OTAHEITE. 
fervants, or “ toutows,’’ a8 they are called, fleep in the open 
air, except it rains, aud in that cafe they come juft within 
the fhed. There are, however, houfes of another kind, be- 
longing to the chiefs, in which there is fome degree of pri- 
Thefe are much {maller, and fo conftru@ted, as to 
be carried about from place to place, and fet up pairrpeoeele 
like a tent; they are inclofed on the fides with c 
nut leaves, but not fo clofe as to ene the air, a ee 
chief and his wife fleep in them alone. There are houfes alfo 
of a much larger fize, not built giher for the accommodation 
of a fingle chief, or a fingle family ; but as common rec 
Som 
tended. Of the food eaten here the greater part is vege- 
ers be the only bina hogs, dogs and poultry, there 
re b eans ple When a chief kills a hog, it is 
anol saul divided among his dependants ; and as they 
uent, mult neceffarily be {mall. 
Dogs and fowl fall ao more frequently to the fhare 
of the common peo Captain Cook could not much 
duces co : 
crabs, and other fhell-fith, “which are found upon the coatt ; 
and they will eat not only fea infe&ts, but what the foamen 
call blubbers, though fome of them are fo tough, that they 
are obliged to fuffer them to become putrid before they can 
fh fpontaneoufly ; but if a man plant ten of them in 
his life-time, which he m o in about an hour, he will as 
completely fulfil his duty to his own ure generations, 
8 e tempera do 
e climate c 
ing} 
countries do opium, beetle-root, and tobacco. The quantity 
o ~~ nee thefe people eat at a meal is prodigious ; one 
evour two or three es bi P 
as herr aaa ee ewes than - filts, fourteen or 
fifteen ey ip or bananas, ~~ of them fix or feven inches 
long, a or five round, and near a qua art of the pounded 
bread- fruit, “which i is as fabRantial as the thickeft unbaked 
cuftard. The women not only abftain from eating with the 
men, and of the fame viCtuals, but even have their victuals 
feparately prepared by boys kept for that purpofe, who 
depofit it in a feparate fhed, 5d attend them with it at their 
meals. 
After meals, and in the heat of the day, the middle- 
aged people of the better fort generally fleep : they are, 
indeed, extremely indolent, fo that fleeping and eating are 
almoft their whole employme Thofe that are older are 
lefs drowfy ; and the boys and girls are kept awake by the 
natural {prightlinefs and ney of their age. Their amufe- 
ments are mufic, dancing, wreltling, and fhooting with the 
bow: they alfo fometimes vie with each other in throwing a 
lance. Their only mufical inftruments are flutes and drums ; 
the flutes are and of a hollow bamboo, about a foot long, 
and have only two ftops, and confequently but four notes. 
e drum is fade of a hollow block of wood, of a cylin- 
drial Sieg folid at one end, and covered at che other mah 
as play together into unifon, whic 
s to flip over the end of the fhorteft, like our fliding tubes for 
el lesges which they move up and down till the purpofe is 
an{wered, of which they feetn to judge by their ear with great 
nicety. To thefe inftruments they fing; their oe are often 
extempore ; : “the ey call every two verfes or couplet a fong, 
“* palay :” they are generally, though not always, in rhime 
and when pronounced by the natives, ped might be difcovered 
to be metre. Their candles are made of the kernels of a 
kind of oily nut, which they ftick one over another upon a 
fkewer that is thraft through the middle of them; the upper 
one being lighted burns down to the fecond, and fo on to the 
third, &c. Among other diverfions, there is a dance, called 
“ timorodee,’”? which is performed by young girls, whenever 
eight or ten of them can be colleted together, confifting of 
motions and geftures beyond imagination wanton, in the 
practice of which they are brought up from their earlieft 
childhood, accompanied by words, which, if it were poflible, 
would more explicitly convey the fame ideas. In thefe dances 
ae keep time with an exa€tnefs which is {carcely excelled by 
the belt performers upon the ftages of Europe. But the 
practice which is allowed to the virgin, is prohibited to the 
married woman. The Otaheiteans are remarkable for clean- 
a 
every mo Hels ; and their aiken as well as their perfons, 
are kept without {pot or ftain. ‘Their arg manufac 
ture is their cloth, which 1s of three kinds ; it is made 
of the bark of three different trees : the Chinefe aper-mul 
berry, the bread-fruit tree, and the tre ae refembles 
he wild fig-tree of the Indies. The colours with 
which they dye this cloth are principally red and yello 
red 1s exceedingly ful, and brighter and 
r ave The r 
in Europe. 
y the mixture of the juices of two ve- 
neither of which feparately has the leaft ten- 
called here 
Etou.”’ 
e.! 
ie] 
3 
Q 
ae 
© we 
oO 
~) 
pS] 
way 
OF the Sala i. fruit is ufed, and of the * Cordia’”’ the 
leaves is made of the bark of the root of the 
“ Morinda citvifolia,” called ** Nono,”? by fcraping and in- 
fufing it in water. The inhabitants of this ifland have alfo 
a method of dyeing yellow with the fruit of the ‘‘ tamanu :” 
they have alfo a preparation with which they dye brown and 
lac n arious 
kinds ; fome of which is finer and better in every celped than 
any we have in Europe: the coarfer fort ferves them to fleep 
upon, and the finer to wear in wet weather 
very dextrous in makin 
bafkets are of a thoufand different patterns, many of them 
exceedingly. 
