Jan 25, 1789 Home Logbook Jan 27, 1789
Revised Jun 29 2021
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Fresh Breezes with Calms and Rain. intervals of fair Wr. Wind ENE to ESE Thermr. 79° to 82°.
Armourer employed at the Forge. Cooper and Carpenter making Tubs and Boxes for Plants. Sailmakers on shore about the sails. Six men in the Venereal List. Supplies as usual.
Tynah is every day my constant Visitor with others of the Royal Family. Teppahoo is also generally here. He has lately complained of being ill, and in looking into his throat to see if any thing was the matter there from an hoarse manner of Speaking which he has, the Surgeon discovered two holes in the Roof of his mouth. These holes had the appearance of having been larger and healed, and the parts about them at this time appeared Sound, however he did not doubt but it was cancerous and would in the End kill him.
Tynah brought a man on board with several Ulcers in each Groin. I asked him if it was Venereal, or the disease which always infected those parts. He clearly told me no, but that it was a disease that appeared in all parts of the Body, and represented in the clearest manner that they could not get the better of it, for as soon as one part was healed, which it did frequently of itself, it would break out in another, and said that the many people I had seen with bad legs and arms was the same disease. The Surgeon was of opinion from these and other circumstances of his own knowledge that the disease was not venereal, but scrophulous, and began to treat it accordingly.
I have had many conversations with Tynah and many of the principal people, but it requires a length of time before one can take up a thing with clearness and precision. A strange circumstance however has long been my enquiry, and I have now no reason to doubt of the Peoples beleif of the assertion, and that is, that the Queen whoever she is has her first Born son or the one that becomes the Heir to the Crown through the inspiration of the Eatua
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nay more than that they assert: that while the Woman is asleep and the Husband by her, the Eatua hovers over her, and literally explaining their expression, says he has connection with her and she conceives, but that all the other children are begot by the Husband. Yet they imply nothing more than that it was their God that gave them a King, without whose assistance they would have been without one. To speak loosely of these peoples tenets, is perhaps doing them a great injustice. They beleive in the omnipresence of a Divine Being, and that he has all power, and altho their physical reasoning does in some, and it may be found in many instances, prove that he may be assuaged or highly wrought to anger with or without the performance of certain duties which of themselves are of no value; yet all serve to establish that they beleive in a God as the great ruler of all things. This God they call Ow, he was begot they say by Taroah and Heooahmytery, but no others were before them. Taroah is equally great with Ow, but it is to Ow they make their offerings and prayer. Many inferior Deitys they have a Catalogue of, and they class certain Evils or good appertaining to each. Literally speaking they say Ow eats and partakes of every thing and expects that certain portions of every kind should in particular places be laid out for him, he even eats mens flesh as they assert and alledge it as a reason for their human Sacrifices. These expressions are however metaphorical, for on my representing to them that they must have seen in all their offerings that they were never touched by the Eatua, I was exceedingly laughed at, yet I could get no clearer information. What was nevertheless very plain to me is that they have no Idea of a future state, at least all my enquiries proved to the contrary. Long life with ease and plenty and success in War is the purport of their ejaculations. They worship no Idol, for wherever their devotions
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are paid, they suppose the real God present hovering about them. On being asked where their God resides or where he is, Their constant answer is "Aure te po" which properly interpreted is He is invisible. The Carved Images which they have, have been mistaken for Idolatrous purposes, but it is certainly not so. They are called Tees and are more for ornament than any thing else.
Jan 25, 1789 Home Logbook Jan 27, 1789