O T A H 
fcarcely excelled by the beft performers upon the ftages of 
Europe. But the practice, which is allowed to the virgin, 
is prohibited to the married woman. 
Thefe iflanders, who inhabit huts expofed to all the 
winds, and hardly cover the earth, which ferves them for 
a bed, with a layer of leaves, are remarkably healthy and 
vigorous, and live to an old age without enduring .any of 
its infirmities; their fenfes are acute, and they retain 
their beautiful teeth to the laft. M. de Bougainville de- 
fcribes an old man, whom they favv on their landing, who 
had no other charaCler of old age, than that refpe&able 
one which is imprinted on a fine figure. His head was 
adorned with white hair, and a long white beard ; all his 
body was nervous and flefiiy; he had neither wrinkles, 
nor (howed any other tokens of decrepitude. This ve¬ 
nerable man feemed difpleafed at the arrival of thefe 
ftrangers; he even retired without making any returns 
to the courtefies they paid to him; but he gave no figns 
either of fear, aftonifliment, or curiofity: very far from 
taking any part in the raptures which the multitude ex- 
prefled, his thoughtful and fufpicious air feemed to indi¬ 
cate, that he feared the arrival of a new race of men w'ould 
interrupt the happinefs he had fo long enjoyed. From 
whence it may be inferred, that his mind was not more 
impaired than his body. There are, however, feveral 
forts of leprous complaints on this illand, which appear 
in cutaneous eruptions of the fcaly kind ; fome Were feen 
that had ulcers upon different parts of their bodies ; yet 
they feemed little regarded by thofe w'ho were afflicted 
with them, and no application whatever was ufed to them, 
not fo much as to keep off the flies. But inftances of 
them are rare, as the excellency of their climate, and the 
fimplicity of their vegetable food, prevent almoft all dan¬ 
gerous and deadly diforders. The venereal dileafe, how¬ 
ever, is faid to have been entailed upon thefe people by the 
crew of M. de Bougainville’s fliips, who vifited this ifland 
a fliort time after Capt. Wallis had left it. In 1769, more 
than one half of the crew in Capt. Cook’s fliip had con- 
trailed it, during a month’s flay here. The natives diftin- 
guilhed it by a name of the fame import with rotiennefs , but 
of a more extenfive fignification. They defcribed, in the 
moll pathetic terms, the furferings which the firft viitims 
to its rage endured ; and told him that it caufed the hair 
and the nails to fall off, and the flefh to rot from the bones ; 
that it fpread an univerfal terror and confternation among 
the inhabitants, fo that the fick were abandoned by their 
neareft relations, left the calamity fhould fpread by con¬ 
tagion, and were left to perifli alone in fuch mifery as, 
till then, had never been known among them. Both 
Capt. Cook and Mr. Forfter, in their relations of their 
voyage in the Refolution, endeavour to eftablifh the opi¬ 
nion, that this fcourge of licentioufnefs was felt in the 
South-Sea iflands previous to any of the modern voyages 
that have been made thither, and that it was an indige¬ 
nous difeafe there. But, if that conclufion be well 
founded, how comes it, that at all the places where the 
Refolution touched in 1773, which had before been vi¬ 
fited by the Endeavour in 1769, fuch as New Zealand for 
inftance, the crew’, more or lefs, became infeCted by their 
commerce with the women ; and not at all fo at places 
which they vifited for the firfl; time in the Refolution ? 
The principal manufactures among the Otaheiteans, is 
their cloth. This is made of the bark of trees, which are 
of three kinds ; viz. the Chinefe mulberry-tree, or aornta ; 
the bread-fruit tree, or ooroo ; and one that is defcribed 
by Dr. Hawkefworth as refembling the wild-fig tree of 
the Weft: Indies. The colours with which they dye this 
cloth are principally red and yellow. The red is exceed¬ 
ingly beautiful, and of a brighter and more delicate co¬ 
lour than any we have in Europe. The red colour is pro¬ 
duced by the mixture of the juices of two vegetables, 
neither of which, feparately, has the lead; tendency to 
that hue ; and is a fpecies of fig called here matte, and 
the other the Cordia febeftina, or etou. Of the fig-tree 
the fruit is ufed, and of the Cordia the leaves. The yel¬ 
low is made of the bark of the root of the Morinda citri- 
E I T E. ' 43 
folia, called nono, by fcraping and infufing it in water. 
The inhabitants of this ifland have alfo a method of dye¬ 
ing yellow with the fruit of the tamann: they have alfo a 
preparation with which they dye brown and black. 
Another confiderable manufacture, is mat ting of various 
kinds; fome of which is finer and better in every refpeCt 
than any we have in Europe : the coarfer fort ferves them 
to fleep upon, and the finer,to wear in wet weather. They 
are alfo very dextrous in making balket and wicker work ; 
their baflcets are of a thouland different patterns, many of 
them exceedingly neat; and the making of them is an 
art that every one praCtifes, both men and women. The 
women make little bonnets of the cocoa-nut leaf, to fhade 
their faces, at fo fmall an expenfe of time and trouble, 
that, when the fun is again low in the evening, they throw 
them away. Thefe bonnets, however, do not cover the 
head, but confift only of a band that goes round it, and 
a (hade that projects from the forehead. 
Of the bark of a tree called poerou, the Hibifcus tili- 
acus of Linnceus, they make ropes and lines, from the 
thicknefs of an inch to the fize of a fmall packthread ; 
with thefe they make nets for fiftiing : of the fibres of the 
cocoa-nut they make thread, for fattening together the 
feveral parts of their canoes, and belts, either round or 
flat, twifted or plaited ; and of the bark of the ervwa, a 
kind of nettle, which grows in the mountains, and is 
therefore rather fcarce, they make the bell fifliing-lines 
in the world: with thefe they hold the ftrongeftand molt 
aCtive fifti, fuch as bonetas and albicores, which would 
fnap our ftrongeft filk lines in a minute, though they are 
twice as thick. They make alfo a kind of feine, of a coarfe 
broad grafs, the blades of which are like flags; thefe they 
twift and tie together in a loqfe manner, till the net, which 
is about as wide as a large lack, is from fixty to eighty 
fathom long; this they haul in ftioal fmooth water, and 
its own weight keeps it fo clofe to the ground, that fcarcely 
a Angle fifti can elcape. In every expedient, indeed, for 
taking fifti, they are exceedingly ingenious; they make 
harpoons of cane, and point them with hard wood, which 
in their hands ftrike fifti more effectually than thofe which 
are headed with iron can do in ours, fetting afide the ad¬ 
vantage of ours being faftened to a line, fo that the fifti 
is fecured if the hook takes place, though it does not 
mortally wound him. Of fifti-hooks they have two kinds, 
admirably adapted in their conftruCtion, as w'ell to the 
purpofe for which they are defigned, as to the materials 
of which they are made. Thefe are made of mother-of- 
pearl, or fome other hard fliell. 
The tools ufed by the Otaheiteans for all their pur- 
pofes are, an adze made of ftone; a chifel or gouge made 
of bone, generally the bone of a man’s arm between the 
wrift and elbow ; a rafp of coral, and the fkin of a fting- 
ray ; alfo coral and fand, as a file or polifher; and with 
thefe they fell timber, cleave and polifti it, and hew ftone. 
The ftone which makes the blade of their adzes is a kind 
of bafaltes, of a grey or blackifti colour, not very hard, 
but of confiderable toughnefs ; they are formed of dif¬ 
ferent fizes: fome, that are intended for felling, weigh 
from fix to eight pounds; others, that are ufed for carving, 
not more than as many ounces; but it is neceffary to 
lharpen thefe rude tools almoft every minute ; for which 
purpole a cocoa-nut fliell full of water, and a ftone, are 
always at hand. With fuch tools they generally take up 
feveral days in felling a tree; but, after it is down, and 
fplit into planks, they fmooth them very dexteroufiy and 
expeditioufly with their adzes, and can take off a thin, 
coat from a whole plank without milling a ftroke. 
Their weapons are flings, which they ufe with'great 
dexterity; pikes headed with the (kins of fting-rays; and 
clubs of about fix orfeven feet long, made of a very hard 
wood. Thus armed, they are faid to fight with great ob- 
ftinacy ; and to give no quarter to man, woman, or child, 
who happens to fall into their hands during the battle, 
nor for fome time afterwards, till their paflion fublides. 
They have likewife bows and arrows; but the arrows are 
good for nothing except to bring down a bird, being 
headed 
