human
The Sandwich Islands appear to me one of the most interesting groups, although the most isolated of all in North Polynesia. They are ten in number,--eight inhabited,--and were named by their discoverer, Captain Cook, in honor of the Earl of Sandwich, a minister who had warmly promoted his labors. The island of Owyhee, or more properly Hawaii, is the largest, being 415 miles in circumference. It obtained a celebrity, as the scene of Captain Cook's death, who was killed by the natives on the 14th of February, 1779. A celebrity of a different kind now awaits it, as the focus of civilization in Polynesia. The inhabitants have, with the assistance of the English and Americans, built twenty merchant-ships, with which they perform voyages to the north-west coast of America, and even visit Canton. They used to sacrifice human victims, but were never cannibals; they tattoo their bodies, and the women tattoo the tips of their tongues. Hawaii contains a tremendous volcano, the top of which is 16,000 feet above the level of the sea. The whole island, indeed, is one complete mass of lava. Christianity was introduced by the American missionaries in 1820, and is now the religion of the state. Schools have been established, and churches built. Honoruru, in the Island of Cahu, is the capital of the group. Some of the houses are built of stone; but the natives still prefer living in their huts, so that the town is grotesquely irregular. The principal public building is the English school, where children of both sexes are taught to read and write. The place is altogether in a flourishing condition, and so advanced in the refinements of life, that the news-paper, lately established in the town, sets forth the following articles for sale:--'Ladies' shoes from Paris, Ices, and Eau de Cologne.'
gpt
It is a great cause for thankfulness, that religion is spreading her benign influence over these volcanic isles. The women who, truly speaking, were the most callous and obdurate, have exhibited bright and numerous proofs of that change of heart, which is the single end and aim of pure Christianity. Kekupuhe, who in Cook's days was one of the wives of the king of Hawaii, evinced the sincerity of her conversion, which took place in 1828, by learning to read when she was more than eighty years of age, and by inditing hymns in honor of the God of her old age.
human
I cannot understand why they killed Captain Cook; and I have never read the account of his first visit to the Sandwich Islands: have you, Charles?
gpt
Yes, and a very interesting account it is. On the first appearance of the English ships, the chiefs and priests, taking them for floating islands, imagined that their long-expected guardian spirit, 'Etuah Orono,' was arrived. Hence Captain Cook was received with honor approaching to adoration, as they imagined him to be their 'Orono.' The king was absent at the time of his arrival; but the chief priest and his son received the captain. Scarcely were the ships anchored, when a priest went on board, and decorating Cook with a red cloth, such as adorned their deities, offered him a pig in the manner of a sacrifice, and pronounced a long harangue. They chanted hymns before him, and priests, bearing wands, preceded him on his landing, while the in habitants prostrated themselves on the ground, as he walked from the beach to the village.
human
But if they held him in such reverence, how was it they killed him?
gpt
His own imprudence brought about his melancholy end. Some time after his arrival, it appears, that one of his smaller boats was stolen by some of the natives, for the sake of the nails in her, and was broken up the very night it was stolen. Captain Cook, angry at losing his boat, attempted to get the king on board his ship, to confine him there, until the boat should be restored. This caused a tumult, and in the tumult, Captain Cook was slain. There certainly was no malice in the case,--not the slightest intention of injuring him; and his body was treated in the same manner as those of their own chiefs, the bones being assigned to different Eries (chiefs), who, either from affection, or from an idea of good luck attending them, desired to preserve them. Long after Captain Cook's death, the natives believed he would re-appear, and perhaps punish them for their breach of hospitality.
human
They are a most interesting people; and, to prove to you how they have advanced in civilization, I will give you two instances of their mode of living and taking their meals. Forty years ago, the Rev. Mr. Stewart, being then on a mission, visited a chief, and, when he entered the apartment, one of his queens was seated on the ground _à la Turc_, with a large wooden tray in her lap. Upon this a monstrous cuttle-fish had just been placed, fresh from the sea, and in all its life and vigor. The queen had taken it up with both hands, and brought its body to her mouth, and, by a single application of her teeth, the black blood with which it was filled gushed over her face and neck, while the long sucking arms of the fish, in the convulsive paroxysm of the operation, were twisting and writhing about her head, like the snaky hairs of a Medusa. Occupied as both hands were, she could only give her visitor a nod. Mr. Stewart remarks, 'It was the first time I had seen her Majesty, and I soon took my departure, leaving her, as I found her, in the full enjoyment of her luxurious luncheon.' Now,--observe the contrast. In 1841, Sir George Simpson and friends visited a chief. They were received in an immense apartment: several white persons were there to meet them: all the rules of etiquette were observed on going to table. The chiefs were all handsomely attired, their clothes fitting to a hair's breadth, for they had imported a tailor from England to make them. The dining-room was handsomely furnished, and lighted with elegant lamps. The dinner was excellent, with fine pastry and preserves from every country, and the glass and plate on the table would have been admired even in a London mansion. The chiefs, especially the host, were men of excellent address, and, adds Sir George Simpson, 'we soon forgot that we were sipping our coffee in a country which is deemed uncivilized, and among individuals who are classed with savages. There were but few incongruities in the course of the evening's entertainment, such as could at all mar the effect, excepting that one of the chiefs frequently inquired, with much solicitude, whether or not we thought his whiskers handsome.' In conclusion, he says, 'After chatting a good deal, and smoking a few cigars, we took our leave, highly gratified with the hospitality and courtesy of the governor and his friends'.
gpt
It must have been a work of time to convert these people; for their belief in the power of their idols was so strong, and had been preserved through so many generations.
human
The work was of God, my dear, and he made it to prosper. Civilization once introduced, the way to Christianity was paved; and the chiefs with their wives setting the example, the mission was soon full of hopes for the future. The great women of the islands, when converted themselves, endeavored to propagate the truths of the Gospel; and amongst them, one of the most justly celebrated Christians was Kapiolani. She wished to undeceive the natives concerning their false gods; and knowing in what veneration Peli, the goddess of the volcano, was held, she determined to climb the mountain, descend into the crater, and by thus braving the volcanic deities in their very homes, convince the inhabitants that God is God alone, and that the false and subordinate deities existed only in the fancies of their ignorant adorers. Thus determined, and accompanied by a missionary, she, with part of her family, and a number of followers, both of her own vassals, and those of other chiefs, ascended Peli. At the edge of the first precipice that bounds the sunken plain, many of her followers and companions lost courage and turned back: at the second, the rest earnestly entreated her to desist from her dangerous enterprise, and forbear to tempt the powerful gods of the fires. But she proceeded; and, on the very verge of the crater, caused a hut to be constructed for herself and people. Here she was assailed anew by their entreaties to return home; and their assurances, that, if she persisted in violating the dwellings of the goddess, she would draw on herself, and those with her, certain destruction. Her answer was noble:--'I will descend into the crater,' said she; 'and if I do not return safe, then continue you to worship Peli; but, if I come back unhurt, you must learn to adore the God who created Peli.' She accordingly went down the steep and difficult side of the crater, accompanied by a missionary, and by some whom love or duty induced to follow her. Arrived at the bottom, she thrust a stick into the liquid lava, and stirred the ashes of the burning lake. The charm of superstition was at that moment broken. Those who had expected to see the goddess, armed with flames and sulphurous smoke, burst forth and destroy the daring heroine who thus braved her, in her very sanctuary, were awe-struck when they saw the fire remain innocuous, and the flames roll harmless, as though none were present. They acknowledged the greatness of the God of Kapiolani; and from that time few indeed have been the offerings, and little the reverence paid to the fires of Peli.
gpt
What delightful anecdotes concerning my island! but I have one reserved for the conclusion, which illustrates the truth of the assertion, that the women of the Sandwich Islands are superior to the men in many exercises requiring skill, and also in their powers of endurance. The latter quality may, I believe, be fairly adjudged to the women of all countries. 'A man and his wife, both Christians, were passengers in a schooner, which foundered at a considerable distance from the land. All the natives on board promptly took refuge in the sea; and the man in question, who had just celebrated divine service in the ill-fated vessel, called his fellows (some of them being converts as well as himself) around him, to offer up another tribute of praise and supplication from the deep; exhorting them, with a combination of courage and humility rarely equalled, to worship God in that universal temple, under whose restless pavement he and most of his hearers were destined to find their graves. It was done: they called on God from the midst of the waves, and then each struggled to save the life they valued. The man and his wife had each succeeded in procuring the support of a covered bucket by way of a buoy; and away they struck with the rest for Kahoolawe, finding themselves next morning alone in the ocean, after a whole afternoon and night of privation and toil. To aggravate their misfortunes, the wife's bucket went to pieces soon after daylight, so that she had to make the best of her way without assistance or relief; and, in the course of the second afternoon, the man became too weak to proceed; till his wife, to a certain extent, restored his strength by shampooning him in the water. They had now Kahoolawe in full view after having been about four-and-twenty hours on their dreary voyage. In spite, however, of the cheering sight, the man again fell into such a state of exhaustion, that the woman took his bucket for herself, giving him at the same time the hair of her head as a towing-line; and, when even this exertion proved too much for him, the faithful creature, after trying in vain to rouse him to prayer, took his arms round her neck, holding them together with one hand, and making with the other for the shore When a very trifling distance remained to be accomplished, she discovered that he was dead, and dropping his corpse she reached the land before night, having swam upwards of twenty-five miles during an exposure of thirty hours! The only means of resting from her fatigue being by floating on the top of the water.
human
Very good, Charles; but if our notes of all the other islands in Polynesia be as extensive as those of the Sandwich Isles, I fear we shall not cross the equator before midnight.
gpt
I can soon quiet your fears, dear papa; for the description of the remaining isles in North Polynesia rests with the elder members, and of course they are at liberty to abridge them if they please.
human
In that case I will undertake to run over the Ladrones, sometimes called the Marianne Isles. There are twenty of them; but only five are inhabited, and they lie in the south extremity of the cluster. They are so close together, and so broken and irregular in their form and position, as to appear like fragments disjointed from each other, at remote periods, by some sudden convulsion of nature. The coasts consist for the most part of dark brown rocks, honey-combed in many places by the action of the waves. The islands are fertile, abounding in hogs, cattle, horses, mules, and many other agreeable things; while in order that, like other countries in this sublunary world, they may lay claim to a portion of disagreeables, they are infested with mosquitoes and endless varieties of loathsome insects; and the fish that are found around the coasts are not fit for food. So much for the country--now for the natives:--They are tall, robust, and active; the men wear scarcely any covering, and the women only a petticoat of matting. Both sexes stain their teeth black, and many of them tattoo their bodies. The Ladrone Islands were originally discovered by Magellan, who called them 'las Islas de las Ladrones' or the islands of thieves; because the Indians stole everything made of iron within their reach. At the latter end of the seventeenth century, they obtained the name of Marianne from the Queen of Spain, who sent missionaries thither to propagate the Christian religion. Guajan is the largest island of the group. Near the Ladrones lies the famous pyramidal rock called 'Lot's wife.' A sea neither broken nor interrupted for an immense space in all directions, here dashes with sublime violence on the solid mass which rises almost perpendicularly to a height of 350 feet. On the south-east side is a deep cavern, where the waves resound with a prodigious noise.
gpt
The Philippine Isles fall to my share. They are, correctly speaking, in the Eastern Archipelago. Luzon, the most northerly, is the largest: it is a long narrow island, and, like all the others, abounding in volcanoes. Gold, iron, and copper have been found in the mountains, and rock salt is so abundant in some parts as to be an article of export. These islands are exceedingly mountainous and fertile, but from the large swamps are very unhealthy. There are no beasts of prey, but numerous herds of cattle; the inhabitants, however, are too indolent to profit by these gifts of nature; they are actually too idle to make their cow's milk into butter, and throughout the islands use hog's lard instead, because they will not be at the trouble of keeping and milking the cows. Rice is the chief support of the population. Sugar, coffee, and many other delightful things grow here, and cotton shrubs thrive well. Manilla is the only port of trade in the Philippines: it is a fortified city inhabited by people from all parts of the world. This city is entered by six gates. The streets have carriage ways and footpaths, and are lighted at night. The houses are solidly constructed, but, on account of earthquakes, seldom more than one story above the ground floor. Most of the houses are furnished with balconies and verandahs; the place of glass in the windows is supplied by thin semi transparent pieces of shell, which though more opaque repel heat better. In the year 1762 Manilla was taken by the English; but ransomed by Spain for 1,000 000_l_. sterling. There! who can compete with my islands in value?
human
Quantity must compensate for the loss of quality. Here are the Caroline or New Philippines,--forty-six groups of them, comprising several hundred islands. A few of them are high, rising in peaks, but by far the greater number are merely volcanic formations. They were discovered in 1686, by a Spaniard, who named them after Charles II. of Spain. There are no hogs on these islands, and the inhabitants subsist chiefly on fish. They are reputed to be the most expert sailors and fishermen in Polynesia; and, notwithstanding the tremendous sea by which they are surrounded, they have a considerable trading intercourse with the Ladrone and many other islands.
gpt
Papa, it is your turn again.--Pelew Isles.