University of Virginia Library

49. CHAPTER XLIX.

We have glanced at their moral and religious condition;
let us see how it is with them socially, and in other respects.

It has been said, that the only way to civilize a people, is to
form in them habits of industry. Judged by this principle, the
Tahitians are less civilized now than formerly. True, their
constitutional indolence is excessive; but surely, if the spirit
of Christianity is among them, so unchristian a vice ought to
be, at least, partially remedied. But the reverse is the fact.
Instead of acquiring new occupations, old ones have been discontinued.

As previously remarked, the manufacture of tappa is nearly
obsolete in many parts of the island. So, too, with that of the
native tools and domestic utensils; very few of which are now
fabricated, since the superiority of European wares has been
made so evident.

This, however, would be all very well, were the natives to
apply themselves to such occupations as would enable them to
supply the few articles they need. But they are far from doing
so; and the majority being unable to obtain European substitutes,
for many things before made by themselves, the inevitable
consequence is seen in the present wretched and
destitute mode of life among the common people. To me, so
recently from a primitive valley of the Marquesas, the aspect
of most of the dwellings of the poorer Tahitians, and their
general habits, seemed any thing but tidy; nor could I avoid a

comparison, immeasurably to the disadvantage of these partially
civilized islanders.

In Tahiti, the people have nothing to do; and idleness,
everywhere, is the parent of vice. “There is scarcely any
thing,” says the good old Quaker Wheeler, “so striking, or
pitiable, as their aimless, nerveless mode of spending life.”

Attempts have repeatedly been made, to rouse them from
their sluggishness; but in vain. Several years ago, the cultivation
of cotton was introduced; and, with their usual love of
novelty, they went to work with great alacrity; but the interest
excited quickly subsided, and now, not a pound of the article
is raised.

About the same time, machinery for weaving was sent out
from London; and a factory was started at Afrehitoo, in
Imeeo. The whiz of the wheels and spindles brought in
volunteers from all quarters, who deemed it a privilege to be
admitted to work: yet, in six months, not a boy could be
hired; and the machinery was knocked down, and packed
off to Sydney.

It was the same way with the cultivation of the sugar-cane,
a plant indigenous to the island; peculiarly fitted to the soil
and climate, and of so excellent a quality, that Bligh took slips
of it to the West Indies. All the plantations went on famously,
for a while; the natives swarming in the fields, like ants, and
making a prodigious stir. What few plantations now remain,
are owned and worked by whites; who would rather pay a
drunken sailor eighteen or twenty Spanish dollars a month,
than hire a sober native for his “fish and taro.”

It is well worthy remark here, that every evidence of civilization
among the South Sea Islands, directly pertains to
foreigners; though the fact of such evidence existing at all,
is usually urged as a proof of the elevated condition of the
natives. Thus, at Honolulu, the capital of the Sandwich

Islands, there are fine dwelling-houses, several hotels, and
barber-shops, ay, even billiard-rooms; but all these are owned
and used, be it observed, by whites. There are tailors, and
blacksmiths, and carpenters also; but not one of them is a native.

The fact is, that the mechanical and agricultural employments
of civilized life, require a kind of exertion altogether
too steady and sustained, to agree with an indolent people
like the Polynesians. Calculated for a state of nature, in a
climate providentially adapted to it, they are unfit for any
other. Nay, as a race, they can not otherwise long exist.

The following statement speaks for itself.

About the year 1777, Captain Cook estimated the population
of Tahiti at about two hundred thousand.[17] By a regular
census, taken some four or five years ago, it was found to
be only nine thousand.[18] This amazing decrease, not only
shows the malignancy of the evils necessary to produce
it; but, from the fact, the inference unavoidably follows, that
all the wars, child murders, and other depopulating causes,
alledged to have existed in former times, were nothing in comparison
to them.

These evils, of course, are solely of foreign origin. To say
nothing of the effects of drunkenness, the occasional inroads of
the small-pox, and other things, which might be mentioned, it
is sufficient to allude to a virulent disease, which now taints
the blood of at least two thirds of the common people of the
island; and, in some form or other, is transmitted from father
to son.

Their first horror and consternation at the earlier ravages of
this scourge, were pitiable in the extreme. The very name
bestowed upon it, is a combination of all that is horrid and unmentionable
to a civilized being.

Distracted with their sufferings, they brought forth their sick
before the missionaries, when they were preaching, and cried
out, “Lies, lies! you tell us of salvation; and, behold, we are
dying. We want no other salvation, than to live in this world.
Where are there any saved through your speech? Pomaree
is dead; and we are all dying with your cursed diseases.
When will you give over?”

At present, the virulence of the disorder, in individual cases,
has somewhat abated; but the poison is only the more widely
diffused.

“How dreadful and appalling,” breaks forth old Wheeler,
“the consideration, that the intercourse of distant nations
should have entailed upon these poor, untutored islanders, a
curse unprecedented, and unheard of, in the annals of history.”

In view of these things, who can remain blind to the fact,
that, so far as mere temporal felicity is concerned, the Tahitians
are far worse off now, than formerly; and although their
circumstances, upon the whole, are bettered by the presence
of the missionaries, the benefits conferred by the latter become
utterly insignificant, when confronted with the vast preponderance
of evil brought about by other means.

Their prospects are hopeless. Nor can the most devoted
efforts, now exempt them from furnishing a marked illustration
of a principle, which history has always exemplified. Years
ago brought to a stand, where all that is corrupt in barbarism
and civilization unite, to the exclusion of the virtues of either
state; like other uncivilized beings, brought into contact with
Europeans, they must here remain stationary until utterly
extinct.

The islanders themselves, are mournfully watching their
doom. Several years since, Pomaree II. said to Tyreman and
Bennet, the deputies of the London Missionary Society, “You
have come to see me at a very bad time. Your ancestors
came in the time of men, when Tahiti was inhabited: you are
come to behold just the remnant of my people.”

Of like import, was the prediction of Teearmoar, the high-priest
of Paree; who lived over a hundred years ago. I have
frequently heard it chanted, in a low, sad tone, by aged Tahitians:—