Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

sacrifice, invoking them to protect the Engelees, to avert every danger and restore them in safety to their own land. In the manner of this adieu, there was an air of sublimity and benevolence, by far more touching to the heart, than the more refined compliments of a more civilized people. It was the genuine benignity of artless nature, and of primitive innocence.

"Immediately following this solemnity, our particular friends crowded on board to shake hands and say Farewell! whilst the tears which many of them shed, evinced the sincerity of their attachment."

NEW HOLLAND.

The island or continent of New Holland is 2,600 miles long, from east to west, and 2,000 broad. The coasts are extremely diversified, in some parts steep and inaccessible, in others flat and sandy. The interior, for the most part, remains unexplored. The forests are said to be inferior in majesty to those of America, and in variety and elegance, to those of Asia. The quadrupeds are different from those of any other quarter of the globe, and are mostly of the opossum species, the principal of which is the kanguroo. The animals transported from Europe have generally thriven well; also European grains: but few of the European fruits have succeeded.

On the southeast coast is the English settlement of Botany Bay, or Port Jackson, formed in 1787 as a place of banishment for convicts. It now contains upwards of 20,000 inhabitants, the most of them convicts and their descendants. Many of these unhappy persons have been reclaimed to a virtuous life; but the general state of society is deplorable. Sydney, the chief town, is finely situated, and contains upwards of 7,000 inhabitants.

Natives.

The natives of New Holland are of middle stature, have a large mishapen head, thick lips, very wide mouth, flat noses, eyes much sunk in the head, long, black hair, and a complexion nearly black. Their habits are as bar

barous as can be imagined, and exhibit human nature in its lowest state of degradation. Both sexes are without clothing, and have the disgusting practice of rubbing fish oil into their skins. On particular occasions they ornament themselves with red and white clay, using the former when preparing to fight, and the latter when preparing to dance: when decorated in their best manner they look perfectly horrible. They also render their appearance still more disgusting by thrusting a bone or reed through the cartilage of the nose.

Their habitations are as rude as can be conceived. The hut of the woodsman is made of the bark of a single tree, bent in the middle, and placed on its two ends on the ground, affording shelter to only one miserable tenant. On the sea coast, the huts are larger, formed of pieces of bark from several trees, put together in the form of an oven, with an entrance large enough to hold six or eight people; having a fire at its mouth. Besides these bark

huts, they make use of caves, and excavations in the rock. In these huts and caves, they lie down together like beasts in their dens. Their subsistence is chiefly drawn from the sea and rivers. As a substitute for bread, they make use of a root somewhat resembling the fern.

They are by no means deficient in personal courage, and in their pitched battles display the most determined bravery. They throw their spears with wonderful dexterity; and such is the quickness of their eye and ear that they will distinguish objects which would totally escape a European. They have a custom among them, that when a person is killed, either in a pitched battle, or by an unlucky blow in a hasty quarrel, the survivor is obliged to stand on his defence from a certain number of spears, to be thrown by the relatives of the deceased. If he survive, the matter ends; but if he should be killed, his antagonists go through the same ordeal.

They have no form of government, no king, or chief. If there exists any superiority, it is that of personal strength or courage. They observe no particular ceremony in marriage, though their mode of courtship is not without its singularity. When a young man sees a female to his fancy, he informs her she must accompany him home; she of course refuses: he enforces compliance, not only with threats, but blows. Thus the gallant, ac

cording to custom, never fails to gain the victory, and bears off the willing, though struggling pugilist. The English colonists, for some time, entertained the idea, that the women were compelled against their inclinations; but the young ladies informed them, that this mode of gallantry was the custom, and perfectly to their taste.

The natives are accustomed to deprive their female children, in infancy, of the two first joints of the little finger of the right hand; the operation being effected by obstructing the circulation by means of a tight ligature. The dismembered part is thrown into the sea, that the child may afterwards become fortunate in fishing. They have also the custom of extracting from the boys, at about the age of 13 or 14, one of their front teeth, which is knocked out by their wise men with a stone. The ceremony takes place every third or fourth year; the youths of the several adjacent districts assemble with their friends, and have a feast and dance upon the occasion. It is considered a good promise of the boy's courage to exhibit an unshaken fortitude on this trial; which being their initiation into manhood, they are from this period allowed to fight their enemies, and hunt the kanguroo.

NEW ZEALAND,

New Zealand consists of two large islands, one of them 436, the other 360 miles long. They have been but little explored, but as far as they have been examined, they have a varied surface, and in some parts mountainous. The climate is mild and salubrious; the soil, in many parts, fertile, producing a luxuriant vegetation, and trees of extraordinary size.

The inhabitants are savage in their manners, and are addicted to all the vices belonging to their barbarous mode of life. Their government is a complete despotism. They are ruled by a variety of petty chiefs, and are continually involved in the most bloody wars, which are carried on with great ferocity, and are in the habit of devouring the bodies of their enemies. The females, as is common in savage countries, are held in a most degraded state, compelled by the men to undergo every sort of the most laborious drudgery, while they themselves loitre away their time in idleness.

They have many gross and revolting superstitions. No sooner does a person arrive at a certain stage of illness among them, than they place the unhappy sufferer under the wrath of the Etua, and though with a little care he might be restored to health, they allow him to perish in the very midst of his kindred, without a single effort being made for his recovery. His wife, though not permitted to administer any thing in order to prevent his death, is obliged, at his dissolution, to immolate herself, as an indispensable test of her faithful attachment.

Their dress is formed of a kind of matting, made of flags, split into slips, and woven, ornamented with the fur of dogs cut into stripes, and sometimes with feathers. They stain and paint their bodies, and mark them with furrows, which make a hideous appearance; and wear many grotesque ornaments. The ears of both sexes are bored, and the holes stretched so as to admit a man's finger. The ornaments of their ears are feathers, cloth, bones, and sometimes bits of wood. They sometimes hang to their ears by strings, chissels, bodkins, the teeth of dogs, and the teeth and nails of their deceased friends. The arms and ancles of the women are adorned with shells and bones, or any thing else through which they can pass a string. The men wear a piece of green talk, or whalebone, with the resemblance of a man carved on it, hanging to a string round the neck,

Since 1814, several missionary stations have been formed on these islands, with favourable prospects of useful

ness.

POLYNESIA OR SOUTH SEA ISLANDS.

PELEW ISLANDS.

Captain Wilson, of the English packet Antelope, was wrecked on one of these islands, in August, 1783. The English were received by the natives with hospitality and kindness; and, till their departure, they were treated with the greatest humanity and attention. "They saw," says captain Wilson, "that our people were distressed, and in consequence wished they should share whatever they had to

give. It was not that worldly munificence, which bestows and spreads its favours with a distant eye to retribution. It was the pure emotion of native benevolence. It was the love of man to man. It was a scene that pictures human nature in a triumphant colouring; and, whilst their liberality gratified the sense, their virtues struck the heart."

The natives are stout and well made; their complexions dark brown; and their hair long and flowing. Both sexes are tattooed; the men wear no clothing, and the women nothing but two small aprons. Both men and women are very expert swimmers. The government is monarchical, and the king is absolute; but his power is exercised rather with the mildness of a father, than a sovereign.

The idea which captain Wilson gives of these islanders, is that of a people ignorant of the arts and sciences, and living in the most simple state of nature, yet possessing genuine politeness, delicacy, chastity of intercourse between the sexes, respect for personal property, subordination to government, and habits of industry, to a degree rarely seen in more civilized societies.

SANDWICH ISLANDS.

The Sandwich islands are 11 in number, situated in the same latitude with the West Indies, and having a similar climate, though perhaps rather more temperate.

Owhyee, the largest of these islands, is 85 miles long, and 72 broad. It contains a very elevated mountain, called Mouna Kaah, which is estimated at 18,400 feet in height, and is always covered with snow.

Bread-Fruit.

One of the interesting productions of these islands is the bread-fruit tree, which is found in many of the Asiatic and South Sea islands; and is of the greatest utility to the inhabitants. The tree grows to the height of from 40 to 60 feet, branching out into a wide spreading top, having a beautiful appearance, and affording a fine shade. The leaves are about a foot and a half long, and & or 10 inches wide, deeply notched, somewhat like a fig leaf.

The fruit, when ripe, is about the size and shape of a

[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinuar »