m
CH A P . their wives, who further extract what is left of the pulp for their own
Feb.
1826.
, share, and proceed to extricate the contents of the interior, consisting
of four or five small kernels about the size of an almond. To perform
this operation, the nut is placed upon a flat stone endwise, and with
a block of coral, as large as the strength of the women will enable
them to lift, is split in pieces, and the contents again put aside for
their husbands. As it requires a considerable nnmber of these small
nuts to satisfy the appetites of their hungry masters, the time of the
women is wholly passed upon their knees pounding nuts, or upon the
sharp coral collecting shells and sea-eggs. On some occasions the nuts
are baked in the ground, which gives them a more agreeable flavour,
and facilitates the extraction of the pulp; it does not, however, diminish
the labour of the females, who have in either case to bruise the
fibres to procure the smaller nuts.
The superiority of sex was never more rigidly enforced than among
these barbarians, nor were the male part of the human species evermore
despicable. On one occasion an unfortunate woman w-lio was
pounding some of these nuts, which she had walked a great distance to
gather, thinking herself unobserved, ate tw-o or three of the kernels as
she extracted them; but this did not escape the vigilance of lier brutal
husband, who instantly rose and felled her to the ground in the most
inhuman manner with three violent blows of his fist. Thus tyrannised
over, debased, neglected by the male sex, and strangers to social affection,
it is no wonder all those qualities which in civilised countries constitute
the fascination of woman are in these people wholly wanting.
The supercargo of the Dart, to forrvard the service he w-as engaged
in, had hired a party of the natives of Chain Island to dive for shells.
Among these w-as a native missionary *, a very w-ell-behaved man, who
used every effort to convert his new acquaintances to Christianity. He
persevered amidst much silent ridicule, and at length succeeded in
persuading the greater part of the islanders to conform to the ceremonies
of Christian worship. It was interesting to contemplate a body of
savages, abandoning their superstitions, silently and reverently kneeling
* W e were told that at Chain Island there were thirteen houses of prayer under the
direction of native missionaries.
Feb.
1820.
upon the sandy shore, and joining in the morning and evening prayers
to the Almighty. Though their sincerity may be questioned, yet it is
hoped that an impression may be made upon these neophytes, which
may tend to improve their moral condition.
Previous to the arrival of the missionary, every one had his peculiar
deity, of which the most common was a piece of wood with a tuft of
human hair inserted into i t ; but that which was deemed most efficacious,
when it could be procured, was the thigh bone of an enemy, or
of a relation recently dead. Into the hollow of this they inserted a
lock of the same person’s hair, and then suspended the idol to a tree.
To these symbols they address their prayers as long as they remained
in favour; but, like the girl in China, who, when disappointed by her
lover, pulled down the brazen image and whipped it, these people when
dissatisfied with their deity, no longer acknowledged his power, and
substituted some other idol. 'J'here were times, however, when tliey
feared its anger, and endeavoured to appease it with cocoa-nuts; but I
did not hear of any human sacrifices being oflered. They appeared to
entertain the Pythagorean doctrine of the transmigration of the soul,
and supposed the first vessel which they saw to be the spirit of one of
their relations lately deceased. The compartments allotted to the dead
are here tabooed; and the bodies, first wrapped in mats, are placed
under ground. As the soul is supposed for a time to frequent these
places, provision and water are placed near the spot for its u se ; and it
would he thought unkind, or that some evil would befal the person
whose business it is to provide them, if these supplies were neglected.
The manufactures of these people are the same with those of all
the otlier islanders, and are only such as nature renders necessary, consisting
of mats, maros, baskets, fishing-tackle, &c. They have no occupation
beyond the manufacture of these few- articles, and providing for
their daily support. On interrogating the chief how he passed the
day, lie said he rose early and la te ; he tlien invoked his deity ; sometimes
w-ent to fish or catch turtle; but more generally passed ins time
under the sliade of the cocoa-nut trees: in the evening he ate again,
and went to sleep.
The natives of this island, according to information obtained by
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