I Distributed Amongst
Them Almost Every Thing I Had Left.
The very hospitable manner in which I
had ever been received by these people, had endeared them to me, and given
them a just title to everything in my power to grant.
I questioned them
again about the ships at Huaheine; and they all, to a man, denied that any
were there. During the time these people remained on board, they were
continually importuning me to return. The chief, his wife and daughter, but
especially the two latter, scarcely ever ceased weeping. I will not pretend
to say whether it was real or feigned grief they shewed on this occasion.
Perhaps there was a mixture of both; but were I to abide by my own opinion
only, I should believe it was real. At last, when we were about to weigh,
they took a most affectionate leave. Oree's last request was for me to
return; when he saw he could not obtain that promise, he asked the name of
my Marai (burying-place). As strange a question as this was, I
hesitated not a moment to tell him Stepney; the parish in which I live when
in London. I was made to repeat it several times over till they could
pronounce it; then, Stepney Marai no Toote was echoed through an
hundred mouths at once. I afterwards found the same question had been put
to Mr Forster by a man on shore; but he gave a different, and indeed more
proper answer, by saying, no man, who used the sea, could say where he
should be buried. It is the custom, at these isles, for all the great
families to have burial-places of their own, where their remains are
interred. These go with the estate to the next heir. The Marai at
Oparee in Otaheite, when Tootaha swayed the sceptre, was called Marai no
Tootaha; but now it is called Marai no Otoo. What greater proof
could we have of these people esteeming us as friends, than their wishing
to remember us, even beyond the period of our lives? They had been
repeatedly told that we should see them no more; they then wanted to know
where we were to mingle with our parent dust. As I could not promise, or
even suppose, that more English ships would be sent to those isles, our
faithful companion Oedidee chose to remain in his native country. But he
left us with a regret fully demonstrative of the esteem he bore to us; nor
could any thing but the fear of never returning, have torn him from us.
When the chief teased me so much about returning, I sometimes gave such
answers as left them hopes. Oedidee would instantly catch at this, take me
on one side, and ask me over again. In short, I have not words to describe
the anguish which appeared in this young man's breast when he went away. He
looked up at the ship, burst into tears, and then sunk down into the canoe.
The maxim, that a prophet has no honour in his own country, was never more
fully verified than in this youth. At Otaheite he might have had any thing
that was in their power to bestow; whereas here he was not in the least
noticed. He was a youth of good parts, and, like most of his countrymen, of
a docile, gentle, and humane disposition, but in a manner wholly ignorant
of their religion, government, manners, customs, and traditions;
consequently no material knowledge could have been gathered from him, had I
brought him away. Indeed, he would have been a better specimen of the
nation, in every respect, than Omai. Just as Oedidee was going out of the
ship, he asked me to Tatou some Parou for him, in order to
shew the commanders of any other ships which might stop here. I complied
with his request, gave him a certificate of the time he had been with us,
and recommended him to the notice of those who might afterwards touch at
the island.
We did not get clear of our friends till eleven o'clock, when we weighed,
and put to sea; but Oedidee did not leave us till we were almost out of the
harbour. He staid, in order to fire some guns; for it being his majesty's
birthday, we fired the salute at going away.
When I first came to these islands, I had some thought of visiting Tupia's
famous Bolabola. But as I had now got on board a plentiful supply of all
manner of refreshments, and the route I had in view allowing me no time to
spare, I laid this design aside, and directed my course to the west; taking
our final leave of these happy isles, on which benevolent Nature has spread
her luxuriant sweets with a lavish hand. The natives, copying the bounty of
Nature, are equally liberal; contributing plentifully and cheerfully to the
wants of navigators. During the six weeks we had remained at them, we had
fresh pork, and all the fruits which were in season, in the utmost
profusion; besides fish at Otaheite, and fowls at the other isles. All
these articles we got in exchange for axes, hatchets, nails, chissels,
cloth, red feathers, beads, knives, scissars, looking-glasses, &c. articles
which will ever be valuable here. I ought not to omit shirts as a very
capital article in making presents; especially with those who have any
connexion with the fair sex. A shirt here is full as necessary as a piece
of gold in England. The ladies at Otaheite, after they had pretty well
stripped their lovers of shirts, found a method of clothing themselves with
their own cloth. It was their custom to go on shore every morning, and to
return on board in the evening, generally clad in rags. This furnished a
pretence to importune the lover for better clothes; and when he had no more
of his own, he was to dress them in new cloth of the country, which they
always left ashore; and appearing again in rags, they must again be
clothed.
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