Joseph Banks's Descriptions of Places, South Sea Islands, page 184

Page 184

Joseph Banks's Descriptions of Places

South Sea Islands

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South Sea Islands (continued)

upon its antiquity so are these esteemd. In the Society Isles especialy Ulhietea were some of great antiquity particularly that of Tapodeboatea; the building of these is rough and coarse but the stones of which they are composd immensely large. At Otahite again where either from frequent wars or other accidents many of the most ancient families are extinct they have tried to make them as elegant and expensive as possible, of which sort is that of Oamo describd in the Journal of going round the Island.

Besides their Gods each Island has a Bird to which the Title of Eatua or God is given, for instance Ulietea has the Heron and Bola Bola a kind of Kingfisher; these birds are held in high respect and by no means killd or molested. They are thought to be givers of Good or Bad fortune but no kind of Worship is offerd to them.

Tho I dare not assert that these people, to whoom the art of writing and consequently

Voyaging Accounts

© Derived from State Library of NSW Transcription of Banks's Journal page (vol.1) 431, February 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-banks_remarks-184.html