C H A P
V I.
.Ian.
1826.
estimation only, the natives appearing to have an objection to onr
pacing the ground for the purpose of measurement. The south side
of the house was left open, and the ends were made of an open framework
of upright poles traversed at right angles by smaller spars, so that
the roof and the north side were the only parts covered in. They
served as an excellent protection from the sun, while the trade-
wind traversing every corner of the apartment rendered it agreeably
cool. On that part of the house where the side was deficient, there
was a foundation for the wall about three feet in height thrown up,
composed of large blocks of coral, shaped in a very workmanlike style,
similar to those mentioned by Cook at the Friendly Islands, and well
put together; it stood about three feet within the outer part of the
roofing, and served as a seat for the chiefs as well as for many others.
We perceived no furniture in their houses, and some of our officers
thought it was purposely put out of sight. The only utensils were
gourds and cocoa-nut sheUs. The tables were made of slabs of coral,
or sometimes of wood, in which case they are carved: they are about a
yard long, and are placed upon w'ooden or stone pedestals sufficiently
high to prevent the depredations of the rats. They stand in the
middle of the paved areas in front of the houses, from which we infer
the practice of eating in the open air. Their food has already been
described as consisting principally of sour paste (the mahie of the
Friendly Islands, Otaheite, Marquesas, &c.), made with plantains,
bread-fruit, and boiled tee-root. The paste or mahie, when fresh and
hot, has not a disagreeable taste; a slight flavour of baked apples may
be distinguished; but it soon begins to smell very offensively; so
much so, that the seamen would not touch it with their hands to throw
it overboard. The tee-plant ( dracana terminalis j is a fusiform root
about two feet long, and as thick as the arm; its flavour is not unpleasant,
but from its coarseness it must, to ordinary stomachs, be very
indigestible. The natives collect the fibres in the mouth, and spit
them out in round balls. Fish and shell-fish, of which the large pearl
oysters and chama are in the greatest abundance, must form a material
part of the food of these people: they have, besides, the sweet potatoes,
taro, and the before-mentioned fruits; but these cannot be abundant.
as they never brought any of them to us for sale, and frequently deceived C H A P .
us with empty cocoa-nuts. — ,— '
Their method of procuring fish is by lines and nets, and a con-
trivance still resorted to in Otaheite, consisting of casting into the sea
a great many branches of the cocoa-nut tree, and other boughs, tied
together, and allowing them to remain some time, during which the
small fish become entangled, and are dragged out with them. The nets
and lines, as well as cord, siniiet, &c., are all made from the bark of the
porou, as in all the islands of Polynesia. One net which we measnred
was ninety feet in length. In the manufacture of these, they display a
greater proficiency than in their cloth, which is much inferior to that at
Pitcairn Island or Otaheite. Their implements for this purpose are
the same in shape as those at the above-mentioned places; but the
one which we got differed in not being grooved.
Their weapons consist of spears, and a staff flattened at the end
like a whale-lance: they are made of a hard wood, and highly polished.
The spears were headed with bone, or the sting rays of the raia (pas-
tmeaU a custom which once existed at Otaheite, and now extends to
many of the low islands. The antiquity of this practice is traced to
very remote periods, as it is said that the head of the spear presented
by Ciree to Telegoiins, and with which he nneerenioiiionsly slew his
father Ulysses, was of this kind. At Gambier Island they remove he
heads of the spears when not required, a square piece being left at the
end of the staff to receive it. Besides these weapons, they always carry
large sticks. ^ , .
Contrary to the general custom, no canoes are seen at Gambier
Islands, but rafts or katamarans are used instead. They are from forty
to fifty feet in length, and will contain upwards of twenty persons.
They consist of the trunks of trees fastened together by rope and crossbeams:
upon this a triangular sail is hoisted, supported by two poles
from each end; but it is only used when the wind is very favourable;
at which time, if two or three katamarans happen to be going the same
way, they fasten on and perform their voyage together. At other times
they use very large paddles made of a dark hard wood, capable of a