45 
O T A H 
the fqnare end to the breaking wave, were driven in to¬ 
wards the (hore with incredible rapidity, fometimes al- 
molt to the beach ; but generally the wave broke over 
them before they got half way ; in which cafe they dived, 
and role to the other fide with the canoe in their hands, 
and, fwimmingout with'it again, were again driven back. 
This amazing expertnefs drew the captain’s attention for 
more than half an hour; during which time none of the 
fwimmers attempted to come alhore, but feemed to enjoy 
the fport in the higheft degree. At another time, one of 
the officers of the quarter-deck intending to drop a bead 
into a canoe for a little boy of fix years of age, it acci¬ 
dently miffed the beat, and fell into the fea : but the child 
immediately leaped overboard, dived after it, and reco¬ 
vered it. To reward him for this feat, fome more beads 
were dropped to him ; which excited a number of men 
and women to amufethe officers with their amazingfeats 
of agility in the water, ar.d not only fetched up feveral 
beads fcattered at once, but likewife large nails, which, 
from their weight, defeended quickly to a confiderable 
depth. Some of thefe people continued a confiderable 
time under water ; and the velocity with which they were 
feen to go down, the water being extremely clear, was 
very furprifing. 
The government of the Otaheiteans feems greatly to 
refemble the early ftate of the European nations under the 
feudal fyftem. Their orders of dignity are earce-raliie, 
which anfwers to king; earee, baron ; manahouni, valfals, 
and toiutcw , villein. There are two kings in the ifland, 
one being the fovereign of each of the peninfulas of which 
it conlifts. Each of them is treated with great refpeft by. 
all ranks, but does not appear to be invefted with lo 
much power as is exercifed by the earees in their own 
diftrifis. When the king, whom they called Otoo, made 
a vifit to Capt. Cook, the chiefs, who happened to be 
there before him, immediately ftripped themlelves in great 
halle. Captain Cook took notice of it; upon which they 
laid earce-rahie, fignifying, that it was on account of 
Otoo, being prefent; but this was the only outward to¬ 
ken of refpedt they paid him, for they never rofe from 
their feats, or made any other obeifance. The earees are 
lords of one or more of the diftrifts into which each of the 
peninfulas is divided, and of which there are forty-three 
in the larger one. Thefe parcel out their territories to 
the manahoimis, who fuperintend the cultivation of the 
ground. The lowed clafs, called tontoics, feem to be 
nearly .under the fame circumftances with the villeins in 
feudal governments. They do . all the laborious work, 
cultivate the land, catch filh, fetch wood and water, &c. 
In this country a child fucceeds to his father’s titles 
and authority as loon as he is born ; and thus the king no 
fooner lias a fon born, than his fovereignty ceafes. A 
regent is then chofen ; and the father generally retains 
his power under that title, until his child becomes of 
age. The child of the baron fucceeds to the titles and 
honours of its father as foon as it is born, as well as the 
fon of the king ; fo that a baron who was yeiterday called 
> earee, and was approached with the ceremony of lower¬ 
ing their garments, fo as to uncover the upper part of the 
body, is to-day, if his wife happens to be delivered of a 
child, reduced to the rank of a private man ; all marks of 
refpect being transferred to the child, if it is fuffered to 
live, though the father Hill continues poffeffor and ad- 
miniftrator of his ellate. But the acquiefcence which the 
lower clafs of people, or toutows, yield to the command 
of their chiefs, is very remarkable. They are not fuffered 
to tafle any animal food, although they are employed in 
feeding it for their lords. They endure patiently very fe- 
vere blows, if, when collected into a large body, they in 
any manner prefs upon, or annoy, the king or a chief in 
his progrefs; and all this paffive fpirit is preferved with¬ 
out any power being lodged in the hands of the king to 
exaft it; for he ufes no military force, nor is even at¬ 
tended with body-guards. 
As to their religion, they believe, befides a fupreme 
Vol. XVIII. No. 1222. 
E I T E. 
Deity, that there are numerous fubordinate deities, or 
ealuas, of both fexes ; the male are worffiipped by the 
men, and the female by the women ; and each have mo¬ 
rals to which the other fex is not admitted, though they 
have alfo morais common to both ; men perform the 
prieltly office to both fexes, and each fex has its priefts ; 
for thofe who officiate for one fex do not officiate for the 
other. They alfo believe' the immortality of the foul, 
at lead: its exiftence in a feparate ftate, and that there are 
two fituations of different degrees of happinefs, fomewhat 
analogous to our heaven and hell : the fuperior fituation 
they call tavirua I'erai, the other lialwboo. They do not, 
however, confider them as places of reward and punilh- 
ment, but as receptacles for different claffes ; the firft, for 
their chiefs and principal people; the other, for thofe of 
inferior rank ; for they do not fuppofe that their adlions 
here in the lead influence their future ftate, or indeed 
that they come under the cognizance of their deities at all. 
Their morais are ufed both as burying-grounds and 
places of worffiip; they are approached with the mod 
wonderful expreffions of reverence and humility ; and 
this, it fliould feem, not becaufe any thing there is el- 
teemed facred, but becaufe they there worffiip an invi-. 
Able being, for whom they entertain the mod reverential 
refpedt, although not excited by the hope of reward or 
the dread of puniffiment. One of thefe cemeteries, or 
places of worfliip, was known to captain Cook, on his 
firft voyage, by the name of Tootahah's morai, then the re¬ 
gent ; but when, on his fecond voyage, after the death 
of that chief, he called it by that name, Maratata, a chief 
that accompanied the party, interrupted him, intimat¬ 
ing, that it was no longer Tootahah’s after his death, but 
was then known as Otoo’s morai, ' the then reigning 
prince. The chief and his wife, on palling by it, took 
their upper garments from their Ihoulders. From hence 
it would leem, that the royal family have a particular mo¬ 
rai, and that it always bears the name of the reigning 
prince. 
An Indian, who had fnatched aw'ay a mulket from a 
fentry w'hilft on duty, was, by the inhumanity of a mid- 
fhipman who commanded the guard, purfued and fliot. 
The unhappy fate of this poor fellow’ gave an opportu¬ 
nity for feeing the manner in which thefe people treat 
their dead. They placed the corpfe in the open air till 
the bones became quite dry : a ffied was erefted clofe 
by the houfe where the deceafed had refided ; it u'as about 
fifteen feet long and eleven broad ; one end was left quite 
open ; the other end, and the two fides, were partly in- 
clofed with a fort of wicker-w'ork. The bier was a irame 
of wood, like that on which the fea-beds called cots'are 
placed, with a matted bottom, and fupported by four 
polls, at the height of about four feet from the ground. 
The body was covered firft with a mat, and then with 
white cloth ; by the fide of it lay a wooden mace, one of 
their weapons of war ; and near the head of it, which lay 
next to the clofe end of the Hied, lay two cocoa-nut 
Ihells; at the other end a bunch of green leaves, with 
fome dried twigs, all tied together, were ftuck in the 
ground, by whicb lay a ftone about as big as a cocoa-nut. 
Near thefe lay one of the young plantain-leaves that are 
ufed for emblems of peace, and clofe by it a ftone axe. 
At the open end of the Ihed alfo hung, in feveral firings, 
a great number of palm-nuts; and without the (lied was 
ftuck up in the ground a Item of a plantain-tree, about 
fix feet high, upon the top of which was placed a cocoa- 
nut (hell full of frelh water; againft the fide of one of the 
polls hung a fmall bag, containing a few pieces of bread¬ 
fruit ready roafted, which had not been put in all at one 
time, fome being frelh and others ftale. The food fo 
placed by the corpfe is defigned as an offering to their 
gods. They call in, near the body, fmall pieces of cloth, 
on which the tears and blood of the mourners have been 
Hied ; for, in their paroxyfins of grief, it is an univerfal cuf- 
tom to wound themfelves with a lhark’s tooth. The 
mourner is always a man; and he is dreffed in a very fin- 
N gular 
