402 
MARQUESAS. 
to thefe iflanders ; he fay % on the contrary, that, having 
repeatedly been prefent at their meals, for which men, 
women, and children, of the fame houfe, affemble twice 
a-day, at noon and before night-fall, he was furprifed at 
the great cleanlinefs which prevailed, and which is ob- 
fervable in their whole habitations ; he adds, that he has 
feen the inhabitants of La Madre de Dios, in the ifland 
of Santa Chriftiana, make very frequenNufe of water for 
wa(hing themfelves. Surgeon Roblet alfo fays, that both 
men and women pafs whole days in the water. To their 
frequent ufe of water is afcribed their freedom from cu¬ 
taneous difeafes, pimples, ulcers, Sec. which are common 
in the burning climates of the torrid zone. It is affirmed, 
that in various refpefts they are more cleanly than the 
inhabitants of Otaheite, extolled by Capt. Cook. Their 
diet, it is obferved, is more vegetable than animal. From 
the cocoa-nut they extract an oil, which is probably 
employed in feafoning their dirties; but which is prin¬ 
cipally ufed to anoint their bodies; and the women ef- 
pecially confume a great quantity of it for maintaining 
the glofs and beauty of their hair. Their common drink 
is pure water, and occartonally cocoa-nut milk. As they 
have the pepper-root, and make ufe of it as a fign of peace, 
it is fuppofed that they may alfo prepare the lame dainty 
beverage from it with which the other iflanders intoxi¬ 
cate themfelves. Capt. Chanal prefumes, not without 
reafon, that they procure a llrong liquor from the root of 
ginger, rather than from that of pepper. This beverage, 
however, they ufe with moderation ; for Marchand fays, 
that no individual was feen here who manifelted the 
(lighted appearance of intoxication. To their friends 
they manifeft their civility in a fingular manner, by offer¬ 
ing to them bits which they have previoufly chewed, in 
order to put them to no other trouble than that of fwal- 
lowing what is thus prepared. 
It does not appear that in Santa Chriftiana they have 
either laws or chiefs ; ftrength being every thing, and the 
weak obeying the ftrong. Of their religion we have no 
better information than that of their government. During 
the ftay which the French made in this ifland, they faw no¬ 
thing which could make them think, that its inhabitants 
paid any worfhip to a Supreme Being. Pleafure, fays 
Marchand, is the divinity of the country ; no fuperltition, 
no ceremony, no prielt or juggler. In the Miffionary 
Voyage, we have the following account of the cultoms 
and manners of the people about Refolution-bay, more 
efpecially as they relate to religion ; and they are different 
from the account given by the French voyagers. “ Their 
religious ceremonies refemble thofe of the Society Iftands. 
They have a morai in each diftridf, where the dead are 
buried beneath a pavement of large ftones. They have a 
multitude of deities. Thofe molt frequently mentioned 
are Opooamanne, Okeco, Oenamoe, Opeepeetye, Onooko, 
Oetanow, Fatu-ait-poo, Onoetye ; but none who ieem (u- 
perior to the reft, though the extent of my information 
(fays the miffionary) is fmall on this head. They only 
offer hogs in facrifice, and never men. The chief Tenae 
prefldes over four diltrifls, Ohitahoo, Takeway, and In- 
namei, all opening into Refolution-bay, and Onopoho, 
the adjoining valley to the fouthward. He has tour bro¬ 
thers ; but none of them feem inverted with any authori¬ 
ty ; and Tenae himfelf with lefs than the Otaheitean chiefs. 
There is no regular government, eftabliflied law, or pu- 
nithment; but cuftom is the general rule,” 
As to their food, we are informed that they have no re¬ 
gular meals, but eat when they are hungry. When they 
have a hog, they eat of it five or fix times a-day ; and, 
when without animal food, they ufe the roafted bread¬ 
fruit, filli, mahie, pudding made of it and other vegeta¬ 
bles, ahee-nuts, and a pafte made of a root refembling the 
yam ; and this they often do through the day. The wo¬ 
men are not allowed to eat hog, and are probably reftrained 
by other prohibitions as at Otaheite,'and feem much more 
fervile to the men, and harftily treated. They are em¬ 
ployed in making cloth and matting, but not in cookery, 
except for therwfelves. “ I have never obferved (fays one 
of the miffionaries) any of the men, from the chief to the 
toutou, at wt>rk, except a few old perfons making cords 
and nets ; the relt idle about, and bafle in the fun, telling 
their ftories, and beguiling the time.” 
As far as concerns the perfons, drefs, canoes, Sec. of 
thefe people, the miffionaries found them exa&ly as they 
are deferibed in Cook’s Second Voyage. Their canoes 
are made of wood, and the bark of a foft tree, which 
grow s near the fea; they are from fixteen to twenty feet 
long, and about fixteen inches broad. The head and 
Item are formed out of two folid pieces of wood ; the 
former is curved, and the latter ends in a point, which 
projects horizontally, and is decorated with a rude carved 
figure, having a faint refemblance to a human face. 
Some of the canoes have alatteen fail, but they are gene¬ 
rally rowed with paddles. Their naval architecture, how¬ 
ever, is rtill in its infancy, if we compare it with that of 
the Otaheitans. Sometimes two of their ill-conftrufted 
and leaking canoes are joined together; but they moft 
commonly content themfelves with adapting to them an 
outrigger, compofed of two bamboos projecting laterally, 
and fartened at their outer extremities by a branch of a 
light wood, which forms the gunwale of the frame. 
Thefe canoes carry from three to feven men, and from 
ten to fifteen when two are laftied together. If a canoe 
overfets, an accident not uncommon, the men jump over¬ 
board, right her, bale her out, and get into her again 
very quietly. Capt. Chanal fays, that the conftruction of 
their houfes and canoes evinces no inconfiderable (hare of 
induftry and patience. In the fabrication of their wea¬ 
pons, they difplay great care and ingenuity. Thefe con- 
firt of lances from nine to eleven feet long, a fort of fabre, 
pikes or javelins, and clubs, having at one extremity a 
large knob, and made of cafuarina wood, ornamented with 
carving. In the rainy feafon they maintain intercourfe 
with one another by means of (tilts, compofed of two 
pieces, fo adapted to each other, as to admit of being ac¬ 
commodated to (hallow or deep water. 
Their tools, rude as they are, their fiftiing-implements, 
differing very little from ours, and the various utenfils, 
articles of furniture, garments and dreffes, all announce 
intelligence and indultry in the perfons by whom they 
were invented, and alfo in thofe by whom they are fabri¬ 
cated. Their hatchet, which is a black and (harp (lone, 
(haped like an elongated wedge, or a mortife-chifel, and 
fattened to a piece of crooked wood by fmall fennit made 
of cocoa-nut bafs; their pieces of (hell, formed in (harp- 
edged inftruments and faws, and the rough (kin of fome 
filh, ferve to faihion and poliffi their different works of 
carpentry and of fculpture. Their fiftiing-implements, 
confiding of the fcoop-net and the fweep-net, are made 
fome of them with cocoa-nut bafs, others with the corti¬ 
cal fibres of a fpecies of nettle. The fame materials are 
employed for making ropes, fennit, and mats. Their 
lioufehold utenfils confift of calabafhes of different capa¬ 
cities, which they contrive to (top fo hermetically, that 
they may be employed for the conveyance of liquids; and 
of various wooden veffels ufed for their food ; and on 
thefe they amufe themfelves in carving and engraving 
figures of men, fillies, and birds. The fubftance of their 
cloths is the bark of the paper mulberry-tree ; and fome 
are alfo made of the cortical fibres of the bread-fruit tree ; 
and thefe not only wear tolerably well, but are fometimes 
dyed yellow. After all, the principal occupation of the 
natives of St. Chriftiana is to fing, dance, and amufe them¬ 
felves. The mufic of Otaheite and of this ifland are much 
the fame, and the inhabitants of both make ufe of the 
fame kind of drums. They amufe themfelves in running 
on their (lilts, and alfo in fwimming, to which exercile 
they devote whole days, without any other nourifliment 
belides the flefli and the milk of cocoa-nuts. Thus de¬ 
voted to amufement and pleafure, the Mendogans are an 
amiable, hofpitable, and generous, people. Although, 
from the levity and indolence that are natural to them. 
