i l li
,
"777-
.December.
■
a few differences w h ich fliould be mentioned; as this may
lead to an in qu iry about more material ones hereafter, i f
fuch there be, o f w hich we are now ignorant.
With regard to the little ifland Mataia, or Ofnaburgh
Ifland, w hich lies twenty leagues Eaft o f Otaheite, and belongs
to a C h ie f o f that place, w ho gets from thence a kind
o f t r ib u te ; a different d ia left from that o f Otaheite is
.there ipoken. T h e men o f Mataia alfo wear their hair
ve ry lo n g ; and, when they fight, cover their arms with a
fubftance w hich is befet w ith lharks teeth, and their bodies
with a fort o f lhagreen, be in g ikin o f fiihes. At the fame
time, they are ornamented with poliihed pearl ihells, which
make a prodigious glittering in the fun ; and they have a
v e ry large one, that covers them before, lik e a ihield or
breaft-plate.
T h e langu ag e o f Otaheite has many words, and even
phrafes, quite unlike thofe o f the iflands to the Weftward o f
it, w h ich all a g re e ; and it is remarkable fo r producing great
quantities o f that delicious fru it we called apples, which
' are found in none o f the others, except Eimeo. It has alfo
the advantage o f producing an odoriferous wood, called
eahoi, w hich is h ig h ly valued at the other ifles where there
is n o n e ; nor even in the South Eaft peninfula, or Tiaraboo,
though jo inin g if. Huaheine and Eimeo, again, are re markable
fo r producing greater quantities o f yams than
the other iflands. And at Mourooa, there is a particular
bird, found upon the hills, much efteemed fo r its white
fe a th e r s ; at w hich place there is alfo faid to be fome o f the
apples, though it be the moft remote o f the Society Iflands
from Otaheite-and Eimeo, where they are produced.
T h o u g h the religion o f all the iflands be the fame, each
o f them, has its particular, or tutelar G o d ; whofe names,
2 according
down in the fo llow in g lift :
D e c em b e r .
Gods o f the IJJes,
Huaheine,
iflietea ,
Otaha,
Bolabola,
Mourooa,.
Toobaee,
Tabooymanoo, or
Saunders’s Ifland,
w hich is fubjedt
to Huaheine,
Eimeo,
Tarme.
Ooro,
Tarme.
Oraa.
Otoo, ee weiahoa*
Tamoute.
Taroa.
Oroo.hadaot
Otaheite,
Otaheite ?
nooe, jr Ooroo.
I _. , Ç Opoonooa, and
• Tiaraboo,! .
I Whatooteeree,
"whom they have late-
changed for Oraa,
God o f Bolabola.
Mataia, or Ofnabu
rgh Ifland,
T h e low ifles, Eaft-
ward,
Tooboo, toobooai, Ry maraiva.
Tammatee.
Befides the clufter o f h igh iflands from Mataia to Mourooa
inclufive, the people o f Otaheite are acquainted with
a low uninhabited ifland, which they name Mopeeha, and
feems to be Howe’s Ifland, laid down to the Weftward o f
Mourooa in our late charts o f this oceam To this the inhabitants
o f the moft leeward iflands fometimes- go. There
are.-