CHAPTER XIII. Recent History and Present Condition of Northern The Kingsmill Islands-Drummond Island-Vengeance inflicted on the Drummond Islanders by Captain Hudson-The Badack Isles -Christmas Island-The Sandwich Islands---Enterprise of the Chief Boki-Introduction and Progress of Popery-Aggressions of Captain La Place, Sir George Paulet, and Admiral Tromelin -Progress of Education, Protestantism, and Social Improvement -The Parliament and Court of Tamehameha III.--Progress o Trade and Commerce-Depopulation of the Sandwich Islands, and of other parts of Polynesia-Early Moral Condition of these Regions-The Spirit and Meaning of their Pagan Institutes-Resemblances to the Rites of Ancient Palestine, Greece, and Rome -Relations of their Social Usages, of the Influence of their Chiefs, and of their Commotions and Wars, to the Reception of the Gospel. CHAP. XIII. THE Kingsmill group extends from north latitude 3o The Kings- 20′ 43′′ to south latitude 1° 20′, and lies in east longimill Islands. tude between 172° 57', and 174° 57'. The southern parts of it have been occasionally visited by whaling ships; other parts also have been repeatedly seen; but the group, as a whole, was very ill known till the year 1841, when the greater portion of it was surveyed by two ships of the American exploring expedition, under the command of Captain Hudson. Fifteen islands, or strings of islets, are comprehended in the group. They vary in length from six to thirty miles. All are of coral formation, and have a general resemblance to the islands of the Low Archipelago. But some of them partly want the leeward reef, many are flanked by sandbanks on their leeside, and all seem to be fast wasting away by the action of the sea during CHAP. XIII. westerly gales. The highest land on them is not more than twenty feet above the level of the sea. They have a very shallow soil, and contain neither water, wood, nor produce of any kind in sufficient quantity to court the call of ships. of these The inhabitants of these islands amount to about The natives 60,000. They have a dark copper colour, and more islands. nearly resemble the Malays than the south-eastern Polynesians. They are entirely heathen; and, in some instances, particularly on Drummond's Island, and on Byron's Island, they are furiously savage. About threeeighths of them are chiefs, about the same number are slaves, and the rest are an intermediate class. The government is simply patriarchal; and the succession to rank and property is hereditary. About two-thirds of the people worship a principal divinity of the name of Wanigain; and the rest do not acknowledge him, but have other deities. Some worship the souls of their departed ancestors, or certain fishes, birds, and land animals; and very many worship a female deity whom they suppose to kill and eat all children who die young. All believe that the dead pass into another existence—that they float in the air at the mercy of the winds, till they either reach an elysium or come under the doom of a huge giantess-that only tatooed persons, and chiefly grandees, can go to the elysium—and that there they pass their time in feasting, dancing, and the full enjoyment of whatever they delighted in on earth. All the Their amusepeople are very fond of amusements. They make great festivals. preparations for public festivals, and spend much time in them, and love them better than even the savage excitements of war; and they have at all times a great variety of games, such as foot-ball, fencing, flying kites, swimming in the surf, and sailing small canoes. They live principally on sea-animals, from the whale to the seaslug, and very largely on fishes, and all sorts of molluscs ments and CFP. XIII. and crustaceans. Their canoes are larger and better built than those of most other parts of Polynesia; and their houses, though constructed of very unsuitable materials, are remarkably spacious, strong, durable, and even elegant. Drumn end Drummond Island may be selected as the most striking specimen of the Kingsmill Islands. It is the most southerly of the group, lies most in the way of whalers, and was the scene of the most stirring incidents connected with the visit of the American surveying ships. Its length is thirty miles, and its breadth above water is only from half a mile to three quarters of a mile; but, inclusive of the reefs and sandbanks on its lee-side, is, in some places, six and a half miles. The surface is covered with cocoa-nut trees and pandanus trees, but contains not a patch of grass, or any sort of coppice or underwood. The whole west shore is occupied with houses, and may be called one continuous village. The natives of Drummond Island, as we have already hinted, are exceedingly savage. Most go quite naked; and the rest wear chiefly a sort of girdle, which serves no purpose of decency. They are a lawless race, with scarcely any government, seizing whatever property they can, and practising neither hospitality to strangers nor kindness among themselves. They live in clusters or gangs, seemingly around the greatest bullies or most bloody ruffians; and are so often and fiercely at war with one another, that a large proportion have numerous scars Weapons of and many unhealed wounds. Their weapons are clubs, about four feet long, made from cocoa-nut wood, and pointed at each end; swords, made of sharks' teeth, and fitted to inflict severe gashes; short spears, armed with half a dozen barbs from the tail of the stingray, which are supposed to prove fatal if broken off in the wound; and long spears, of from eight to twenty feet in length, terminating in three prongs, each armed with four rows of sharks' teeth. But formidable though these weapons War. are, the warriors wear a defensive armour, which perfectly CHAP. XIII protects all parts of the body except the face and limbs. This comprises a helmet, consisting of the skin of the porcupine fish, cut open at the head, and stretched to a sufficient size to admit the head of a man; a cuiirass, made of plaited cocoa-nut fibres, as stiff as a coat of mail, covering all the trunk of the body, and rising three or four inches above the back of the head; and pairs of overalls of the same material, with fastening straps for the arms and legs. ness of The population of the island was computed by Captain CrowdedHudson at upwards of 10,000-a greater number per population. square mile than in almost any other part of the globe, which relies wholly on its own resources; and notwithstanding the appearance of one continuous village along the shore, they were segregated into fourteen towns, four of which appeared to form a kind of confederacy against the rest. Those of the frontier town of this confederacy, called Utiroa, came most in contact with the American visiters. They had eminently the bad qualities which we have ascribed to the whole population, and, at the same time, seemed to presume most audaciously on their numbers and courage. An opportunity was taken, in the presence of a large number of them, to show that their defensive armour was not proof against the American weapons; but they paid little regard to the holes made in it, and continued to show as boldly as ever their treachery, ferocity, and thirst for blood. Large parties of the Americans, well armed, and using every precaution, went ashore among them, and were rudely treated; and, on one occasion, one of their most correct and prudent Kidnapping men, armed with musket, pistol, and cutlass, went only a American. moment aside from his comrades, and was instantly kidnapped, and never again heard of. Captain Hudson, after using means to get intelligence, and waiting a proper time for it, could make no doubt that this man was treacherously murdered. He therefore be of an Vengeance on the kidnappers. CHAP. XIII. lieved it to be a paramount duty to punish the people of Utiroa, in order to deter them from practising any similar perfidy on the crews of other vessels which might touch at the island. About eighty officers and men went off in seven boats. About 500 natives stood ready on the beach to confront them, and others were pouring in, all fully equipped with their grotesque weapons and cumbrous coats of mail, and presenting a very savage, and, at the same time, very ludicrous appearance. A parley was made with them, but without any good effect. A rocket was discharged among them, and caused great confusion; but they speedily rallied, stood firm again, and brandished their weapons in defiance. A general volley was then fired at them, and all instantly retreated, some in great haste, but others deliberately, and carrying off the wounded and dead. Twelve had perished; and the boldest of the survivors skulked among the cocoa-nut trees, and kept beyond the range of the guns. The Americans went unopposed to the town, and set fire to it, and in the course of an hour destroyed about 300 houses, tore down the fences, and reduced the cocoa-nut groves to desolation. A small party of natives then came to them from the nearest of the ten towns with which Utiroa had been at enmity. All these were unarmed, and had cocoa-nut leaves and mats tied round their necks. They came to court the good-will of the Americans, and to assure them of their joy at the destruction of Utiroa. One of them, an old man, expressed his feelings with much laughter and many grimaces; and as soon as they understood that no evil was meditated against themselves, they began to pillage the burning town. The Badack A scattered group of islands, called the Badack Isles, extends north-westward from the vicinity of the Kingsmill group to north latitude 11° 23′ 15′′. The Pescadores is the most northerly island of this group, and may be taken as a specimen of the whole. It lies in east longitude 167° 36′ 30′′. It is of coral formation, of |