced on first reaching the tropics. Reading becomes a delusion and a snare, and to take up a book means to be asleep in a few minutes. On Sunday, May i ith, we sighted Rotumah. This was the first island I intended visiting, my object here being to ship some of the natives, to strengthen my present crew. No one ought to attempt a voyage through the South Sea Islands without carrying an extra crew of this kind. For in the first place there are so many islands where there is no anchorage or perhaps a very precarious one, that it is better to keep the vessel standing off and on, worked by the white crew, while those who wish to visit the island go away in the boat manned by the South Sea Islanders. A coloured crew, too, are better able to row about all day in the hot sun ; they are cheery, light-hearted com-

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panions, and are always ready, and enjoy the fun of diving into the water after any shell or piece of coral that one may fancy whilst rowing over the reefs.

In addition to this, when amongst doubtful or treacherous natives, they are quicker than white men in detecting any signs of roguery, or more serious treachery, and are not so easily thrown off their guard. We got up to the land in the afternoon, and rounding the north-east end of the island, ran close past a small islet called Hama, and dropped anchor in fourteen fathoms, the small islet bearing east by north, about half a mile distant — the main land about a mile and a-half

This is the best anchorage at Rotumah, but though well protected from the prevailing south-east trade-winds it is by no means a snug one, for should the wind fly round to the north, it is better to get up the anchor and stand out to sea at once, rather than wait till a northerly swell comes rolling in, with the dirty, unsettled weather that usually accompanies a wind from that quarter. As soon as the anchor was down, a whale boat, manned by natives, came off from the shore, and amongst the crew I recognized several old friends who were delighted to see me, and soon went off again to acquaint the people on shore of my arrival.

Rotumah is about thirteen miles long and four or five broad. From the sea it appears to be clothed with cocoa-nuts to the very summit of the hills. These are of moderate height, none, I should say, exceeding i,ooo feet. The soil, though extremely fertile, will never be fitted for clearing and planting by Europeans on any large scale, for the greater part of the island is covered with scoriae, which could only be cleared off at great expense. All the available land near the coast is occupied by native plantations, whilst the interior of the island is surrounded by stone walls, and is entirely given up to pigs.

These range the bush in a half-wild state, though every native professes to know his own pigs, which is scarcely credible. Occasionally, natives go up into the pigs' country, and chop up cocoa-nuts for them, summoning them to the feast by blowing on a conch shell or beating with a club against a hollow tree. I have gone up with them to witness this, but as often as not, no pigs answered to the summons.

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Though the cHmate of Rotumah is decidedly a wet one, rain falling almost every day, there is not a single stream on the island, and the natives are entirely dependent for their water supply on a number of small wells varying from fifteen to twenty feet in depth.

The coral reef, though in some places extending two miles from the land, has no depth of water inside it, and is in many places quite dry at low water. Thus, though the reef affords no shelter to vessels visiting the island, it forms an excellent fishing-ground for the natives. Every retiring tide leaves an abundance of fish in the rocky pools about the reefs. I have spent some very pleasant hours in this way, going out in my boat, with a native crew, who, on arriving at one of these pools would dive down, while I, from the surface, could watch them searching every hole and cranny of the coral rock. They seldom return to the surface without some bright-coloured fish, this they would throw into the boat; one long breath fortifies them for a second descent, and as soon as the splash of their dive had subsided, I could see their dark brown forms again, far below me, as they searched for more fish.

On Monday morning, Mr. Smith went on shore lO with all the pomp and circumstance of photography, and caused no small excitement. The men carrying tents, cameras, etc., formed quite a procession, and I watched them from the vessel winding away amongst the cocoa-nut groves that fringed the shore. The party did not return till evening, whilst I spent a busy day on board, trading with the natives for provisions, which can be got here in any quantity. Finding I wanted to ship a few hands, any number of young natives volunteered to go. But I selected four, who came on board with permission from their chief to go away with me. At night the wind shifted round to the north and we had to get up the anchor and go out to sea. We passed a wild and stormy night, torrents of rain falling, with much thunder and lightning, but, with the morning, the wind went back to its old quarter, and we ran in and anchored again.

The natives crowded on board, and the vessel was perfectly surrounded by boats and canoes, bringing island produce. The noise they made was deafening, and, considering what a miserable night we had had, was almost more than I could endure.

On the 1 6th we went up in the boat to Noatau, a

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town about four miles to the south, taking the photographic apparatus, for I was particularly anxious to get some portraits of the natives.

We did not, however, meet with much success, for, strange to say, these people, so civilized and so keen and sensible in any matter of trading, could not be persuaded to look upon being photographed in anything but a ludicrous light. For did one of them after much persuasion consent to sit, then a crowd would gather round, especially the women, and by tittering and laughing and making remarks, make the intending subject such an object of ridicule that he would fairly take to his heels. So that when poor Mr. Smith, who had been perspiring in the tent preparing a plate, reappeared upon the scene, he would be greeted with a silly shout of laughter, and have to begin his solicitations again for a fresh subject. Some of the chiefs at last submitted to be taken, but even then the people s natural respect for their rulers scarcely prevented them from cracking jokes at their expense. I found it very difficult to keep my temper ; in fact, some people might say I did not succeed ; and towards evening I returned to the vessel thoroughly fagged out.

This, our first experience of the camera amongst the natives of the South Seas, was not very encouraging.

On Monday, the 19th, we got up the anchor and ran down seven miles further to the westward, anchoring again in what is known as Lee Harbour, in fifteen fathoms. This anchorage is open to all the objections of the last, with an additional one of not allowing a vessel so much room to get under way. Off this end of Rotumah lie several small islands, only one of which, a lofty precipitous mountain, is inhabited. One of the smaller islets is very remarkable, having been by some convulsion of nature split through the centre from top to bottom ; through this crack it is said that a boat can just pass in fine weather. Near the top of the crack a large mass of rock has been firmly wedged, and there hangs like the falling keystone of an arch.

On Wednesday, 21st, I accompanied the photographic party on shore, and wherever we saw a nice view, the tents were pitched, the camera fixed, the picture taken ; then the whole camp moved on again till we came to anything else worth taking. In this way we went right round the bay. Near

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the head of the bay is a most magnificent grove of trees, of enormous size ; in foliage they somewhat resemble the india-rubber tree, whilst their giant stems are gnarled like ancient olive trees. To come from the glare of the white coral beach into the shade of this grove is like plunging into a cold bath. A little further on, the island is only a hundred yards wide, and consists but of a strip of sand. The sea appears at some time to have flowed over this, and the idea is confirmed by the fact that the tribe on the western side are called the Itu Motu " —the Cut-off" tribe.

On the top of this sandy ridge the chief of this district has built his house. He had come to meet me on the other side of the bay, and was very anxious to have his picture taken. Delighted at finding his request was not refused, he went into his house and proceeded to array himself to the best advantage. The day was one of the hottest I ever experienced, not a breath of wind was stirring, and the rays of the sun beat down most unmercifully. Yet in spite of this, our friend put on a warm flannel shirt of some blazing red tartan, wrapped a heavy woollen shawl of a somewhat similar pattern round his loins, on the top of this put an old Russian naval officer s coat, buckled an ancient military sword round his waist, put an Inverness cape on the top of this coat, covered his head with a wide-awake hat, and grasping a telescope in one hand and an old Tower musket in the other, went forth to be photographed.

There was a murmur of approbation from his admiring retainers, as he stalked past them with all the airs of a peacock. Unfortunately for him the bath had got so hot, that the first two attempts to get a picture were unsuccessful. All this time our miserable subject was being almost stewed alive, and kept on saying, " O do be quick ! I am so hot! my head is aching so." But I must do him the justice to say that he endured it all, and did not attempt to strip till the picture had been taken. He then retired to his house, where I shortly afterwards found him, in the costume of our first parents, drinking cocoa-nuts and fanning himself.

While we were anchored at the north-east end of the island, the chief of Noatau made a proposition to me, and to explain it I must begin, as

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he did, with history. It appears that many years ago, before the Polynesians had become demoralized and enfeebled by contact with the white man, they were in the habit of venturing on long voyages in their canoes, and there was more intercourse between the different islands than we give them credit for at this day. In Rotumah one sees at several places large double canoes, similar to those of Fiji and Tonga, lying in their sheds on the beach. The people assure me that no one now alive, or their fathers before them, have ever seen those canoes in the water. Were they to launch them, they would not know how to manage them, nor could they make the mat sails suitable for them, so completely have they lost all their former knowledge of navigation.

Many years ago, from the small volcanic island of Niuafu, some 450 miles distant, there came to Rotumah a fleet of war canoes headed by a chief named Maraff. They effected a landing, and, overcoming the natives, settled on the island. In course of time Maraff died, and the whole party appear to have returned. The Niuafu title of Maraff was then adopted by a Rotumah chief, and to the i6 present time the chief of the Noatau tribe always succeeds to that title.

A year or two ago, the present chief of Niuafu, descendant of the old invader, sent his Rotuman namesake an invitation to come and see him, saying that he was anxious to look him in the face ; and the ambassador appears to have given the Rotuman chief to understand, that many of the people of Niuafu were anxious to leave their island and become settlers in Rotumah. For the people were terrified at the frequent volcanic outbreaks ; while the exactions of King George of Tonga, whose subjects they are, and the oppressions of the mission society, were also hinted at.

Maraff's proposition to me was that I should carry an ambassador for him to Niuafu, to say that as many of the people as liked to come would find with him a welcome and a home.

As I intended visiting Niuafu, I consented to carry his messenger, but told him I could not bring any of the people, for I was forbidden by the laws of my country from carrying natives without a special license.

At Rotumah I found any number of people

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anxious to go away with me, and I found out afterwards as I went from island to island, that the natives would like to turn one into an omnibus, to pick up and set down passengers all over the Pacific. As it is, I have a curious collection : first the ambassador for Niuafu ; then a native of Wallis Island who has nearly lost his eyesight, and is anxious to return home ; then a lame little boy suffering from a painful disease in his feet, whom I have undertaken to cure and bring back again ; and finally two sons of chiefs, boys of about fourteen, who are being sent by their fathers under my charge, to see the world. Their parents parted with them with much grief, begging me to see that they were good, did not do any work, and did not go to the forward part of the vessel and speak to the sailors. Large presents of pigs, fowls, and yams were sent off with them. Of course the young rascals, like fine manly boys, as soon as ever they got over sea-sickness, were for ever pulling at ropes, climbing the rigging, or sitting chatting with the sailors, and I felt convinced that it would be the worst thing possible for them to prevent it.

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Chapter II

URING my stay I managed to procure, with a good deal of difficulty, some of the stone and shell implements in use by the natives before the introduction of iron. They consist of stone adzes and tomahawks, and also round balls made from the large clam shell (tridacna) ; these latter, formerly weapons of war, may now be occasionally met with in their houses, used for pounding food. It is difficult, among a people so civilized as the Rotumans, to gather either facts or objects of interest to an ethnologist. They state that they came originally from Samoa, which lies further to the east, and the history of the arrival of the first man and woman is mingled with the wildest legends of giants and witches. Several of the constellations are called in to play a part, notably the Pleiades and Orion. Through all their long and

CRUISE IN THE SOUTH SEAS.

tedious stones runs a strain of cannibalism, though when taxed with it they deny that they were ever cannibals. The same charge might be brought against us, with our stories of Jack and the beanstalk and numerous other tales of ogres. An old man, however, admitted to me that places are still pointed out where solitary individuals practised cannibalism, to the terror of the community. One of such places was shown me — a cave on the seashore.

On my asking why the people did not combine and destroy these individuals, he said that in those days there were very few people in Rotumah.

If we look for any foundation of truth to this story, I should conjecture that these individuals were remnants of a former race.

The present race think there was a race of men before them. For I procured from them three distinct kinds of adzes : first, some polished and well finished ; secondly, some coarsely made of rough stone, and similar ones of tridacna. The two latter, they say, are of their own manufacture, for either hollowing out canoes or as implements of war, but no one can tell who made the others." Formerly they were looked on as charms. Bury them in the ground, and on going next day you would find them moved some few feet from the spot they had been placed in. I never knew natives speak more decidedly on any point than on this, namely, that they had nothing to do with these polished stone adzes ; and from the fact of their being looked on as charmed I should be inclined to believe them.

The island was and is at the present time governed by six independent chiefs of six independent tribes, and in addition to these there were the two national offices of Mooa and Sou.

It is difficult to make out the exact object of these offices, but they were in every way connected with heathenism, and with the introduction of Christianity have disappeared.

The Mooa was the more important of the two, but both Mooa and Sou only held office for twelve months. The Mooa is described as being like the woman, while the Sou was like the man. But they in no way represented the Mahoos of Tahiti mentioned by Wilson and Turnbull. They were both married, and very rarely lived in the same tribe.

It was necessary that the Mooa should be a young chief of very high blood, and his election was by capture; it followed as a consequence therefore that he resided in the most powerful tribe.

When the term of office of the Mooa had nearly expired, it became necessary to look out for a successor.

The men of the most influential tribe would therefore fix on some chief of high blood of any tribe, and arming themselves, would proceed to his house and carry him off by force, when often much resistance would be offered. But once installed in the Mooa s house, no attempt at recapture would be made.

His duty now consisted in being fed night and day, in fact, systematically fattened.

Three times every night he was roused to eat, and pigs were killed every day for him, the chiefs and old men eating with him : such waste and extravagance, indeed, was practised, that the tribe in which the Mooa resided was generally short of provisions. It was for this reason, as much as any other, that the Sou, who was attended in the same way, rarely occupied a house in the same tribe as the Mooa, the expense being too great for one tribe to bear.

The Sou always resided in the second most powerful tribe, his mode of election being similar to that of the Mooa.

Every six months there would be a grand gathering of the people at the Mooa's and Sou's house, when the priests blew on large conch shells, and called out the names of the various fruits and vegetables of the island, in order to secure good crops. Rioting and feasting were then the order of the day.

The Mooas were always buried at one spot, situated near the village of Noatau, on the south-east side of the island. They were all placed in separate graves. I have visited the place, and round about the graves scattered in the bush one still sees the old devil stones, as they are now called, but really known as " Toopoa," on which they practised some heathenish rites, but never, as they say, human sacrifices.

The Sous, on the contrary, were from time immemorial buried in one sepulchral vault. This is situated in the town of Lopta, on the north-east side of the island. With each Sou would be buried one small stone adze. When any Sou died, all the other remains of Sous were taken out, and re-rolled in

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fine new mats; the new corpse, rolled also in fine mats, was placed at the bottom, the others all above him, in every case recumbent.

It is difficult, as I have said before, to see the exact object of these two offices. And yet we need not look far from home to see something similar. The other day, while standing in the Temple Gardens watching the Lord Mayor's procession, a native of Rotumah, whom I had with me, astonished at the magnificence of the Lord Mayor's carriage, asked if he was a king. It puzzled me to explain his exact position, but I felt I could not define it better than by calling him the London Sou.

The Rotumans have always paid great respect to their dead. Even to this day they will spend a great deal of money in getting a gravestone from Sydney to place over some relative's tomb. On the decease of any one, immediately after the burial, much feasting and destruction of the dead man's live stock takes place ; what cannot be consumed at the feast is portioned out to the guests to be carried home.

The very ancient tombs are made of enormous blocks of stone, and it is difficult to believe that a people so lazy and apathetic at the present day should ever have had the energy to move these heavy masses.

-These ancient tombs resemble dolmens. Four large unhewn stones form the sides, on which one large flat one is laid for the covering. I measured one top stone, which was over ten feet square and three feet thick. But I saw much larger which I could not measure, owing to their being covered by drifting sand.