An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands/Chapter II
CHAPTER II.
After wooding and watering the ship at Tola, and procuring about fourteen bullocks, six pigs, and a quantity of fruit, she weighed anchor and made sail, leaving the brigs behind, after having stripped them of their anchors, cables, sails, &c.
Finding the leak increase, she proceeded towards the island of Cocos, to careen. On Friday, the 14th of February, at sunset, this island appeared W.½ S. twelve leagues, and the next day she came to an anchor in Chatham Bay. The water casks being sent on shore to fill, they began to careen the ship. On running the guns over to starboard, and heeling the ship four streaks, the leak was found to proceed from a graving-piece not being properly secured under the fore-chains. The copper under the larboard bow was found to be in a bad state; it was accordingly stripped off, and ¾-inch board was used for sheathing. On Tuesday, the 18th, the principal leaks were considered to be pretty well stopped, and the ship was therefore righted. After wooding, watering, and painting, she weighed anchor on the 25th, and made sail towards the whaling ground.
On Saturday, the 5th of March, having made Pan de Azucar, which bore N. six or seven leagues, she recommenced her whaling cruize, but which, notwithstanding the most diligent look out during the lapse of two or three weeks, was very unsuccessful; and hence the men began to be exceedingly discontented.
On Wednesday, the 30th of March, she captured the Spanish brig Santa Isidora, Captain Josef Evernzega, from Guiàquil, bound to Acapulco, laden with cocoa. At meridian the land off Acapulco bore N. distance seven or eight miles. The next day the captain of the brig and ten other prisoners were sent on board their own longboat, and all preparations were made to dispatch the prize to Port Jackson. The following day the Port au Prince stood off from the land, with the prize brig in company: the brig's small boat was given to the remainder of the prisoners, and they were sent on shore, with the exception of the Spanish carpenter, who was detained in the prize, and also one man who entered for the ship. On this day Mr. M'Farlane, the surgeon, deserted. The following day Mr. John Parker received charge of the brig, with orders to proceed to Port Jackson, and with proper instructions for selling the vessel and cargo: he was allowed ten hands and four months provisions. At eight A. M. she parted company. The Port au Prince now kept plying to windward, keeping a good look out for whales.
On Monday, the 12th of May, she caught four whales, which, together with what had been caught before at sundry times, made up the number of fifteen, being the whole that were taken during the voyage. From this period till June no circumstance transpired worthy of notice.
On Tuesday, the 3d of June, Cape Corientes bore S. and by E. seven or eight leagues: the ship stretched into St. Bias, and, when close in, discovered a merchant vessel lying at anchor, apparently almost ready for sea. The Port au Prince immediately tacked ship and stood out to the Maria Islands, under American colours; for it would have been impossible to have cut this vessel out from her present station, protected, as she was, by a strong fort at the top of a hill, under which the vessel lay at anchor. The next day a boat was sent off to the rock Pedro de Mar, to watch the motions of the ship.
On Monday, the 9th, the boat returned, and reported that there was a man of war brig at anchor outside of the merchant vessel. The boat was again dispatched for farther information. The rainy season was now set in, commencing with heavy rains, thunder, and lightning. On the Monday following the boat returned again, with information that the man of war brig had hauled into the mole. The merchantman was still riding at anchor, seemingly ready for sea. The boat was dispatched a third time; but she returned on the Wednesday following, when every thing was still in the same state. It was now resolved to make all sail, and steer for St. Bias, with intention of cutting out the ship in the night. At ten P. M. the Port au Prince approached the rock Pedro de Mar, to be in readiness. At this time there came on a heavy squall, with thunder, lightning, and much rain. Towards midnight it fell calm, and the boats were prevented from effecting their purpose: they were, however, sent to the rock, to be in readiness to pursue their object the following night. Before day-break, a small land wind springing up, the Port au Prince got off from the land without being discovered. As soon as day-light appeared, the boats perceived, from the rock, that the vessel had attempted to come out, but being becalmed, had dropped anchor five or six miles from the batteries. One boat was immediately dispatched to the Port au Prince, to inform her of the circumstance, whilst the two remaining boats proceeded to take possession of her. At noon, a fresh breeze springing up, the Port au Prince made all sail, and steered towards St. Bias. At three P. M. the boats took possession of their expected prize, which proved to be the corbeta Santa Anna, Captain Francisco Puertas, laden with pitch, tar, and cedar boards, bound to Guiaquil, The Spaniards had cut their cable, and made an attempt to run in under the batteries, but the boats taking possession of her in time prevented that intention. At day-light the following morning twenty prisoners were sent on shore in the long-boat: two negroes and two Spaniards, who entered for the Port an Prince, were retained. The two negroes would have been sent on shore also, but they fell on their knees, and begged and prayed hard to be kept on board: the captain of the prize was, indeed, very anxious that they should be sent on shore, as they were the property of the owner; but Captain Duck's humanity would by no means consent to this; for they clasped his knees, and entreated him with such earnest looks and words of persuasion, that, although he had no use for them, he could not but listen to their request: they afterwards turned out to be very honest, faithful fellows. From the prize were taken two bullocks, a pig, two hundred weight of bread, a quantity of jerk-beef, fowls, pumpkins, and one hundred and seventeen dollars and three quarters. The command of the prize was given to Mr. Maclaren, with twelve hands, besides a Spaniard, to navigate her, with orders to proceed to Port Jackson, and proper instructions how to act on his arrival there.
On the 23d of June the Spaniard on board informed the captain that two vessels were expected daily at Acapulco, from Guiaquil. They were laden with cocoa, and had sailed from the latter place but a few days after the Santa Isidora. The question of propriety in looking after these vessels now occasioned a dispute. between Captain Duck and Mr. Brown, the whaling-master. The captain was of opinion that these vessels should be looked after, although contrary to their instructions: Mr. Brown, on the other hand, contended that the whaling cruise should alone occupy their attention, although the ground appeared so bad. It was, however, at length determined that the Port au Prince should proceed for the island of Ceros, to make up for her ill success in her whaling cruize, by laying in a cargo of elephant oil and seal skins, this being part of her instructions. The two vessels laden with cocoa were therefore not waited for, although they would undoubtedly have been rich prizes. Here it may with propriety be remarked, that had the Port au Prince been fitted out alone as a privateer, she might have made a good voyage; or had her instructions been in such discretionary terms that the captain could have acted according to his own judgment, she might equally have made a successful cruise. But having two objects in view, the attention being divided between them, and all operations being fettered by the rigidness of the instructions, her success was far less than what it otherwise would have been.
No circumstance of importance occurred up to the 30th of July, when the island of Ceros appeared within sight, bearing N. W. ½ N. twenty miles. The following day a boat was sent on shore at one of the San Benito islands: she brought back information that the place was well stocked with sea-elephants and seals. In the mean time the ship proceeded towards the island of Ceros, and on Friday, the 1st of August, she came to an anchor at the S. E. part of that island.
On Sunday the carpenter was employed in examining the state of the vessel, and after ripping off the copper from the bows, and taking down the filling pieces, the wood-ends and some of the planks were found very much decayed. In the afternoon Captain Duck, finding himself very ill, went on shore. The next day the carpenter discovering a plank very much eaten by rats, he removed it altogether, and replaced it with a new one.
On Thursday, the 7th of August, the O'Caen, an American ship, from Boston, came to an anchor at this island. This vessel brought information that a Spanish sloop of war was at anchor in an inlet, about three days sail to the northward, on the coast of California. She had been sent by the viceroy of Peru to receive the tributes from the different governors on that coast; but on her return, being very leaky, and her crew in a bad state of health, she was under the necessity of putting into that place to refresh, till assistance could be procured from Acapuico. These tributes were partly in money and partly in valuable furs; and a very rich prize, no doubt, she would have proved, and very easily taken, had not untoward events ordered matters otherwise. The people, of course, were eager to possess themselves of so excellent a prize; and Captain Duck, anxious to study the real interest of the owners, although by infringing upon the strict sense of their instructions, promised the crew to go in pursuit of their so much wished for object, as soon as he felt himself a little better. He did not live, however, to execute his intentions; for he died on Monday, the 11th of August, at half past seven in the afternoon. The command of the vessel now devolved on Mr. Brown, whaling-master, who very much disappointed the expectations of the men, by refusing to look after the sloop of war; urging as his reason, that the ship was in a very leaky state, and withal deficient in shot. He moreover stated his intention of proceeding to the Sandwich Islands, to put the ship in such a condition as to enable her to proceed to Port Jackson, for a thorough repair.
On Wednesday morning, the 13th of August, Captain Duck was buried on shore: the captain and crew of the O'Caen attended the ceremony. A cedar board was erected at the head of the grave, in place of a tomb-stone, on which the name, age, and profession of the deceased was carved out: he was, indeed, a very worthy man, bore a most excellent character, and was much lamented by the crew, many of whom shed tears of unfeigned sorrow on the occasion. In the afternoon of this day the conduct of Mr. Brown was considered very unwarrantable, as he obliged the men, notwithstanding all remonstrances, to try out oil, though several of them refused; swearing they would not work, unnecessarily, on a day rendered solemn by the burial of their captain. All this served to increase the general discontent on board.
On Saturday, the 23d of August, the Port au Prince weighed anchor, having laid in a considerable quantity of oil, and stood out of the bay. The O'Caen still lay at anchor. On Monday, the 25th, she came to an anchor at the Benito Islands, where she remained till Monday, the 15th of September, having salted and laid in 8338 seal skins. During this time she received from the captain of the O'Caen a present of two deer, of which he had discovered a considerable number in the interior of the island.
On Monday, the 15th of September, the Port au Prince weighed anchor. The following day the ship was found to make more water than usual, from a leak in her larboard bow. On Wednesday the island of Guadaloupe appeared within sight, in lat. 28. 48, N. long. 118. 30. W. bearing N. N. E. four or five leagues. The leak was now found to have increased two inches per hour more than its usual quantity. The next day a boat was sent to sound under the lee of the island for an anchorage; she returned, however, with a very indifferent account of it, and reported to have found neither seals nor sea-elephants.
On Friday the 19th of September the ship stood out to sea, taking a fresh departure from this place, for the island of Owhyee. The leak was now found to have increased so as to be at the rate of seventeen feet in twenty-four hours. On Saturday the 27th it was found to be considerably decreased; although it had been blowing fresh for three days.
On Sunday the 28th of September, at 6 A. M. Owhyee appeared within sight bearing W. by N. 20 leagues: the ship was now hauling up for the north end of the island. During the night she kept a shore course: several lights were perceived in different parts of the island. The next day at noon a number of the natives came on board, and shewed tokens of great friendship. At eight o'clock in the evening the ship anchored in Toeigh bay, and traded with the natives. On Thursday the ninth of October she weighed anchor, and made sail from Owhyee, for Woahoo; and on Friday at noon came to an anchor in Anahooroo bay. Whilst waiting for an opportunity to enter the close harbour, the inhabitants came on board and traded. In the mean time, the chief of the island, hearing that they had a sick man on board, refused them permission to enter the close harbour, being afraid of introducing disease into the country, which calamity had happened on a former occasion, from an American ship. Although the sick man died a few days afterwards, the permission was not granted.
On Sunday the 26th of October, the vessel being plentifully stocked with hogs, fowls, plantains, sweet potatoes, tarra, &c. she weighed anchor, and proceeded towards Otaheite, having received eight of the natives on board, who offered their services, as she was in want of hands on account of the leak. This last mentioned island was the nearest where assistance was to be expected. As she proceeded on her course, the leak was alarmingly increased to the rate of nine inches and a half per hour. In order to ease the ship, it became necessary to remove the carronades from off the quarter-deck, down below; the try-works were also taken down, and the bricks thrown overboard.
On Tuesday the 18th of November, as well as several days preceding, the pumps were obliged to be worked every half hour out of two. By this time finding she had missed Otaheite, by reason of an adverse current, she steered to the westward for the Tonga islands, and on Thursday the 27th of November saw that part of them called the Hapai islands, bearing W. 12 miles. The leak had now increased to eighteen inches per hour.
On Saturday, the 29th of November, 1806, at 4 P. M. the Port au Prince brought to, for the last time, in 7 fathoms water at the N. W. point of one of the Hapai islands, called Lefooga, in the same place where Captain Cook had formerly anchored. In the evening a number of Indian chiefs came on board with a large barbacued hog, and a quantity of ready dressed yams, as a present to the ship's company: with them came a native of Owhyee, who spoke a little English, which he had formerly learned on board an American ship, that had taken him from the Sandwich islands to Manilla, and thence had brought him to the Tonga islands. This man, whose name was Tooi Tooi, and whom we shall hereafter have occasion to speak of, endeavoured, by all the means of expression that lay in his power, to convince the ship's company that the natives were disposed towards them in the most friendly manner. Another Sandwich islander, however, whom the Port au Prince had brought along with her, as may be recollected, with seven others, from Anahooroo bay, declared his opinion that the Indians had hostile intentions, and he advised Mr. Brown to keep a watchful eye over them, and even to send all out of the ship, excepting a few chiefs, by treating whom in a friendly way, the produce of the islands might be procured. Mr. Brown, however, disregarded this sage admonition, ordered the man to quit the quarter-deck, and even threatened to flog him—a treatment which the poor fellow little deserved, for his opinion of the natives was but too well founded, although his less honest countryman Tooi Tooi had spoken so well of them: and had not Mr. Brown unfortunately been above receiving good advice, the Port au Prince might again have reached England in safety, and thus he might have preserved his own life, and the lives of many others.
On Sunday morning, the 30th of November, the men were ordered to be busily engaged in careening the vessel, at which they all demurred, and some absolutely refused, being desirous of going on shore, as they had been accustomed to do, on Sundays, at whatever place they had touched at during the voyage; and to this they were further encouraged by the pernicious invitations of the natives. It is indeed sometimes extremely difficult, under such circumstances, to preserve good order and prompt obedience among the men; and yet the state of the ship, at this time, perhaps, fully required the greatest exertions, and the most watchful care. Mr. Brown, irritated by these symptoms of discontent, the fault of which was in no small degree to be laid to his own account, seemed to have less use of his judgment, at a time when he required it most. The men came aft, to request permission to go on shore: this he peremptorily refused, telling them they might go to H——l if they pleased, but that they should not go on shore till the work was done on board, and ordered them immediately to quit the quarter-deck: they instantly complied. A short time after James Kelly jumped up on the gang-way with a Spanish stiletto in his hand, and swore by G—— he would run the first —— through who attempted to stop him; he then hailed a canoe: his example was instantly followed by three others, George Wood (the carpenter's mate, who swore he would never rig the pumps again), William Baker, and James Hoay, taking with them all their clothes. Not much time elapsed before fifteen others took the same step. In the afternoon the remainder of the crew came aft, with a complaint that a considerable number of the natives had assembled between decks, armed with clubs and spears, and whose behaviour gave ample grounds to suspect that they intended to take the vessel. This was indeed their object, having already digested their plan, which Mr. Mariner afterwards learned from a young chief named Vaca-ta-Bola: it will be well to relate it here in its proper place, although they did not at this time succeed. During the present interval, Vaca-ta-Bola and another chief were sitting in the cabin with Mr. Brown, Mr. Dixon, and Mr. Mariner. Whilst they were here a canoe was to come under the stern, and Vaca-ta-Bola was to rise up suddenly and call out with seeming great earnestness to the people in the canoe; on which it may be supposed that Mr. Brown and Mr. Dixon would naturally turn their heads, out of curiosity, to see what was going forward in the canoe, at which moment the two chiefs were to knock them down, with short iron-wood clubs, which they had concealed under their dress. Before the canoe arrived, however, Mr. Mariner happening to go into the steerage was met by the men, who were coming, as before stated, to inform Mr. Brown of the threatening appearance of the natives. Mr. Brown seemed at first not much inclined to pay attention even to this new warning of danger; but when Mr. Mariner assured him that what the men stated was correct, and that, at all events, it would be but common prudence to inquire into it, and satisfy their apprehensions, he went upon deck, leading Vaca-ta-Bola by the hand: Mr. Dixon and the other chief followed. During this time Mr. Mariner could not help observing that the two chiefs turned pale, and were evidently much agitated; which he attributed to fear, occasioned by the bustle which appeared, without their understanding the cause: though the truth was they imagined their plot discovered, and their fate inevitable. When they arrived upon deck, and were given to understand that Mr. Brown did not like to have so many men on board armed with clubs and spears, they pretended to interest themselves very much in throwing their arms overboard, and in ordering the natives out of the ship. Mr. Mariner, in the mean while, noticed that they took great care not to throw away the best and most handy clubs, but contrived to get them safe into the canoes, by passing them from one to another: this he also attributed to a wrong motive, imagining that they wished to save them merely on account of their goodness, whilst the bad ones they threw away without reluctance. Mr. Brown, with a view of wearing also a pacific appearance, ordered the tomahawks, boarding-pikes, and other arms, to be removed below.
In the evening, after the natives had gone on shore, the carpenter and sail-maker spoke to Mr. Brown on the propriety of having the muskets up, and placing centinels on deck to keep the natives off, as their number prevented them from working; but, unfortunately, too self-willed and obstinate in error, he treated every wholesome admonition with indifference, and accordingly no such measures were taken.
The following fatal day, Monday, the 1st December, 1806, at eight o'clock in the morning, the natives began to assemble on board, and soon increased to 300 in different parts of the ship. About nine o'clock Tooi Tooi, the Sandwich islander, before mentioned as having endeavoured to inspire the ship's company with a good opinion of the friendly disposition of the natives, came on board, and invited Mr. Brown to go on shore and view the country: he immediately complied, and went unarmed. About half an hour after he had left the ship, Mr. Mariner, who was in the steerage, went to the hatch for the sake of the light, as he was about to mend a pen; looking up, he saw Mr. Dixon standing on a gun, endeavouring, by his signs, to prevent more of the natives coming on board: at this moment he heard a loud shout from the Indians, and saw one of them knock Mr. Dixon down with a club: seeing now too clearly what was the matter, he turned about to run towards the gun-room, when an Indian caught hold of him by the hand: he luckily escaped from his grasp, ran down the scuttle, and reached the gun-room, where he found the cooper: but considering the magazine the safest place, they ran immediately there; and having consulted what was best to be done, they came to the resolution of blowing up the vessel, and, like Samson of old, to sacrifice themselves and their enemies together. Bent upon this bold and heroic enterprise[1], Mr. Mariner repaired to the gun-room to procure flint and steel, but was not able to get at the muskets without making too much noise, for the arm-chest lay beneath the boarding-pikes, which had carelessly been thrown down the scuttle the preceding evening: the noise occasioned by clearing them away, as the uproar above began to cease, would undoubtedly have attracted the notice of the Indians; he therefore returned to the magazine, where he found the cooper in great distress from the apprehension of his impending fate. Mr. Mariner next proposed that they should go at once upon deck, and be killed quickly, while their enemies were still hot with slaughter, rather than by greater delay subject themselves to the cruelties of cooler barbarity. After some hesitation, the cooper consented to follow if Mr. Mariner would lead the way. The latter thereupon went up into the gun-room, and lifting up the hatch a little, saw Tooi Tooi and Vaca-ta-Bola examining Captain Duck's sword and other arms that were in his bed-place. Their backs being turned, he lifted off the hatch entirely, and jumped up into the cabin: Tooi Tooi instantly turning round, Mr. Mariner presented his hands open, to signify that he was unarmed and at their mercy: he then uttered aroghah! (a word of friendly salutation among the Sandwich islanders) and asked him partly in English, and partly in his own language, if he meant to kill him, as he was ready to meet his fate. Tooi Tooi replied in broken English, that he should not be hurt, as the chiefs were already in possession of the ship, but that he wished to be informed how many persons there were below, to which Mr. Mariner answered, that there was only one, and then called up the cooper, who had not followed him the whole way. Tooi Tooi led them upon deck towards one of the chiefs who had the direction of the conspiracy. The first object that struck Mr. Mariner's sight, on coming upon deck, was enough to thrill the stoutest heart: there sat upon the companion a short squab naked figure, of about fifty years of age, with a seaman's jacket, soaked with blood, thrown over one shoulder, on the other rested his iron-wood club, spattered with blood and brains,—and what increased the frightfulness of his appearance was a constant blinking with one of his eyes, and a horrible convulsive motion on one side of his mouth. On another part of the deck there lay twenty-two bodies perfectly naked, and arranged side by side in even order. They were so dreadfully bruised and battered about the head, that only two or three of them could be recognized. At this time a man had just counted them, and was reporting the number to the chief, who sat in the hammock-nettings; immediately after which they began to throw them overboard. Mr. Mariner and the cooper were now brought into the presence of the chief, who looked at them awhile and smiled, probably on account of their dirty appearance. Mr. Mariner was then given in charge to a petty chief to be taken on shore, but the cooper was detained on board.
In his way to the shore the chief took his shirt from his back. The circumstance of his having just escaped death was by no means a consolation to him: reserved for he knew not what hardships, he felt his mind hardened by a sort of careless indifference as to what might happen; if he had any consoling hope at all, it was that he might be going on shore to fall by the club of some sanguinary chief not sated with that day's slaughter. His companions, for ought he knew, were all killed; at least, he was morally certain that himself and the cooper[2] were the only persons living of all who were on board at the time this most bloody massacre was perpetrated: and as to those, who, from bad or injudicious motives, had left the ship the day before, they were probably, by this time at least, secured, and waiting, like himself, with anxious desire to know whether speedy death or degrading slavery was to be their portion.
In a little while he was landed, and led to the most northern part of the island, a place called Co-oolo, where he saw, without being much affected at the sight, the cause of all that day's disasters, Mr. Brown, the whaling master, lying dead upon the beach: the body was naked, and much bruised about the head and chest. They asked Mr. Mariner, by words and signs, if they had done right in killing him;—as he returned them no answer, one of them lifted up his club to knock out his brains, but was prevented by a superior chief, who ordered them to take their prisoner on board a large sailing canoe. Whilst here, he observed upon the beach an old man, whose countenance did not speak much in his favour, parading up and down with a large club in his hand. At this time a boy, who had just come into the canoe, pointed to a fire at a little distance, and addressing himself to Mr. Mariner, pronounced the word máte[3] (meaning to kill), and made such signs that could give him to understand nothing less than that he was to be killed and roasted: this idea roused him from his state of mental torpor, and gave him some alarm, which was not lessened by the sight of the old man just mentioned, who appeared in no other light than that of an executioner waiting for his victim. About half an hour afterwards a number of people came to the canoe, landed him, and led him towards the fire, near which he saw, lying dead, James Kelly, William Baker, and James Hoay, three of those who had first mutinied. Some hogs were now brought to be cooked; and Mr. Mariner was pretty well undeceived respecting what he had understood from the gestures of the boy in the canoe, who, it was now sufficiently evident, merely meant to imply that some of Mr. Mariner's countrymen lay dead where he pointed, and that they were going to roast or bake some hogs there.
From this place he was led towards the island of Foa. On the way they stopped at a hut, where they stripped him of his trowsers, notwithstanding his earnest solicitations to retain them; for he already felt the effect of the sun upon his back, and dreaded a total exposure to its heat. He was now led about bare-footed and without any thing to cover him, the heat blistering his skin in a most shocking manner. Every now and then some or other of the natives came up to him from motives of curiosity, felt his skin to compare it with their own, or likened it rather (as he afterwards understood) to the skin of a scraped hog, from its whiteness: from malice or rather wantonness they spat upon him, pushed him about, and threw sticks and cocoa-nut shells at him, so that his head was cut in several places. After having thus tantalized and led him about for a considerable length of time, as fast as the soreness of his feet would permit him to walk, a woman happening to pass near at hand, from motives of compassion gave him an apron made of the leaves of the chee-tree, with which he was permitted to cover himself. Coming at length to a hut, they entered and sat down to drink cava[4], putting him in a corner, and desiring him by signs to sit down, it being considered very disrespectful to stand up before a superior; the principle of which point of etiquette will be explained in another place. Whilst his persecutors were thus regaling themselves, a man entered the hut in great haste; and having said something to the company, took Mr. Mariner away with him. As they were going along they met one of the Sandwich islanders, whom the Port au Prince had brought from Anahooro Bay, who gave Mr. Mariner to understand that Finow, the king of the islands, had sent for him. When he arrived in the king's presence, the king beckoned to him, and made signs that he should sit near him. As he entered the place, the king's women, who sat at the other end of the room, at the sight of him in the deplorable condition in which he was, with one voice uttered a cry of pity, beating their breasts, and exclaiming, O yaoo! chiodofa! Alas! poor young man! Fortunately for Mr. Mariner, Finow had taken an extraordinary liking to him from the first moment he had seen him on board; he thought he was the captain's son, or at least a young chief of some consequence in his own country; and he accordingly had given orders, that if they found it necessary to kill the white men, they should, at any rate, preserve Mr. Mariner's life. The king put his nose to his forehead (a mark of friendly salutation;) and soon after observing that he was very dirty, and much wounded, he desired one of his women attendants to take him to a pond within the fencing of the house, where he might wash himself. Here he made himself as clean as mere water could make him; but finding the dirt did not come readily off his feet, she brought some sand, and began to scrub them with it: when he complained that this hurt him, she said something, which, at that time, he did not clearly understand, implying, that such was the Tonga mode of washing. Being now pretty well washed, he again came in presence of the king, and was sent to the other end of the house, where he was oiled all over with sandal-wood oil, which felt very agreeable, alleviating the smart of his wounds, and greatly refreshing him. He now received a mat to lie down on, where, overcome by fatigue, both of mind and body, he soon fell fast asleep. During the night he was awakened by one of the women, who brought him some baked pork and some yam; but being, somehow prejudiced against the pork, lest it should be human flesh, he did not taste it, but ate heartily of the yam, not having tasted any thing since breakfast the preceding day.
On getting up the next morning, he was much surprised at perceiving every body with their heads shaved: a practice which is always adopted at the burial of Tooitonga, a great personage hereafter to be described, whose funeral was performed that day.
In the course of the morning Finow took him on board the ship, where he was much gratified in meeting several of the crew, who had been ordered on board to bring the ship close in shore. The king's orders being understood, they cut the cables, and worked her in shore, through a very narrow passage, so full of rocks and shoals, that, untried, it would have been considered unnavigable. Through the medium of Tooi Tool the king had been previously informed, that unless his men (which were about 400 in number) were to sit down, and remain perfectly quiet, it would be impossible to work the ship, the Englishmen being only about fourteen in number. The moment Finow had given orders to his men, he was most implicitly obeyed; they sat down, and not a word was spoken, nor the least perceptible noise made by them during the whole time, no more than if none of them were on board. The ship was brought within half a cable's length of the shore, through the narrow passage just mentioned, and run aground according to Finow's orders.
- ↑ Lest this should be thought a rash and presumptuous conduct, as sacrificing their own lives unnecessarily, it should be considered that it would be almost a certain preventive of such conspiracies for the future, when those on shore would witness the sudden and awful fate so unexpectedly attending the perpetrators.
- ↑ There were two others, the boatswain, and one of the crew, who were on board at the time, and also escaped; but they were taken on shore before Mr. Mariner and the cooper made their appearance upon deck. This circumstance he did not know till some time afterwards.
- ↑ The word máte (pronounced something like mártoy) is the common word throughout the South Sea Islands for "to kill;" and Mr. M. had learnt it at the Sandwich Islands.
- ↑ An infusion of the root of a species of the pepper plant, the mode of preparing which, and ceremony of drinking it, will be described hereafter in a more proper place.