The next subject in order is the state of the arts and manufactures. I have already spoken, as far as respectability is concerned, of those which constitute distinct professions, being for the most part hereditary, and are all exercised by men. There are several other arts, however, some of which are practiced by men, others by women, but which are not considered professional, as they do not constitute the business of a person’s life: and the term tufunga (artisan) is consequently not applied to those who perform them. Among these are principally the arts of performing surgical operations; erecting fortifications; making ropes, bows and arrows, clubs and spears, which are practiced by men, while the manufacture of ngatu, mats, baskets, thread, combs, etc., constitute the occasional employment of the women, even of those of rank. I shall give an account of each of the principal arts, beginning with those that are strictly professional.
Fa’u vaka, canoe-building. As it would be impossible to give an intelligible and accurate description of this ingenious and useful art, without referring to well-executed plates, and as this has been already so ably done in Cook’s and d’Entrecasteaux’s voyages, I presume it would be but an unnecessary intrusion upon the attention of the reader to attempt entering into such a description. [See illustration of Tongan vessels.] It may here be noticed, however, that the Tonga people have obtained a considerable share of information in the art of building and rigging canoes, from the natives of the Fiji Islands. It has already been observed, that, in all probability, the communication between these two nations, at the distance of one hundred and twenty leagues, [360 miles] began on the part of the Tonga people, who being situated to windward, it is very likely that one or more of their canoes formerly drifted to the Fiji Islands by stress of weather; and although they have no tradition of such a circumstance, yet this one consideration tends strongly to corroborate the idea. It is highly probable that neither of them went out on a voyage of discovery, of if such an opinion be admitted, there is little doubt but that the people of Tonga first made the attempt, although the construction and rigging of their canoes were at that time far inferior. The grounds for this opinion are, first, their situation to windward, and secondly, their superior enterprising spirit in affairs of navigation, which may be said to constitute a feature of their national character. Their superiority in this respect is so great, that no native of Fiji, as far as is known, ever ventured to Tonga but in a canoe manned with Tonga people, nor ever ventured back to his own islands, but under the same guidance and protection. If we look to the voyage of Kau Moala, we cannot but entertain a very favorable idea of his maritime skill. He sailed from the Fiji Islands for those of Tonga, but the state of the weather prevented him making them; then he steered for the Samoa Islands; and the weather being still unfavorable, he drifted to Futuna, where his canoe was destroyed, and his cargo of sandalwood taken from him. Notwithstanding these misfortunes, as soon as another large canoe was built, he again ventured to sea, and returned to the Fiji Islands to lay in a second cargo.
The Fiji islanders make their canoes principally of a hard firm wood, called fehi, which is not liable to become worm-eaten. As the Tonga islands do not produce this wood. the Tongans are not able to build canoes so large or so strong as those of their instructors. All their large canoes, therefore, are either purchased or taken by force from the natives of Fiji. The natives of Tonga take the greatest pains with their canoes, polishing them with pumice-stone, and paying every attention that they are not more exposed to the weather than is absolutely necessary. The canoes of the Samoan islands are similar to those which were formerly in use at Tonga, but the natives of those islands never venture to the latter place but in canoes manned with Tonga people.
By the time of the European penetration of the Pacific Ocean in the eighteenth century, most of the Polynesians had lost the art of long ocean voyages. From the time of the voyage of Magellan in 1520 onward the European explorers never encountered a Polynesian vessel at sea. From Mariner’s report it appears that only the Tongans retained the capacity to regularly undertake long sea voyages. The voyage of Kau Moala may have been as extensive as they were able to make at that time.
Fono’i, carving ornaments out of whales teeth, for the neck wear, and inlaying clubs, etc, with the same material: This art, as far as it regards ornaments for the neck, is of Fiji origin; but inlaying clubs, wooden pillows, etc., is their own invention. They inlay their clubs with extraordinary neatness, considering the rude tool they employ, which is generally a toki (or small adze), made out of an European chisel, a piece of an old saw, or even a flattened nail, to which a handle is affixed. They only ornament those clubs which are considered good on account of their form, or the quality of the wood, or those which have done much execution. To these it used to be the custom to give a proper name. Those that make these ornaments are chiefly canoe builders.
Tufunga tapu, superintendents of funeral rites. These, as the name indicates, have the regulation of every thing regarding burials of principal chiefs. They are generally matapules, and are always consulted respecting the preparations and forms of ceremony necessary on such occasions, and which are handed down by them from father to son.
Tufunga ta maka. Makers of stone vaults for the burial of chiefs: The general form of these vaults has been already described. The stones used for this purpose are about a foot in thickness, and are cut of the requisite dimensions, out of the stratum found on the beaches of some of the islands.
Sia kupengu, net-making. This art is performed exactly in the same way as with us. The thread is made of the inner bark of a tree, which they call olonga. Large nets, however, are made of plait, formed from the husk of the coconut.
Tufunga toutai ika, fishermen. All those who follow this profession are sailors. Their mode of catching fish is chiefly with the net, though they sometimes make use of the line and hook.
Langa fale, house-building. Every man knows how to build a house, but those whose business it is have chiefly to erect large houses on mala’es, consecrated houses, and dwellings for chiefs. The general form of their houses is oblong, rather approaching to an oval, the two ends being closed, and the front and back open; the sloping thatched roof descending to within about four feet of the ground, which is generally supported by four posts, the larger houses by six, or sometimes more. The chief art in building a house consists in fastening the beams, etc. strongly, with plait of different colors, made of the husk of the coconut, in such a way as to look very ornamental; the colors, which are black, red, and yellow, being tastefully disposed. The thatch of the superior houses is made of the dried leaves of the sugarcane, and which will last seven or eight years without requiring repair. The thatch of the common houses is made of matting formed of leaves of the coconut tree, and which lasts about two or three years; but being much easier to make than the other, it is more frequently used. The flooring is thus made: the ground, being raised about a foot, is beaten down hard, and covered with leaves of the coconut tree, dried grass, or leaves of the ifi tree. Over this is laid a bleached matting, made of the young leaves of the coconut tree. The house consists, as it were, but of one apartment, but which is subdivided occasionally by screens about six or eight feet high. In case of rain, or at night, if the weather is cool, they let down a sort of blind, which is attached to the eaves of the open sides of the house. These blinds are made of long mats, about six inches in width, one above another, and rather overlapping, and are so contrived as to draw up by means of strings, like our Venetian blinds, and are then concealed just within the eaves. The common houses have not these blinds, but, in place of them, a few mats hung up as occasion may require.
Tatatau, striking the tattoo. This operation has already been described and nothing farther is here to be said, except that Tu’i Tonga is never tattooed at the Tonga islands; for it is not considered respectful to put so high a chief to so much pain, and if, therefore, he wishes to undergo this operation, he must visit Samoa for that purpose.
Tongi ‘akau-ta, club carving or engraving. Formerly the whole of the club used to be engraved, but now this ornamental work is confined to the handle. It is executed with a great deal of neatness. A shark’s tooth used to be the instrument, but now they make a sort of graver out of a nail, flattened, sharpened, and fixed in a handle. Instances of their neatness in this sort of workmanship may be seen in our museums, and in the engraved representations of other works.
Fikava, shaving the beard. They have two modes of performing this operations, namely with the two valves of a certain kind of shell, which they call pipi, and with pumice-stone. The latter is used by the party himself who requires the operation; the former by those whose profession it is to shave others. The edge of one valve being pressed horizontally against the chin or lip by the left hand, that portion of the beard which appears upon it is rubbed or filed off by the rough back of the other valve. This operation is generally performed once in about eight or ten days. The heads of infants are always kept closely shaved; but this is done with a shark’s tooth by the mother.
Fei ‘umu, the art of cooking. If refinement in cookery is one proof of the civilization of a people, the natives of the South Seas have something to boast of in this respect; at least the people of the Tonga islands can invite you to partake of at least thirty or forty different kinds of dishes, consisting in or prepared from one or more of the following article, namely: pork, turtle, fowls of different kinds, fish, yams, breadfruit, plantains, bananas, coconut, taro, and kape, (esculent roots), [an arum with an edible tuber; Alocasia macrorrhiza. It keeps better than taro, but is less esteemed.] and mahoa’a [arrowroot], a preparation from a root of the same name. I shall give a short account of the principal preparations of food.
Baked pork: The animal is first stunned by a blow with a stick, and then killed by repeated blows on both sides of the neck. It is then rubbed over with the juicy substance of the banana tree, thrown for a few minutes on the fire, and, when warm, scraped with mussel shells or knives, and then washed. It is next laid on its back, when the cook cuts open the throat, and drawing forth the wind-pipe and gullet, passes a skewer behind them, and ties a string tight round the latter, afterwards to be divided. He then cuts a circular piece from the belly, from four to six inches diameter, and draws forth the entrails, separating the attachments either by force or by the use of bamboo. He has already made a circular incision round the anus, and tied the rectum to secure the contents, lest the interior of the abdomen should get dirty, which they are very careful to avoid, as they do not otherwise wash the inside, which they say would spoil it.
The diaphragm is then divided, and the gullet, windpipe, contents of the chest, stomach and liver, are all drawn away together along with the bowels. From these the liver is separated to be baked with the hog; the remainder is washed and cooked over hot embers, to be shared out and eaten in the meanwhile. The whole inside of the hog is now filled up with hot stones, each wrapper up in breadfruit leaves, and all the apertures of the body are closed up quickly, also with leaves. It is then laid with the belly downwards, in a hole in the ground, lined with hot stones, a fire having been previously made there for that purpose, but prevented, however, from touching them, by small branches of the breadfruit tree. A few other branches are now laid across the back of the pig, and plenty of banana leaves strewed or rather heaped over the whole, upon which, again, a mound of earth is raised, so that no steam apparently escapes. The liver is put by the side of the pig, and sometimes yams. By these means, a good sized pig may be very well cooked in half an hour. A large hog is generally about half done in this way, then taken up, cut to pieces, and each piece being wrapped up separately in leaves, is cooked again in like manner. Yams, fowls, breadfruit, and everything that is baked, is dressed after this manner; the larger yams being cut into smaller pieces. They perform the process of boiling in earthen pots, of the manufacture of the Fiji Islands, or in iron vessels procured from ships, or in banana leaves. They also occasionally roast food upon hot embers. As to their made dishes, the following is a list of the principal ones.
Vaihu. Fish soup, made with a liquid preparation of coconut and water.
Vai’ufi. Boiled yams mashed up with coconut and water. [Haka’ufi is boiled yams.]
Vaihopa. Ripe bananas cut in slices, and boiled with coconut and water.
Vaisi. A sort of jelly made of ma,[fermented plantain] and the juice of the si root. [The si root produces a sweet juice. Now days vaisi is a drink made from the si root.
Vaivi. A sort of apple grated, mixed with water and strained.
Po’oi. A preparation of ma and si, forming a stronger jelly, but similar to vaisi.
Poi. Similar to the above, but not jellied.
Faikakai lolo tutu. Breadfruit beaten up and cut into small pieces. It is eaten with a preparation of coconut, and the juice either of the si or sugarcane. It very much resembles, in appearance and taste, batter pudding, with melted butter and sugar.
Lolo faikakai. The same as the above, eaten with the expressed juice of the coconut [when it is finished boiling].
Lu lolo’i. Taro leaves heated or stewed with the expressed juice of the coconut.
Lu efe’iniu. Taro leaves heated with grated coconut fermented.
Lu puaka. Taro leaves heated with a fat piece of pork, kept till it is high.
Lu tahi. Taro leaves heated with a small quantity of sea water.
Ma mei. Fermented breadfruit.
Ma hopa. Fermented bananas.
Ma natu. Fermented bananas well kneaded and baked.
Ma lolo’i. Fermented bananas stewed with expressed juice of the coconut.
Lolo’i feke. Dried cat-fish [octopus], stewed with the expressed juice of the coconut.
Lolo’i. A baked pudding made of mahoa’a root and the expressed juice of the coconut.
To’okutu. A baked cake made of mahoa’a root, small pieces of coconut, and the expressed juice of the nut.
Fakalili. The powder of mahoa’a root sprinkled into boiling water till the whole becomes a semi-jellied mass.
Veihalo. A preparation of the substance of young coconut, with their milk stewed together.
‘Otai. The inside of young coconut and the juice of the si root mixed with the milk.
Coconut milk (or “cream”) in Tongan and Polynesian recipes is not the clear fluid found inside the coconut; it is a milky or creamy liquid made by squeezing the shredded coconut meat with a small amount of coconut water to obtain a liquid extract of the meat itself. The resulting fluid is a nutritious food source, rich in carbohydrates and fats.
Before sugar was introduced to Tonga, the baked root of the si was used as a sweetener. The baked si root was used to sweeten the ‘otai and the faikakai lolo tutu. Today, refined sugar is used for preparing ‘otai. Fruits such as watermelon, pineapple, mango, and vi are mixed with sugar and ripe coconut juice to prepare this desert dish.
Thus far those arts are strictly professional, and are practiced by men; there are some others not professional, which are also exercised by men, namely surgical operations, erecting fortifications, rope-making, and making bows and arrows, clubs and spears.
Rope-making. There are two kinds of rope, one made of the husk of the coconut, which is the superior sort, and the other of the inner bark of the fau. Although these ropes are made entirely by hand, yet even those of considerable circumference are laid with the greatest regularity. They are very elastic, and the strength of them is universally known. The husk of the coconut is first made into plait, which is then twisted into strands, and of these the rope is made. The bark of the fau is not first made into plait, but at once into strands.
Bows and arrows. The bows are generally made of the wood of the mangrove, though some few of the casuarina wood. The string is made of the inner bark of a tree they call ‘olonga and is exceedingly strong. The arrows are made of reed, headed with casuarina wood. Some of these heads have three or four rows of barbs, and, to make them more formidable, are tipped with the bone of the stingray.
Clubs and spears. Though the making of these is not a distinct profession, yet they are most commonly made by the tufunga a’u-vaka, as being expert in the use of the togi [adze]. Their clubs are of various shapes; but specimens of them, as well as of their spears, may be seen in our museums.
The next arts to be spoken of are those practiced by females, not so much as a task or labour, for women of rank often employ themselves this way, but as being their proper occupation. The most important of these is the fabrication of ngatu. This substance is somewhat similar to cotton, but not woven, being rather of the texture of paper. It is prepared from the inner bark of the Chinese paper mulberry tree, and is used for dress and other purposes.
A circular incision being made round the tree near the root, with a shell deep enough to penetrate the bark, the tree is broken off at that part, which its slenderness readily admits of. When a number of them are thus laid on the ground, they are left in the sun a couple of days to become partially dry, so that the inner and outer bark may be stripped off together, without danger of leaving any of the fibres behind. The bark is then soaked in water for a day and night, and scraped carefully with shells for the purpose of removing the outer bark, or epidermis, which is thrown away. The inner bark is then rolled up lengthwise, and soaked in water for another day; it now swells, becomes tougher, and more capable of being beaten out into a firm texture: being thus far prepared, the operation of tutu, or beating, commences. This part of the work is performed by means of a mallet a foot long, and two inches thick, in the form of a parallelepiped, two opposite sides being grooved longitudinally to the depth and breadth of about a line, with intervals of a quarter of an inch. The bark, which is from two to five feet long, and one to three inches broad, is then laid upon a beam of wood about six feet long, and nine inches in breadth and thickness, which is supported about an inch from the ground by pieces of wood at each end, so as to allow of a certain degree of vibration. Two or three women generally sit at the same beam; each places her bark transversely upon the beam immediately before her, and while she beats with her right hand, with her left she moves it slowly to and fro, so that every part becomes beaten alike; the grooved side of the mallet is chiefly used first, and the smooth side afterwards. They generally beat alternately. Early in the morning, when the air is calm and still, the beating of ngatu at all the plantations about has a very pleasing effect; some sounds being near at hand, and others almost lost by the distance, some a little more acute, others more grave, and all with remarkable regularity, produce a musical variety that is very agreeable, and not a little heightened by the singing of the birds, and the cheerful influence of the scene. When one hand is fatigued, the mallet is dexterously transferred to the other, without occasioning the smallest sensible delay. In the course of about half an hour it is brought to a sufficient degree of thinness, being so much spread laterally as to be now nearly square when unfolded; for it must be observed, that they double it several times during the process, by which means it spreads more equally, and is prevented from breaking. The bark thus far prepared is called feta’aki and is mostly put aside till they have a sufficient quantity to go on at a future time with the second part of the operation, which is called koka’anga or printing with koka [Koka is a tree with a reddish wood from which the pigment is extracted to stain the tapa cloth. Hu’a-koka is the juice of the koka bark.] When this is to be done, a number employ themselves in gathering the berries of the tou the pulp of which serves for paste; but the mucilaginous substance of the mahoa’a root is sometimes substituted for it. At the same time others are busy scraping off the soft bark of the koka tree and the tuitui tree, either of which when wrung out, without water, yields a reddish brown juice, to be used as a die. The kupessi, or stamp, is formed of the dried leaves of the paongo sewed together so as to be of a sufficient size, and afterwards embroidered, according to various devices, with the wiry fibre of the coconut husk; they are generally about two feet long, and a foot and a half broad. Making the kupesi is another employment of the women, and mostly women of rank. The kupesi are tied on to the convex side of half cylinders of wood, usually about six or eight feet long, to admit two or three similar operations to go on at the same time. The stamp being thus fixed, with the embroidered side ngatu uppermost, a piece of the prepared bark is laid on it, and smeared over with a folded piece of ngatu dipped in one of the reddish brown liquids before mentioned, so that the whole surface of the prepared bark becomes stained, but particularly those parts raised by the design in the stamp. Another piece of ngatu is now laid on it, but not quite so broad, which adheres by virtue of the mucilaginous quality in the dye, and this, in like manner, is smeared over; then a third in the same way; and the substance is now three layers in thickness. Others are then added to increase it in length and breadth, by pasting the edges of these over the first, but not so as there shall be in any place more than three folds, which is easily managed, as the margin of one layer falls short of the margin of the one under it. During the whole process each layer is stamped separately, so that the pattern may be said to exist in the very substance of the ngatu; and when one portion is thus printed to the size of the kupesi, the material being moved farther on, the next portion, either in length or breadth, becomes stamped, the pattern beginning close to where the other ended. Thus they go on printing and enlarging it to about six feet in breadth, and generally about forty or fifty yards in length. It is then carefully folded up and baked under ground, which causes the die to become somewhat darker, and more firmly fixed in the fibre; besides which, it deprives it of a peculiar smoky smell which belongs to the koka. When it has been thus exposed to heat for a few hours, it is spread out on a grassplot, or on the sand of the seashore, and the finishing operation of tukihea commences, or staining it in certain places with the juice of the hea, which constitutes a brilliant red varnish; this is done in straight lines along those places where the edges of the printed portions join each other, and serves to conceal the little irregularities there; also in sundry other places, in the form of round spots, about an inch and a quarter in diameter. After this the ngatu is exposed one night to the dew, and the next day being dried in the sun, it is packed up in bales to be used when required. When ngatu is not printed or stained, it is called tapa.
They make also an inferior kind of ngatu of the bark of young breadfruit trees, which, however, is coarse, and seldom worn, but is chiefly used for various purposes at funerals.
The whole of these operations are performed by women. The embroidering of the kupesis, or stamps, is always done by women or rank.
In respect to mat and basket making, they have mats of various kinds, made of strips of leaves or bark selected, dried, and otherwise prepared; all of which, except one or two of a coarser kind, are fabricated by women. The following are the names and qualities of them.
Ngafingafi. Mats to wear, of a finer quality, made of the leaves of the fa, or paongo, that have been transplanted, in order to give them a finer and softer texture.
Kie. Stronger mats made of the bark of the fau or olonga, worn chiefly by people in canoes to keep out the wet, as the water does not damage them. They appear as if they were made of horse-hair. Labillardiere mentions that he saw a woman of rank with a sort of mat made of the white hair of a horse’s tail. He supposed that it must have been procured from some horses that Cook had left there.
The fine kie mats were made out of the smooth sides of the leaves of the kie variety of pandanus. Other mats were made from the fau variety of the pandanus and the ‘olonga tree’s stringy bark. Mats made from fau are called kiefau.
Fala. Mats to sleep on, made of the leaves of the paongo. These are double, and are of various sizes, from six feet by three, to seventy or eighty feet by six; to lie along the whole length of the house.
The fala mats were made for a number of special purposes besides just for sleeping. These other mats had the following names:
fala mohenga bed mat
fala faliki floor mat
fala holoholo’anga door mat
fala kai food mat
fala teuteu decorative mat
fala vala loin cloth mat
In addition to the many varieties of fala mats, there were also eighteen other kinds of mats, all with distinct names and all for special purposes.
La. Mats for sails, made of the leaves of the fa; they are very strong and light.
Takapau. A sort of matting, plaited in a very ornamental way, made of young coconut leaves. They are used to screen the sides of houses from the weather.
Kato, baskets. These are of various constructions; sometimes of a sort of matting made with the leaves of the fa, paongo, lo’akau, etc.; at other times of the fibrous root of the coconut tree interwoven with plait made of the husk of the nut, and have rather the appearance of wicker-work. The latter are sometimes variously stained and ornamented with beads or shells worked in. The larger and coarser baskets are generally made by men, to hold axes and other tools in. Also the baskets used to hold victuals, made of the leaves of the coconut tree, are generally made by men.
The fa is a variety of pandanus that sends down large shoots into the ground from its trunk, the “screw pine.” The la’akau usually refers to yet another variety of pandanus called in Tonga the tofua; but the word is also a general name for all the pandanus varieties.
Pola. Mats for thatching houses, are either made by men or women, but more frequently by the former.
Most of these mats, baskets, etc. are made by women of some rank as an amusing as well as profitable occupation, exchanging them afterwards for other things.
Making of combs, the teeth of which consist of the mid-rib of the coconut leaf, is also an employment of women of rank. Making thread is an occupation of females of the lower order. It is performed by twisting the separate parts of the thread, in the act of rolling them with the palm of the hand along the thigh, and by a return of the hand, twisting them together the contrary way. The material of the thread is the prepared bark of the ‘olonga.