CHAP. on one side of the apartment, glowing beneath a blazing string of
doodoe nuts; the musicians were on the other, under the direction of
Dee. Arthur Quintal. He was seated npon the ground, as head musician,
and had before him a large gourd, and a piece of musical wood (porou),
which he balanced nicely upon his toes, that there might be the le ss'
interruption to its vibrations. He struck the instrument alternately
with two sticks, and was accompanied by Dolly, who performed very
skilfully with both hands upon a gourd, which had a longitudinal hole
cut in one end of i t ; rapidly beating the orifice with the palms of
her hands, and releasing it again with uncommon dexterity, so as to
produce a tattoo, but in perfect time with the other instrument. A
third performed upon the Bounty’s old copper fish-kettle, which
formed a sort of bass. To this exhilarating music three grozmi-tip
females stood up to dance, but with a reluctance which showed it was
done only to oblige us, as they consider such performances an inroad
upon their usual innocent pastimes. The figure consisted of such
parts of the Otaheitan dance as w’ere thought most decorous, and was
little more than a shuffling of the feet, sliding past each other, and
snapping their fingers; but even this produced, at times, considerable
laughter from the female spectators, perhaps from some association of
ridiculous ideas, which w'e, as strangers, did not fe e l; and no doubt
had our opinion of the performance been consulted, it w’ould have
essentially differed from theirs. They did not long continue these
diversions, from an idea that it was too great a levity to be continued
long; and only the three beforementioned ladies could be prevailed
upon to exhibit their skill. One of the officers, with a view of contributing
to the mirth of the colonists, had obligingly brought his violin
on shore, and, as an inducement for them to dance again, offered to
play some country dances and reels, if they would proceed; but they
could not be tem.pted to do so. They, however, solicited a specimen
of the capabilities of the instrument, which was granted, and, though
very well executed, did not give the satisfaction which we anticipated.
They had not yet arrived at a state of refinement to appreciate harmony,
but were highly delighted with the rapid motion of the fingers,
and always liked to be within sight of the instrument when it was
played. They were afterwards heard to say, that they preferred their CH A I’.
own simple musical contrivance to the violin. 'I’hey did not appear to
have the least ear for music ; one of the officers took considerable pains Dec.
to teach them the hundredth psalm, that they might not chaunt all
the psalms and hymns to the same air; but they did not evince the
least aptitude or desire to learn it.
The following day was devoted to the completion of our view of
the island, of which the natives were anxious we should see every part.
W e accordingly set out with the same guides by a road which brought
us to “ the Hope,” a steep cliff, so called from its being necessary to
descend it by a rope. It is situated at the eastern end of the island,
and overlooks a small sandy bay lined with rocks, which render it dangerous
for a boat to attempt to land there.
At the foot of “ the Rope” some stone axes were found, and a
hone, the manufacture of the aborigines, and upon the face of a large
rock were some characters very rudely engraved, w'hich we copied ; they
appeared to have been executed by the Bounty’s people, though Adams
did not recollect it. To the left of “ the Rope” is a peak of considerable
height, overlooking Bounty Bay. Upon this eminence the mutineers,
on their arrival, found four images, about six feet in height,
placed upon a platform ; and, according to Adams’s description, not
unlike the morals at Easter Island, excepting that they w'ere upon a
much smaller scale. One of these images, which had been preserved,
was a rude representation of the human figure to the hips, and was
hewn out of a piece of red lava.
Near this supposed morai, we were told that human bones and
stone hatchets were occasionally dug up, but we could find only two
bones, by whicli we miglit judge of the stature of these aborigines.
These were an os femoris and a part of a cranium of an unusual size
and thickness. The hatchets, of which we obtained several specimens,
were made of a compact basaltic lava, not unlike clinkstone, very hard,
and capable of a fine polish. In shape they resembled those used at
Otaheite, and by all the islanders of these seas that 1 have seen. A
large stone bowl was also found, similar to those used at Otaheite, and
two stone huts. That this island should have been inhabited is not
51 2
' N
A I,