former existence. Even in Otaheite, war is carried on in the most atrocious spirit of vengeance. The victor, after slaying his unresisting enemy, dreadfully mangles his body, exclaiming, You killed my father! robbed me of my wife!'" &c.

you

*

"Their humor and their jests were but rarely what might be termed innocent sallies of wit; they were in general low and immoral to a disgusting degree. Their common conversation, when engaged in their ordinary avocations, was often such as the ear could not listen to without pollution, presenting images, and conveying sentiments, whose most fleeting passage through the mind left contamination. Awfully dark, indeed, was their moral character, and notwithstanding the apparent mildness of their disposition, and the cheerful vivacity of their conversation, no portion of the human race was ever, perhaps, sunk lower in brutal licentiousness, and moral degradation than this isolated people."†

*

Murray's Encyclopædia of Geography, iii. 155, 156. † Polynesian Researches, i. 87.

CHAPTER III.

STATE OF THE ARTS-WAR.

Houses Furniture-Mode of obtaining Fire-Agricultural Implements -Making Cloth-Fish-hooks-Anecdote-Mods of taki g FishCanoes-Frequency of Wars―Their desolating character-Dress of Warriors--Weapons-Naval Engagements-Battles on LandWild Men Treatment of Captives-Cannibalism-Treaties of Peace.

When the missions were commenced in the South Sea Islands, society had not reached that point at which a division of labor takes place. There were no established trades, and all the arts were of course in a very imperfect state. Indeed it may almost seem absurd to speak of the existence of arts among so rude a people. Previous to their intercourse with Europeans, the use of iron was unknown to the natives. Long before the missionaries settled among them, however, many of them had learnt its value from the ships that visited their coasts. But of the method of working it they were still ignorant. Their occupations, though few, were as much varied as could be expected of a savage, or half-civilized people. The principal were building, agriculture, making

canoes, furniture, and implements of various kinds, manufacturing cloth, and fishing.

The houses of the natives were little more than thatched roofs or sheds, supported by posts and rafters. The timber in general use, was the wood of the bread-fruit tree. The size of the house varied with the number of persons to be accommodated. Those belonging to the king and chiefs were commonly large, and sometimes capable of containing a thousand people. The houses were square, or oblong, according to the taste of the owner. The most common form was parallel along the sides, and circular at the ends. Some of them were open at the sides, but generally poles two or three inches in diameter were fixed in the earth at the distance of an inch and a half or two inches from each other. These poles reached from the floor to the roof, and were kept in place by sticks fastened horizontally across them. A dwelling constructed after this fashion could not have been in appearance very unlike a large bird-cage. Their buildings were thatched with cocoanut and palm leaves. The inside of the chiefs' houses was often ornamented with beautifully fringed matting. The floor was covered with long dried grass, or mats. If the family was large, little huts were sometimes erected near the principal building, for the accommodation of the children and servants at night; but the greater part of the houses contained only one room. Their beds consisted of a coarse kind of matting, made of palm leaves woven by the hand. The rank

of the proprietor could usually be determined by the quality of his mats. These mats were generally about six feet wide, and ten or twelve in length. Those belonging to the chiefs, however, were often of a much larger size.

With the exception of mats and cloth, the men furnished the principal articles of household furniture. These consisted of some wooden stools, pillows, and a few wooden dishes. The pillows were ten or twelve inches in length, and four or five inches high, cut out of a single piece of wood, and curved on the upper side so as to fit the head. The natives were accustomed to sit cross-legged on mats, but occasionally used a stool. The stool or iri, though much larger than a pillow, was of a similar construction. It was sometimes four or five feet long, and three feet wide, yet always cut out of one piece of wood. The principal dish was called umete. Those belonging to the chiefs were often six or eight feet long, a foot and a half wide, and twelve inches deep, and resembled a canoe rather than receptacles for food. The dishes in common use were two or three feet long, and twelve or eighteen inches wide. Each dish had four feet cut out of the same piece of wood. The papahia or mortar was used for pounding breadfruit and plantains, which was done with a stone pestle called a penu. Their drinking cups and vessels for washing their hands were made of the cocoanut shell, and were often beautifully carved.

A

piece of bamboo-cane was their only substitute for a knife, but this they used for a variety of purposes.

The islanders had an ingenious way of obtaining fire. A man took a piece of dry wood ten or twelve inches long, and rubbed it with another piece sharpened to a point. When he had scratched a groove in it several inches in length, he moved the pointed piece rapidly over the other. Some dust soon collected in the groove, which speedily ignited. Dry grass was instantly held to it, and kindled by the breath, or by a swift motion in the air. The operation did not occupy more than one or two minutes. To the eye of a stranger this is a singular process, but to the natives our mode of producing light with phosphoric matches is much more singular and curious. In the Journal of Tyerman and Bennet there is an amusing account of the astonishment of the natives on seeing light produced in this way. One evening after a religious meeting, these gentlemen were followed home by a number of natives, who wished to see the "fire-works" which were understood to be in the possession of the strangers. It was, at first, difficult to conjecture what could have given rise to such a report; but the truth was at length suggested by the recollection that some matches had been tried the day before. It was at once concluded that these were the mighty" fire-works" whose fame was noised abroad. The people were accordingly gratified with the sight of some matches, which ignited on being dipped into a phial containing a chemical preparation.