Voyages in the Northern Pacific/Chapter XIV
CHAPTER XIV.
The women of the Sandwich Islands are well made and handsome; their dress consists of ten sheets of cloth of the country, three feet broad and three yards long, wrapped round their waists and descending to the middle of the leg. The outside sheet is prettily painted, and resembles a piece of printed calico: this part of the dress is called pa'ou (pa'u). Their upper garments are composed of sheets, about three yards square; some are painted, some are dyed black, and others white; these they can reduce at pleasure. A tobacco-pipe is hung, with a small looking-glass, round their necks, and they do not consider themselves dressed without them. They also wear an ivory hook, called palava (palaoa), fastened round the neck with the plaited hair of their friends. Some of the women wear their hair long and tied, others cut it close off, turn it up in front, and lime it till quite white; it then looks like the border of a cap. They are very fond of white shirts and black silk handkerchiefs, and look extremely well in them. The men wear a piece of cloth three yards long and a foot wide; this is passed between the legs and round the loins, and is of the stoutest cloth they make. They also wear a cloth over the shoulders the same as the women. The chiefs, on particular occasions, wear a handsome cloak and helmet of feathers, in which dress their appearance is very imposing. They have very fine mats to put on in wet weather, finely painted and fringed. While I was here I was invited by one of the chiefs to join a fishing party on the flats to the westward of the harbour of Honorora. There were several fires lit the night previous, and, in the morning, the nets were run out and set on the flat. The people collected from all parts of the island: they all strip and start from two points, making a circuit of several miles; both parties meet on the outer edge of the flats, and, forming a circle, they gradually close in, keeping their feet close together to prevent the escape of the fish, the water not being more than knee deep. Each person is provided with a scoop net and a bag net over his shoulder; they are permitted to scoop up what they can and fill their bag; still closing in, when the nets are drawn all round after them. By this method they catch 50 or 60 canoe-loads'. There were not fewer than 6000 people collected at this party, which ended, as all such do, in a fight about the division of the fish. On my return from this expedition I was nearly lost: I embarked in a canoe with Toowyheene (Kuwahine), wife to Keymatoo (Keeaumoku), the king's prime minister, who steered the canoe, and when we came to the reef of the harbor wanted to try her skill in dashing through the surf, which ran very high. We got through several breakers, but she at length let the canoe broach too, by which we were upset and all thrown out. The chief's wife and four of the natives collected round me, while the remainder were employed in getting the canoe from the surf and baling her out. I was in a most perilous situation for about half an hour, being obliged to dive through every surf, attended by the natives and the chief's wife, with whose aid I managed to take my clothes off, which made me swim much lighter. We ultimately got safe into the harbour, but I never could be tempted to run over the breakers again.
Having described an aquatic fishing bout, I will now describe the mode of catching flying fish:—The nets in which they are taken are made of twine, which is spun from a sort of hemp, called by the natives oorana (olona), and very strong. A number of nets are laced together, so as to make one of two or three hundred yards in length; they are about six foot broad, with a large and strong bag in the centre, and these they run out in a straight line, the upper part of which is boated by cork wood, and the lower sunk with stones. They take large branches of trees and lay along the head line, which prevent the fish from flying over; a large double canoe is placed at each end of the net, gradually drawing it to a circle, while a number of other canoes are employed in the open space, beating the water and diving to frighten the fish toward the net. When the double canoes at the ends of the net meet, they take the net in, gradually contracting the circle till the fish are forced into the bag. Sometimes, at a haul of this kind, they will catch six or eight canoes full, though not without risk, for fishermen often get black eyes and bruised faces from the fish flying about, which are the largest I have ever seen. Albicores, dolphins, and bonitos, are caught in the following manner: A canoe that pulls seven paddles goes to sea with two good fishermen, (besides the paddlers), each with a stout bamboo, about 20 feet long, a strong line made from the oorana, and about the size of a log-line, is affixed; the line is about three-quarters of the length of the pole, and has a pearl hook made fast to it. The canoe is then paddled very swiftly with the hooks towing on the surface of the water, one at each side, the fishermen holding the rod steady against their thigh, and the lower end resting in the bottom of the canoe; they steady the pole with one hand, and, with the other keep throwing water on the hook, and when their prey gets hooked, by lifting the pole upright the fish swings in, and is caught under the left arm and secured. In this manner they will take 40 or 50 in the course of a few hours. They have a sort of heath here which the natives pound up, and with it dive among the rocks, and, in a few minutes, all the fish within a certain distance, sicken and come to the surface of the water, and are easily taken. The natives immediately gut them. Whether the fish eat this heath or not I could never learn, but certainly it is a most powerful poison.
On moon light nights, the natives collect on the plain to the number of many hundreds, men, women, and children; here they sit in a ring, where they dance, sing, and play all manner of games, and seldom break up before midnight. On these islands they have much rain in the months of November, December, January, and February, and sometimes it blows heavy gales, equal to the West India hurricanes, from the S. W. These commonly prevail in January, and, during the remainder of the year, the trade-wind blows steady from N. to N. E. sometimes very strong. The hard gales from the S. W. the natives call momotoo (mumuku); previous to the gale, the sea sets in heavily from the S. W. with dark gloomy weather, the mountains are covered with dense clouds, and the tempest is preceded by a dead calm for one or two days, during which time the canoes are not allowed to go on the water. The gale very often blows down the houses, tears tree up by the roots, and does much mischief by overflowing the fish-ponds at the water side, by which means the fish escape. At Woahoo the tide flows 30 minutes past four, full and change, rising about seven feet.
In my tour with Mr. Manning (Manini), we visited the ruin of a large stone house, or fort, which had formerly belonged to a great chief; it had a double fence of human bones round it; these were the bones of his enemies killed in the war before the islands were visited by Europeans. The bones of this great chief are said to be still in the house; the natives are afraid to go near it, preferring to go a round of five or six miles to passing it. Mr. Manning had an island in Pearl River, as before stated, which we also visited. It is about two miles in circumference, having a large cave in the centre. It is covered with goats, hogs, and rabbits. Only one family resides there, consisting of a man, his wife, and three children, with two servants, all belonging to Mr. Manning. We remained on it two days. One evening after supper the man gave us an account of a singular affair, which occurred to him when he first got charge of the island. He was one night awoke by some person calling him by name, and telling him to attend to what he said; he looked up, and was much terrified on beholding the pale form of the late King Pereoranee (Paleioholani) before him, who told him as he valued his life so must he perform what he enjoined: which was, to go to the cave, where he would find his bones with the bones of several great chiefs; he was to take them from thence and convey them to a place of safety, out of the reach of a chief Tereacoo, (Kaleioku) who would come the next day with a party to search the island for the bones of the king and chiefs, to make points for their arrows to shoot rats with, (they think there is a charm in human bones, and never any other sort).
The next day according to the prediction, the chief came and searched the island; the man told him that as the island and all that was on it belonged to a white man of whom Tameameah was very fond, he ought not to come there to search for bones, when there was so many on the main island. The chief took no notice, but searched and took several bundles of bones with him, though not those of the king and chiefs. Tereacoo departed, and on the ensuing night the deceased king and many chiefs appeared to the man, and thanked him for what he had done, assuring him that the white man would protect him, and that he should one day become a great man. Mr. Manning was as superstitious as the natives, and declared he had heard many instances of a similar nature. Shortly after we went to the sleeping-house where the women were. Mr. Manning went out to walk about; in a few minutes he returned in a terrible fright and perspiration. Seeing him look so wild, I asked him what was the matter; when he got more composed, he told me, very seriously, that as he was walking by the prickly pear-trees, saying his prayers and counting his beads, he saw the Chief Tereacoo, who had died about a month since, walking before him, attended by a number of people dressed in the white cloth of the country. I laughed heartily at this relation, and tried to persuade him it was all imagination; but he still persisted in having seen the spirits. The next morning I went round the island, which seems as though it had been kept for a burial place, for I saw hundreds of bundles of human bones, wrapped carefully up in cloth, and laid in the crevices of the rocks. We then left this spot, and Mr. Manning had the king's bones actually conveyed privately to his own house, where he still keeps them. In our tour we were extremely well treated by the natives, each striving who should be most attentive in bringing us roasted pigs, dogs, and powee (poi). They roast their dogs and pigs in a hole in the ground with heated stones, and rolled in leaves of the plaintain-tree; when cooked in this manner, their food, whether meat or fish, is delicious. They prepare the powee by baking the tarrow under ground in the same way, and when thoroughly baked they beat it up on a large flat stone, mixing water with it till they bring it to the consistency of starch; it is then put into calabashes and will keep for one or two months. This with raw fish is their favorite food, which they eat with their fingers, dipping them into the calabash and sucking the powee off. They have also a dish with a raw fish and some salt and water; they dip the fish into the salt and water, and, sucking it, pass it to the person next to them, and so on, till it goes round the company, consisting sometimes of a dozen persons. They are very fond of sea weed, and eat it with salt; shrimps, crabs, and all small fish they eat raw; dogs are considered a great delicacy, and are much dearer than pigs; a number of Europeans prefer dog to pig, declaring, that it is by far the most delicate. The dogs they eat are fed entirely on roots, and never allowed to touch meat. Every plantation we stopped at we had all that the place afforded; the best houses were prepared for our reception, where clean mats and tapas, or cloth of the country, were laid for us to sleep on, which our servants took with them, being their perquisite. About the end of June we got back to the village of Honorora.