O T A H £ I T E. 47 
for him, our navigators took their leave of him on the 2d 
of November, 1777; but in parting with Capt. Cook his 
feelings were much agitated, and he wept all the time in 
going affiore. “ Whatever faults (fays Capt. Cook) be¬ 
longed to Omai’s character, they were rao'e than overba¬ 
lanced by his great good-nature and docile difpofition.” 
At the time that Omai was in this country, he attracted 
a great deal of attention ; and indeed, the public difcourfe 
was about nothing but Otaheite and its beautiful girls, 
and queen Oberea, and king Otoo, and his wife and ac- 
compliffied privy-counfellor Tupia. At length, our ad¬ 
miration of Otaheite excited fome degree of ridicule on 
the continent. The unfortunate La Peroufe obferves, in 
one of his letters, “ I flatter myfelf you will fee with 
pleafure, that, in the courfe of fo long a voyage, I (hall 
have no occafion to put in at thofe everlafting Society 
Iflands, about which more has been written than con¬ 
cerning feveral kingdoms of Europe ; and I confefs to 
you, that I congratulate myfelf on having nothing to fay 
either about Otaheite or queen Oberea.” 
It isconfefled that the women have fine black eyes, with 
white even teeth, foft fkin, and elegant limbs ; while 
their hair is of a jetty black, perfumed and ornamented 
with flowers. But, with all thefe advantages, they yield 
infinitely in beauty to the women of the Marquefas ; the 
face being widened from continual preflure during in¬ 
fancy, which, by diftending the mouth, and flattening 
the nofe and forehead, gives a broad mafculine appear¬ 
ance. Hence it is evident that the Grecian and acade¬ 
mical forms, given by artifts void of real tafte or preci- 
fion to the people of the South Seas, in the prints that ac¬ 
company the Englifh and French voyages, are totally 
falfe and imaginary; nor can there be a greater injury 
to books of genuine character, and folid information, 
than this practice, which renders the modern prints far 
inferior in every refpedt to fome excellent ancient repre- 
fentations of De Bry. 
We may, however, juft remark, that there muft have 
been fomething extremely fafcinating in the perfons, 
manners, or cuftoms, of the inhabitants, or in the foil 
and appearance of the country, that could tempt the 
greater part of a fliip’s crew to refill authority, and forci¬ 
bly to return to Otaheite ; yet, fuch we know was the cafe; 
and the bufferings of the commander, and thofe who re¬ 
futed to join in this vile confpiracy, and who were therefore 
expofed in an open boat, are well known. 
The firft iniflionary-voyage to Otaheite was undertaken 
in the year 1796; and the firft preachers of the Gofpel 
there, let foot on land on the 25th of March, 1797. Here 
they found that Otoo, the king of whom we have be¬ 
fore repeatedly fpoken, and Potnaree his father, had ob¬ 
tained the fovereignty over the whole iftand of Otaheite, 
(both kingdoms,) and likewife over that of Eimeo. On 
the 7th, fome of the mifiionaries and the captain waited 
on the king. “The captain informed the king, that our 
only inducement for leaving Pretane (Britain) to come 
and vifit them, was to do them good, by inftrudling them 
in the bell and moft ufeful things : and for this end, fome 
good men of our number intended to fettle among them ; 
requiring on their part the free gift of a piece of land, 
fufiiciently Hocked with bread-fruit and cocoa-nut trees ; 
that they (the miflionaries) would not on any account 
intermeddle in their wars. If he confented, they would 
flay on the iftand ; if not, they would go elfewhere.” It ap¬ 
peared doubtful whether Otoo underftood this harangue; 
though he fignified that a large houfe, which Hood near 
Point Venus, fltould be their own, and that they might 
take what land they pleafed. 
The miflionaries, from various caufes, made their way 
but ftowly. In a luxuriant climate like that of Otaheite, 
where mirth, good-nature, and beauty, reign uncontrolled, 
it is natural to l'uppofe that ftrangers muft be expofed to 
many temptations. The apoftle, when he holds forth to 
the natives, and fees himfelf furrounded with a number 
of beautiful and naked females, foon feels the ftrongeft 
emotions excited in hishreaft: and, if his eyes happen 
to meet thofe of his more artful hearer, the is fure of 
darting at him fuch a look as we fliall not here attempt 
to defcribe, at the fame time fmiling, and fliowing two 
rows of teeth whiter than the finelt alabafter. The faint 
is thrown off his guard, and we fee religion proftrate at 
the feet of female beauty. But now the malignant and 
triumphant Otaheitean lhows her juft contempt for the 
fandlified hypocrite, who a few minutes before expatiated 
on chaftity, temperance, and virtue; and, fo far from 
bellowing on him the favour he thinks foeafily to obtain, 
he is repulled with the moft fevere rebuke, for prefuming 
to make a crime of following the irrefiftible didlates of 
nature, and which he now proves, by his own actions, can¬ 
not be refilled. Other difficulties arofe, from the igno¬ 
rance of the natives, or from the difficulty of making them 
fully underhand every point of dodlrine that was urged. 
Thus, when the miflionaries told them that the God of 
Britain is the God of Otaheite and the whole earth, and 
that it is from this being they receive their hogs, bread¬ 
fruit, and cocoa-nuts; this the Otaheiteans flatly denied ; 
alleging, that they poflefied all thefe articles long before 
they had heard of the God of Britain. And, when thefe 
miflionaries fpoke to them refpedling falvation, they 
fondly thought that it was to be fared from Jichnefs, and 
to abide in this world : the falvation of the foul they 
aftedl to defpife, and the refurredlion of the body they 
ridicule as extreme folly. 
The next communication from this place is the account 
of Mr. Turnbull, vvhofe voyage round the World was 
performed in the years 1800-1804. He informs us of the 
iudden death of Otoo, (who appears to have been called 
Pomaree, as well as his father,) which happened while Mr. 
T. was there. The account he gives of the place is me¬ 
lancholy indeed. We fliall make a few extradls. 
“The population has diminifhed in a degree which 
threatens to reduce the country to a defert. Capt. Cook 
computed them at upwards of two hundred thoufand; 
the population has now dwindled to five thoufand; but, 
on the arrival of the Duff, they exceeded triple this num¬ 
ber. Mr. Elder and Mr. Wilfon had juft returned from 
the Mottos, whither they had been conveyed by our boat 
on the 18th of Auguft, They reported that the popula¬ 
tion did not exceed three hundred. 
“ The mortality which raged at this period, and which, 
I fear, is but too epidemic and frequent, was fuch as to 
infpire us with the moft melancholy ideas. During our 
ftiort abfence in our vifit to the Sandwich Iflands, many 
young perfons of both fexes were no more; they had died 
in the prime and vigour of life, and others, of an appear¬ 
ance equally healthy, were following them very fall. 
Great part of this mortality muft be imputed to their ig¬ 
norance : the dodtrine of fatality prevails among them to 
a moft dangerous excefs. Every difeafe is the immediate 
confequence of the vengeance of their offended deities, 
and therefore every thought of remedy or relief is rejedted 
as equally ufelefs and impious. They are left to their 
fate ; and their difeafes are unfortunately fuch as, how¬ 
ever ealy of cure under a regular courfe, are but too 
fatal when fuffered to augment under neglect. They are 
moreover convinced that the greater part of their plagues 
and difeafes flow immediately from the fliipping. They 
infill upon it that Capt. Cook brought the intermittent 
fever, the crooked backs, and thefcropliula, which breaks 
out in the necks, breafts, groins, and arm-pits; that 
Vancouver brought a bloody flux, which in a few months 
killed a great number of them, and then abated ; they 
fay that Capt. Bligh alfo brought the fcrophula; but I 
could not learn what fliip introduced the elephantiafis and 
' epilepfy. 
“ Another caufe of the depopulation of this beautiful 
illand, is the dreadful crime of infanticide. When re¬ 
proaching Pomaree with this barbarous and inhuman 
pradtice, he alleged in reply, that, fhould all the children 
born be reared to maturity, there would not be a fuffi- 
ciency 
