A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16Kerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
most sincere concern, that I could trace, on such undoubted evidence,
the prevalence of these bloody rites, throughout this immense ocean,
amongst people disjoined by such a distance, and even ignorant of each
other's existence, though so strongly marked as originally of the same
nation. It was no small addition to this concern, to reflect, that
every appearance led us to believe, that the barbarous practice was
very general here. The island seemed to abound with such places of
sacrifice as this which we were now visiting, and which appeared to
be one of the most inconsiderable of them, being far less conspicuous
than several others which we had seen, as we sailed along the coast,
and particularly than that on the opposite side of the water, in
this valley, the white _henananoo_, or pyramid, of which, we were now
almost sure, derived its colour only from pieces of the consecrated
cloth laid over it. In several parts, within the inclosure of this
burying-ground, were planted trees of the _cordia sebestina_ some
of the _morinda citrifolia_, and several plants of the _etee_, or
_jeejee_, of Tongataboo, with the leaves of which the _hemanaa_ was
thatched; and, as I observed, that this plant was not made use of in
thatching their dwelling-houses, probably it is reserved entirely for
religious purposes.
Our road to and from the _morai_, which I have described, lay through
the plantations. The greatest part of the ground was quite flat, with
ditches full of water intersecting different parts, and roads that
seemed artificially raised to some height. The interspaces were, in
general, planted with _taro_, which grows here with great strength, as
the fields are sunk below the common level, so as to contain the water
necessary to nourish the roots. This water probably comes from the
same source, which supplies the large pool from which we filled
our casks. On the drier spaces were several spots, where the
cloth-mulberry was planted, in regular rows; also growing vigorously,
and kept very clean. The cocoa-trees were not in so thriving a state,
and were all low, but the plantain-trees made a better appearance,
though they were not large. In general, the trees round this village,
and which were seen at many of those which we passed before we
anchored, are the _cordia sebestina_, but of a more diminutive size
than the product of the southern isles. The greatest part of the
village stands near the beach, and consists of above sixty houses
there; but, perhaps, about forty more stand scattered about, farther
up the country, toward the burying-place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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