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518 WEATHER— LOW ISLANDERS. Nov.
the regularity of the trade-wind occur among all the tropical
islands of this ocean. One instance has already been given of
the uncertain and changeable sjate of the weather among the
Low Islands, and many more may be found in the narratives of
voyages in the Pacific between the tropics.
SOth. While conversing with Middleton about those Low
Islands (where he had passed much time), I was verymuch struck
by the unpleasant personal feeling shewn by him when alluding
to the missionai-ies, and their regulations, as contrasted with the
strong terms in which he mentioned the good effects of their
intercourse with the Low Islanders; and how much more missionaries
were required. His own words, as I find them in a
paper of remarks he gave me, are, “ the inhabitants (of the Low
Islands) are familiarized to Europeans; and are partly civi-
lized, owing to the Gospel having been preached to them by
the missionaries.” In another place he says, “ there are inhabitants
enough to require the constant residence of one or two
missionaries. They have some books of the Gospel in their
hands, hut are yet too ignorant to profit by their contents.”
His own antipathy to the missionaries had arisen, I found, in
consequence of their restraints upon his conduct, while at
Otaheite.—Among other information he said that the natives
of Chain Island told him frequently, that the first ship they
ever saw was manned with black people; but the captain,
whom the natives styled the ‘ King of the Spirits,’ was a white
man. They were much alarmed when they saw the vessel
come close to their island, and their old men deemed it an omen
of impending disasters. Soon after this event, the island was
inundated by the sea, and many people perished. They were
then cannibals, and always at war with the natives of the
neighbouring islands: since that time, which was ‘long ago’
(how long he could not ascertain), the Chain Islanders have
invaded and successively conquered the other Low Islands,
invariably killing and eating the greater proportion of their
captives. (The Low Islands are called Paamuto.)
Middleton arrived at Otaheite from Chain Island, only two
days before this conversation took place. He. came in his
own open whale boat, with a crew of five natives; two being
Chain Islanders, one a native of the Gambler Islands, one from
the Marquesas, and one from the ferocious set who live upon
an island called Aura.* Knowing their habits, and understanding
their language, radically tlie same though differing in
dialect, had assisted his daring and enterprising disposition
in a series of wanderings about all the islands which lie in this
quarter of the Pacific. He sold me a chart, made by himself,
in which, he said, every one of the Low Islands was marked,
though not correctly.# From him I obtained their native
names also, with the proper pronunciation. He says the
natives are great talkers, and have very good memories; for
hours at a time he has often listened, with the deepest interest,
to their traditions, and to the terrible tales of their inhuman
warfare. About the year 1800, as near as he could ascertain,
a ship was cast away upon the low island Arutua:] her crew
were Europeans (meaning white men). The people of Arutua
offered no violence, but the blood-thirsty natives of Aura hearing
of the wreck, repaired to the place in a body, and massacred
every man.
In the year 1831, the master and mate of the unfortunate
Truro, passing by Aura in a small boat, were invited ashore
hy many friendly signs. They suspected no danger, landed
together, without arms, were instantly speared by the treacherous
natives, and fell, embracing each other. § Those islands
are supposed, by Middleton, to have received their earlier
inhabitants from the Marquesas; and a few, latterly, from
Otaheite.
By frequent intercourse, hy presents, and by some slight
knowledge of medicine, Middleton thought he had established
* Excepting the savages of Aura the natives of Chain Island have
conquered, successively, all the other islanders in their neighbourhood.
On Chain Island there are more hogs and fruits than on any other low
island.
t Some of these data were used in adding to Admiral Krusenstern’s
chart. { I do not knowits position.
§ I remarked that the heads of the Otaheitans and those few of the
Chain Islanders whom I saw, were strikingly different, but truly conformable
to their respective characters.
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