TAHITI, “ THE GARDEN OF THE PACIFIC."

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3624, 10 September 1912, Page 3

TAHITI, “ THE GARDEN OF THE PACIFIC."

THE INTERESTING STORY OF THE ISLANDS. NO. 2.

(By G. J. Black.) Leaving Raitea in the evening wo steered for the celebrated and historical island of Tahiti (the Otahoite of •Captain Cook). In passing through the reef fro noticed the ivrc’ck of the American four-masted schooner “F. G. Watson” which occurred about three months ago. She had discharged her cargo of Oregan lumber and ■was beating out in ballast when she drifted on the reef and became a total wreck. Now only a portion of the bow is visible. All hands took to the /boats, and were saved. Next day we ‘arrived at Papeete, the capital of Tahiti. It was a beautiful sight entering the harbor —the sea smooth cs glass, the buildings along the. waterfront peeping out in every direction from amongst the groves of coin nut and other trees, the hills all gro up and a French man-o-war and rn Argentine training ship at anchor so close to the beach that a plank would have allowed one to land. The interior of the Island is rugged and broken, rising to a height of .'IOOO feet. Nature must have been in one of her worst moods when this Island was thrown up, some of the mountains being almost perpendieular. Although Tniroo discovered this Island in IGOS, it is to Captain Wallis of His Majesty’s ship Dolphin that is due the credit of taking possession oi it for the British in 1767, when he called it King George the Third Island. Ho named the Bay in which he landed Port Roval Bav, but it has always retained the . native name el Mataiva Bay. Whilst laying here Ins vessel was attacked by a fleet of Native canoes and over 2000 Natives, armed with bows and arrows and stones thrown trom slings. Several ot the seamen wore wounded so that the guns were fired at the canoes, many of which were destroyed, and a considerable number of Natives lost their lives. A second attack was made on the following day and the Natives were again repulsed, and a landing party destroyed many of the canoes on the beach', after which the Natives made peace and became very friendly. The ship remained in this bay three months, and was well supplied with hogs, fish, fruits and vegetables. Before leaving the captain planted oranges, lemons and limes, and left with them a. cat and kitten, turkeys, geese and fowl. r l hi* Queen cf this district, who was on friendly terms with the captain and officers, had a house on the hank of the river which was 320 ft long and -!oft. wide and 30ft in height to the ridge pole. . . The next European to visit this TsJaml w as the Breirh commander M ■ de Bouganville, with the ships Bou<|euro and Etoil. who remained here eight davs. On his departure In* took a Native named Aotorou away with him. He lived.in Paris for two years and died from‘small-pox on his way hack. Captain Cook was the next to visit this Island, arriving m April. 1769 for the purpose of observing the transit of Venus. Ho anchored his ship the Endeavor in Matavai Bay, where he remained for three months on friendly terms with the Natives. Whilst here he made a circuit of the Island in tin* ship's boat in four days. As a full account of his transactions with the Natives will be found in li’s voyages it need not he repeated. Tahiti is, in shape, two circular Islands joined hv a peninsula two miles across, one island being much larger than the other. Having only one (lav to stay *i> Papeete we hired a buggy and drove out to Venus Point to see the historical spot on which the transit of Venus was observed. It is 9 miles by a good road, which overlooks Matavai Bay. On looking down on this Bay Irma One Tree Hill I <mild not belli thinking of the stirring scenes enacted here over 100 years ago. This Bay must have carried a vast population in those davs to what it does at present. There were only two or thivo straggling houses to he seen, and a few canoes fishing in the calm waters oi the Bay. The fiat land in the Bay is densely covered with tall cocoa nut trees, and t noticed that each tree at about a height of 12ft had a hand oi zinc two feet deep nailed on. This is to keep the crabs from taking the nuts. On Venus Point is erected a substantial lighthouse built of coral blocks. Also ail obelisk lias been erected oil the spot on which the instruments were set up for observing the transit. Here we stood on the exact spot the great navigator had trod M 3 years ago. Round the point to the east is a navigable river, running inland for some i(T miles. In the year 1797 the brig Dull. Cantain Wilson, arrived at Matavai. fc?be was the first vessel to convoy missionaries to the Islands. She sailed from the Thames on August 10, 1796. and arrived on March 6, 1797, after a voyage of seven months. She had on board 30 missionaries. 6 women and 3 children. On arrival here she found three shipwrecked sailors Jiving with the Natives. /They were Swedes and had been here 5 years and spoke the Native language well. These men wore dressed in the Native fashion and had legs and bodies tatooed and had Native wives. Greatexcitement was caused by the arrival cl‘ the white women, as these were the first seen h.v the Natives. A cordial reception was given the missionaries on landing. The King and Queen were present and were carried about on men’s shoulders ‘ wherever they went. A large house wliivli had been built by King Pomarc was given to them. It was 108 ft long and 48ft wide. A good piece of the flat land was ceded to them for the use of the Mission. Several of the missionaries were left here and the remainder were spread amongst the other Islands. The Duff returned to England and was again on her way out when she was captured- by to French privateer called the the Le Grande Buonaparte. They were taken to Rio Janiero- and ultimately sent hack to Europe. In 1801 the Royal Admiral arrived at Matavai with 8 missionaries. About this time a war broke out amongst - lie Natives, occasioned by the refusal of tli? heathen Natives to deliver ui; the National God “Pro” into .he hands of Pomarc, who had embraced Christianity. As the rebels threatened a descent on the Mission station, the arrival of two trading-vessels gave him the assistance of 23 sailors, who landed with four guns. An engagement took place, and Rua, who was the leader of the rebels, was killed, also a number of the Natives. This ended the war. ■ The next stirring event that had its origin in this Bay was the mutiny of the Bounty. In order to supply the West Indian Islands (a British possession) with the bread fruit tree which

j greiv here in abundance, King George , fitted out the Bounty, a vessel of 215 I tons, carrying a, crew of 46 men. She was commanded by Captain William I High, who had been with Captain Cook for four years as sailing master of the Resolution. She left Portsmouth on December 23, 1787, and, after trying to get round by way of Cape Horn and encountering very had weather, she shaped a course round ' the Cape of Good Hope, calling at Van Dieman’s Land, and passing close to New Zealand. She arrived ac Mata vai Bay on October 20, 1788 —a ten months’ voyage. She remained in this Bay for over six months and collected over one thousand plants of the bread fruit tree, which were all planted in pots and tubes. She sailed from here on April 4, 1789, and when off Tofoa in the Friendly Islands, a mutiny broke out, headed by Fletcher Christia.ii, the master’s mate. One cf the ship’s boats was hoisted out and Lieut. Bligli and 18 men were put into her and cast adrift. The boat was 23 feet long and Oft. 9in beam. They were supplied with loOlbs biscuit, 321bs pork, 28 gallons of water, 0 quarts rum, 0 bottles wine, 4 cutlasses, a. quadrant and compass. In this small boat, deeply laden, Bligli made one of the most wonderful voyages on record, during which he encountered heavy storms, and the pains of cold and hunger, the allowance being down to an ounce of bread and a quarter of a pint of water a day per man. After touching at the coast of Australia, where they got some shell fish, they reached the Island of Timor, in the Malay Archipelago, a distance of 3618 miles, with only the loss of one man. The words of.Diliden Hi one of his sea songs is applicable here:

•'Em- he said how a sparrow- can’t founder d’ye see Without orders that came down below, And many fine things, that proved clearly to me That Providence takes us in tow. For, says lie, do you mind me,, let storms e’er so oft Take the topsails of sailors aback. There’s a sweet little cherub that sits up aloft To keep watch for the life ot poor Jack."

At Timor lie was well received by the Portuguese, where la* purchased a schooner named the Research, and reached Batavia, where lie embarked for England, arriving in March, 1790. H<* was' appointed Governor of New South Wales in 1805. was 'deposed in IXOB, and died in 1817 at the age of 04. The mutineers, after casting Bligli adrift, helped themselves to the grog aboard, and, with the cry of

‘•Hurrah for Otahoite” headed hack for tin*. Bay they had such pleasant recollections of. Eighteen of the crew went ashore to live with .the Natives. Christian and eight others took Native wives and sailed for Pitcairn Island. They were accompanied by 6 Otahoite men, three women and a child. Here they landed and destroyed the vessel after taking all that was useful of her They had not been long here when a state of domestic warfare broke out amongst them and five of tin* mutineers wore kdb’d In- the men of Otahoite. and in the same year these six Natives were killed. some of them by their own countrywomen so that in the year 1860 the only survivor of the mutineers was John Adams, aLI of the others having been murdered. Adams turned

s-hoolniaster and. with the assistance of a Bible and Prayer Book, taught all the youngsters to read and write. Nothing was heard of the mutineers until an American ship, the Topaez, called there in 1808 and was surprised to be addressed in English hy s some fine looking half-castes. Captain Bulger landed and gave Adams some news after eighteen years' absence from civilisation, telling bun oi the English victories of St. \ ineent, the Nile and Trafalgar. The old man gave a loud cheer and cried out at the top of his voice “Old England for Ever.” Adams died on the Island in 1829 at the age of Go.

Owing to the scarcity of water on the Is hind the inhabitants petitioned the Government to remove them, and the l.ucy Jane was sent from Xydw-? in 1831 and removed 87 of them to Otaheite, where Queen Poinare allotted them a piece of ground close to Papeete, hut pining for their own Island. most of them went hack in 1833. When the English Government heard of the mutiny after Bligli s return, they fitted out the* frigate Pandora and asked Captain Edwards to use every endeavor to seize and bring home the mutineers.' She arrived in Matavai Bay on March 23, 1791. when three of the men named Coleman, Haywood and Stewart surrendered. The captain succeeded in taking eleven others. Those wore heavily ironed and confined in a small box eleven feet in length. The vessel oil her return trip was wrecked on the harrier reel on the Australian coast in August 1791. and 30 of the ship’s crew *and four of the mtitmeers were drowned. After spmidmß" 19 ilnvs oh the reel the boats were fitted out and 89 of tin* crow and ten ol the mutineers reached Timor.

A remarkable fact was that Lieutenant Hayward, of the Pandora, was one of those who made the boat passage with Bligli, so that he. was again exposed to the same trip in an open boat. The prisoners were tried at Portsmouth, three of them wen* executed, tin* other seven were pardoned. One of these, a midshipman named Hey wood, afterwards joined the navy and became post captain ot H.M.S. Montague.