Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 15, NIC-PAR

OTA
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OTA
otahcite. colour resemUtag the darkest brown paper, but this
V last is the only kind that withstands water: (bee the
article Bark)—They likewise prepare a red dye j
which is made by mixing the yellow juice ot a small
species of fig, which the natives call mattee with the
greenish juice of a sort of fern or bindweed, or ol se¬
veral other plants, which produce a bright crimson :
and this the women rub with their hands, if the piece
is to be uniformly of a colour 5 or they make use of a
bamboo reed if the piece is to be marked or sprinkled
into different patterns. The colour lades very soon,
and becomes of a dirty redj but notwithstanding this
defect, and its being liable to be spoiled by ram, the
cloth thus stained is highly valued, and is worn only
by the principal inhabitants of the country. I he in¬
habitants perfume their cloths with certain plants j
concerning which, Mr Forster made al possible in¬
quiry. Tahea, a friendly native, showed him several
plants which are sometimes used as substitutes j but the
most precious sort, he either could not, or would not,
point out: and from the account of Omai it appears
that there are no less than 14 different sorts of plants
employed for this purpose.
Matting is another Otaheitean manufacture: and in
this they are so dexterous, that they produce finer mats,
than any made in Europe. Rushes, grass, the bark ot
trees, and the leaves of a plant called whurrou, are the
materials which they work up for this purpose. Ihe.r
matting is applied to various uses: the coarser kind is
employed for sleeping on in the night, or sitting on
through the day 5 the finer sort is converted into gar¬
ments in rainy weather, their cloth being soon pene¬
trated by wet. They are very dexterous in making
basket and wicker-work: their baskets are of a vast
number of different patterns, many of them exceeding¬
ly neat; and the making them is an art practised by
every one, both men and women. .
Instead of hemp, they make ropes and lines of the
bark of a tree 5 and thus they are provided with fish¬
ing nets ; the fibres of the cocoa-nut furnish them with
thread with which they fasten the different parts of
their canoes, &c. The bark of a nettle which grows
in the mountains, and is called orawa, supplies them
with excellent fishing lines, capable of holding any
kind of fish; and their hooks are made ol mother-of-
pearl to which they fix a tuft of hair, made to re¬
semble the tail of a fish. Instead of making them
bearded, the point is turned inwards. They make also
a kind ef seine of a coarse broad grass, the blades ot
which are like flags. These they twist and tie toge¬
ther in a loose manner, till the net, which is about as
wide as a large sack, is from 60 to 80 fathoms long.
This thev haul in smooth shoal water} and its own
weight keeps it so close to the ground, that scarcely a
single fish can escape. They make harpoons of cane,
and point them with hard wood •, with which they can
strike fish more effectually than an European can with
one headed with iron.
The tools used by the Otaheiteans for all their pur¬
poses are, an adz.e made of stone ; a chisel or gouge
made of bone, generally the bone of a man’s arm be¬
tween the wrist and elbow, a rasp of coral, and the
skin of a sting-ray also coral and sand, as a file or po¬
lisher : and with these they fell timber, cleave and po¬
lish it, and hew stone. The stone which makes the
4
11
Working
tools.
blade of their adzes is a kind of basaltes, of a gray or Oiahcite,
blackish colbur, not very hard, but of considerable * r—'
toughness j they are formed ol different sizes j some
that are intended for felling, weigh from six to eight
pounds j others that are used for carving, not more
than as many ounces : but it is necessary to sharpen
these rude tools almost every minute 5 tor which pur-
jiose a cocoa-nut shell full of water and a stone are
always at hand. With such tools they generally take
up several days in felling a tree 5 but after it is down,
and split into planks, they smooth them very dexter¬
ously and expeditiously with their adzes, and can take
off a thin coat from a whole plank without missing a
stroke. 12
Their weapons are slings, which they use with great Weapons:
dexterity 5 pikes headed with the skins of sting-rays j
and clubs of about six or seven feet long, made of a
very hard wood. Thus armed, they are said to fight
with great obstinacy -, and to give no quarter to man,
woman, or child, who happens to fall into their bands
during the battle, nor for some tune afterwaids, till
their passion subsides. They have likewise bows and
arrows •, but the arrows are good tor nothing except to
bring down a bird, being headed only with stone, and
none of them pointed. They have targets of a semicir¬
cular form, made ot wicker-work, and plaited strings
of the cocoa-nut fibres, covered with glossy, bluish-
green feathers belonging to a kind of pigeon, and orna¬
mented with many shark’s teeth, arranged in three con¬
centric circles. 13
Their boats or canoes are of three different sorts. Canoes.
Some are made out of a single tree, and hold from
two to six men. These are principally employed
in fishing: the others are constructed of planks very
dexterously sewed together ; they are of different sizes,
and will hold from 10 to 40 men; they generally lash
two of these together, and set up two masts between
them or if they are single, they have an out-rigger on
one side, and only one mast in the middle, and in these
vessels they will sail far beyond the sight of land.
The third sort seems to be principally designed for
pleasure or shew. These are very large, but have no
sail -, and in shape resemble the gondolas of Venice.
The middle is covered with a large awning-, and some
of the people sit upon it, and some under it. 'J he
plank of which these vessels are constructed, is made-
by splitting a tree, with the grain, into as many thin
pieces as possible. Ihe boards aie hi ought to the
thickness of about an inch, and are afterwards fitted
to the boat with the same exactness that might be ex¬
pected from an expert joiner. To fasten these planks
together, holes are bored with a piece of bone, fixed
into a stick for that purpose. Through these holes a
kind of plaited cordage is passed, so as to hold the
planks strongly together. The seams are caulked with
dry rushes; and the whole outside of the vessel is paint¬
ed over with a kind of gummy juice, which supplies
the place of pitch. 14
The Otaheiteans are a very industrious people, andfharactei^
friendly in their dispositions ;'but like all other nations manners,
not fully civilized, their passions are extremely vio-Sc¬
lent, and they are very fickle. The manner of singling
out a man here for a chosen friend is by taking off a;
part of your clothing and putting it upon him.. Iheir
usual manner of expressing their respect to strangers, or
• their