Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara Volume Iii Part 14

[64] "It is not surprising," he writes in a letter to his superiors, "that on the arrival in this country, so long given over to the evil spirit of a child of the _Sacre c[oe]ur_ (Divine heart), that enemy of all which is good should have raged with redoubled fury, and that the Protestant emissaries should have believed I came to overthrow their empire!!"--Vide _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, No. lvi. p. 204.

[65] "I am," wrote Queen Pomare, to the then King Louis Philippe, "only the ruler of a small, insignificant island. May wisdom, renown, and power ever attend your Majesty! Cease then your anger, and pardon the error I have committed."

[66] This additional article ran as follows: "The free exercise of the Catholic religion is permitted in the Island of Tahiti, and in all the other possessions of Queen Pomare. The French Catholics shall enjoy all the privileges accorded to the Protestants, _but they shall nevertheless not be ent.i.tled to meddle, under any pretext, in the religious affairs of the country_. Done at Tahiti, 20th June, 1839."

[67] These two letters are dated, "Waiau, on the Island of Raiatea, 24th Sept. 1844," whither Queen Pomare had withdrawn after the events of November, 1843, and whence she only returned to Tahiti in 1847.

[68] According to the laws of the country, each married resident contributes one franc per annum to the civil list; a widower with one child, one franc; a widower without children, two francs; an unmarried adult, two francs; an adult female unmarried, one franc; boys under sixteen, and girls under fourteen, as also criminals and persons incapacitated for labour, pay nothing. This is the only direct tax the inhabitants are called upon to pay. The revenues of the island do not, however, suffice to defray the expenses of the French occupation. Before the arrival of the Europeans the Tahitians had no description of currency, but had recourse in all business transactions to barter. The Protestant missionaries were the first to introduce about 2000 of copper money, which they had got struck in England for the purpose. This currency was based upon a coin of the value of one half-penny. On one side was a s.h.i.+p, and on the obverse the words "COPPER PREFERABLE TO PAPER." When the French came to the island they flung this money into the sea, and forbade their circulation under heavy penalties! At present the only coins used are francs and _rera_ (about one-third of a franc=3-1/4_d._ nearly).

[69] This State paper is couched in very brief and intelligible terms in both French and Tahitian, and runs as follows:--

"Her Majesty, the Queen of the Society Islands, and H.E. the Governor of the French possessions in Eastern Oceania:--

"1st. Considering that there are no 'projets de loi' (Bills) to be submitted for legislative enactment during 1859, and that a.s.sembly has further no budget to vote;

"2nd. Considering moreover the considerable expenses to which the members of the said a.s.sembly are put for their sojourn at Papeete during its session;

"3rd. Considering Article 7 of the Ordinance of 28th April, 1847;

"Decide,--

"The Legislative a.s.sembly of the States of the Protectorate will not meet in session during the year 1859. Papeete, 10th February, 1859.

(Signed) "Saisset."

A similar notification drawn up in Tahitian, is countersigned by Queen Pomare. One Tahitian, who was a member of the Legislative a.s.sembly, remarked to us, after reading the foregoing announcement in the _Moniteur Tahitian_, "How then can any one say beforehand whether or no there are no important questions to discuss?"

[70] M. Adam Kulczycki, who was at that period entrusted with the management of native affairs, and is an accomplished Tahitian scholar, besides occupying himself with astronomical and meteorological observations, and geological investigations, has been for seventeen years in the French service, and, a Pole by birth, served not without distinction in the struggles of his native land for liberty.

[71] "_O Tati (Tahiti), par G. Cuzent, Pharmacien de la Marine, &c. &c.

Paris, Librairie de Victor Ma.s.son, 1861._" It is a most valuable book, the result for the most part of personal examination and ill.u.s.tration, and arranged with much care and method.

[72] _Canaka_, in the Tahitian dialect, as in that of the Sandwich Islands, is equivalent to MAN.

[73] At one service which we attended in Mr. Howe's chapel there were fifty "communicants" present; a pupil of the missionary played the organ.

The Queen, too, and her family, who are strongly attached to the services of the Evangelical Church, are frequently present at these Sunday gatherings.

[74] Several of the girls who live in Mr. Howe's family are Catholics, whose parents prefer they should be educated in a Protestant school rather than not at all.

[75] The cost of the Catholic missions in Eastern Oceania amounts on the average to frs. 100,000 (4000) per annum. "The Society for the Propagation of the Faith" (French) subscribes annually from frs. 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 (120,000 to 160,000) for the races of heathendom. Of this Oceania and Australia get from frs. 400,000 to frs. 500,000 (16,000 to 20,000).

[76] With reference to this, the following remarks are especially noteworthy, made by M. Guizot at a time when France still possessed a tribune and a parliament: "What particularly strikes me is that our missionaries do not make new conquests for a Church already powerful; that they do not extend the sphere of supremacy of the ecclesiastical government. The Roman Catholic missionary arrives alone, ignorant of the actual state of affairs, having none of the affections common to humanity--in a word, better fitted to acquire an ascendant than to enlist sympathy. The Protestant ministers are, on the contrary, family missions, so to speak; so that a pagan population will more readily be led to regard as brothers men who are husbands and fathers like themselves. Thus these missions instruct by presenting specimens of Christian society side by side with precepts of faith; the example of all the relations and sentiments of domestic life, regulated according to the morality of the Gospel they are sent to teach; a mode of instruction most a.s.suredly not the least efficacious, if not absolutely perfect." (Discours de M. Guizot dans l'a.s.semblee Generale, du 11 Avril, 1826.)

[77] In the "_Lois Revisees dans l'a.s.semblee Legislative au mois de Mars de l'annee 1848, pour la conduite de tous, sous le gouvernement du Protectorat dans les terres de la Societe_," is the following stringent pa.s.sage, "The dance, known as Upa-Upa, is interdicted in the islands under the Protectorate. On fete days and public festivals dancing is permitted, but no indecent gestures will be tolerated." The Upa-Upa dates from the period when the secret society of the Arreois, whose chief tenets were drinking feasts, polygamy, and infanticide, existed over the greater part of the islands of the Pacific. Moerenhout, in his "_Voyages aux iles du grand Ocean_" (Paris, 1837, vol. i. p. 484), gives a very complete account of this singular society, which has since entirely disappeared before the zeal of Protestant missionaries.

[78] Experiments have also been made quite recently with coffee, which the Government likewise fosters. The largest plantation is the property of a Frenchman named Bonnefin, who, in 1859, grew as much as 8000 lbs. The high price of labour, however, renders its production so dear that Tahitian coffee costs 100 fr. (4) the centum (100 lbs), or about ten pence the pound, on the spot, whereas the best Costa Rica coffee costs only from 2 to 2 8_s._ the centum, or five pence to six pence the pound. The Protectorate officials hope to supply this very perceptible lack of labour by introducing into Tahiti, as field workers, the prisoners of war they take in New Caledonia.

[79] Mr. Wilson, a missionary, estimated the population of Tahiti in 1797 at 16,000 souls. In 1848, when the French administration took its first census, the native population amounted to 8082 (viz. 4466 males, 3616 females), the number of Europeans being 475 (428 males and 47 females). In 1858 it had fallen to 5988, or 2580 fewer than it had been 30 years before (1829), when, according to a census taken by the English missionaries, the population of Tahiti was 8568 of both s.e.xes and all ages.

[80] Among the splendid specimens of the forest flora of Tahiti we remarked, in addition to the cocoa-nut palm, the bread-fruit tree and Panda.n.u.s, of which we shall presently speak more at length, on account of their economic, industrial, and therapeutic qualities. The _Calophyllum Inophyllum_ (Ati), _Inocarpus edulis_ (Ma.s.se), _Aleurites triloba_ (Tu-tui), _Rhus Tatense_ (Apape), _Ficus tinctoria_ (Mati), _Ficus prolixa_(Ora), _Gleichenia Hermanni_ (Eanuhe), _Hibiscus tiliaceus_ (Purau or Fao), _Lagenaria vulgaris_ (Hue), _Pisonia inermis_ (Puna tehea), _Spondias dulcis_ (Bri), _Arundo Bambus_ (Ofe), _Tanghinia Maughas_ (Ruva), _Morinda citrifolia_ (Nono), _Guettenda speciosa_ (Tafano), _Boxa Orellana_, &c. &c.

[81] According to Kulczycki's measurements the lake lies 430 metres (1401 feet) above the sea, and is 400 metres (1304 feet) in circ.u.mference, while the precipitous peaks around are 1800 metres (5865 feet) above sea-level.

[82] According to the laws of Tahiti, whenever the entire male descendants of a chief have become extinct, his eldest female offspring becomes chief of the district, sits as such in the legislative a.s.sembly, and has a voice in the administration of justice. At present there are five chieftainesses, who are members of the Tahitian parliament. Their husbands have no political influence whatever, except as the husbands of these ladies!

[83] _Carabus_ (Anglice Calaboose) is a corruption of the Spanish word _Calabozo_, a prison. The _Carabus_ of Papeete is a sort of pound in which drunken people or mischievous vagabonds are confined, and whence they are released on payment of 5 or 10 francs. These mulcts or convictions form a not unimportant source of revenue, and are of twofold demoralizing operation; for while it is the interest of the police on the one hand to make as many arrests as possible, so as to insure a larger sum for division, the wretched, sensual Tahitian girls find in the prosecution of the filthy trade that has brought them within the clutch of the police the best means of procuring their release!

[84] Queen Pomare finds herself entirely dependent upon the French Protectorate. On the slightest symptom of a.s.serting her position she is met by a stoppage of her allowance, and as, in consequence of the rather opulent mode of life adopted by the generous-hearted lady, the incomings and outgoings are apt not to square, her pecuniary straits are not infrequently made use of for political purposes.

[85] Obviously a corruption of the French "mouton," the popular name for a spy.

[86] Of this expensive fruit, which grows in large quant.i.ties on the island, and only needs to be gathered, there are exported annually some five or six s.h.i.+p-loads, worth about fr. 200,000 (8000), all which find their way to California, where 1000 oranges are worth from $40 to $60 (8 8_s._ to 12 12_s._), whereas, a similar quant.i.ty is worth in Tahiti at the outside 1 to 1 4_s._

[87] Besides the cocoa-nut oil and arrow-root, which are at present exported from Tahiti and const.i.tute its chief trade, the produce of the neighbouring islands might be conveniently pa.s.sed through Tahiti. The pearl oysters (_Meleagrina Margaretifera_), which are usually dredged for in the months of January, February, March, and April, come chiefly from the Paomotu and Gambier groups. The latter-named group, however, only sends about 500 tons of these annually, worth about fr. 500 to fr. 600 (20 to 24) per ton. In the year 1859, the entire importation of these was contracted for by a merchant of Papeete at $140 (29 10_s._) per ton.

The natives of Gambier, accustomed to dive, use to bring up the pearl oysters from a depth of from 150 to 180 feet.

[88] On the island of Eimeo, or Morea, lying off Tahiti, the area of which is 13,237 hectares, there is a table-land about the centre of the island, surrounded by a semi-circular range of lofty precipices, which would be found thoroughly fit for cattle pasture. The cultivation of the grape and of European vegetables might also be profitably undertaken.

[89] Here also we encountered this useful plant, which was first introduced into Tahiti in 1851, by means of seeds from Paris. Of these twenty-five were sown, which within three months gave a sufficient return of seed to admit of the cultivation of the sorgho being extended through a number of districts. One year later, the crop amounted already to about 2100 kilogrammes (4900 lbs., or two tons and a quarter), which were disposed of at 1-1/2d. per kilogramme (somewhat under a penny per lb.).

[90] A gallon of cocoa-nut oil is worth, by way of barter for goods, about one franc and a half, and for specie one franc. The adjoining islands abound in cocoa-nuts, Anaa, one of the Paomotu group, being capable of delivering from 300 to 400 tons of oil per annum.

[91] The fermented juice of the orange, the pine-apple, the _panda.n.u.s_ fruit, the _spondias dulcis_, and the wild bananas, were also used in former times for the preparation of intoxicants. Since the introduction of European spirits, the natives discriminate all foreign drinks as _Ava-papaa_, their own being named _Ava-maohi_.

[92] Before the arrival on the island of the Europeans, Tahitian society was divided into three cla.s.ses: viz. Arii, or chiefs; Raatira, or land-holders, of whom the most distinguished in each district were called Tataui; and, lastly, Manahune, or Tenantry at will. To the latter cla.s.s belonged all prisoners of war. Between the Arii and Raatira there was a middle cla.s.s, the Eietoa, corresponding to the European t.i.tle of Honourable. Latterly the name _Tacana_ has come into almost universal use for the Arii, being in fact nothing but a corruption of the English word "Governor."

[93] These calculations are merely approximative. The Custom House at Papeete has sufficient doc.u.ments, but it keeps them secret, apparently for political reasons, if we may credit the remark of a Tahitian. "It is not wished to let all the world know that we are _not_ in a prosperous state."

[94] Letter concerning the actual state of the island of Tahiti, addressed to H.M. the Emperor Napoleon III., by Alexander Salmon. London, Effingham Wilson, 1858.

[95] The French garrison in Tahiti and Eimeo (Morea), including the administrative officials, numbers about 400 men. The Governor receives, besides extras, 1200 pay; the _Commandant particulier_ draws other 800, in addition to which both these officers draw _allowances_ as officers in the Imperial navy (13_s._ 4_d._ to 1 per diem.)

[96] We had an opportunity while at Papeete of obtaining some particulars of this renowned French penal settlement from the mouth of a person whom no one will be likely to accuse of exaggeration. M. de la Richerie, who, while we were at Papeete, filled the position of Imperial commissary, and is the present Governor of Tahiti, was for four years (1854-57) director of the penal settlement at Cayenne. During the period of his authority the entire population consisted of from 5000 to 6000 prisoners, 1500 garrison, 200 free settlers, and from 16,000 to 18,000 negroes. The expense of keeping on foot this small colony was not less than from 160,000 to 200,000. The mortality among all cla.s.ses, free as well as prisoners, was perfectly appalling, averaging from 28 to 33 per cent.!! Of 6000 prisoners, 2000 died in one year; out of 36 medical men, 18 died in the discharge of their duties. The number of fever-stricken in the hospital was never less than from 500 to 600!! The director once entered an apartment in which above 250 of the unfortunate political criminals lay on their sick beds. He inquired of the physician in attendance how long they were likely to live? Possibly a year, was the reply. "_Depechez-vous donc_," said the director, as he turned from the unhappy wretches, who had no resource except the hospital, and, sick in mind and body, longed earnestly for the day which should see their wretched couches vacated for the calm tranquillity of death. M. de la Richerie was of opinion that no political convict lives more than four or five years in Cayenne, and that even the free settler cannot withstand the deadly influence of the climate above ten years. But the government founded on the 2nd December gives itself little concern. The utility of the system of deportation has been fully understood, and is unsparingly carried out. The time seems to be at hand when all Frenchmen who venture to challenge the Napoleonic ideas, will be banished their native country, nay, exiled from Europe.

[97] Shortly after his arrival in Valparaiso, Longomasino went to Serena, a city in Chili of 20,000 inhabitants, near some rich copper-mines, where he occupied himself with editing a newspaper in Spanish.

[98] Chart of curves of equal magnetic variations, 1858, by Frederick Evans, Master, R.N.

[99] This colic stuck to the s.h.i.+p for nearly eight months, and out of 36 cases, the shortest time it took to run its course was nine days, the longest 94.

[100] One main source of anxiety, which determined Adams to request the good offices of the British Government, was the scanty supply of drinking-water. There was at this time only one available spring of fresh water, and this supply was so small that two quarts of water were all that each family could be allowed during the day.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The La.s.so]