MIDDLEBURG

MIDDLEBURG, one of the Friendly Islands in the South Sea. This island was first discovered by Tasman, a Dutch navigator, in January 1742-3; and is called by the natives Ea-Oo-cube: it is about 16 miles from north to south, and in the widest part about 8 miles from east to west. The skirts are chiefly laid out in plantations, the south-west and north-west sides especially. The interior parts are but little cultivated, though very capable of it: but this neglect adds greatly to the beauty of the island; for here are agreeably dispersed groves of cocoa-nuts and other trees, lawns covered with thick grass, here and there plantations and paths leading to every part of the island, in such beautiful disorder, as greatly to caliven the prospect. The hills are low; the air is delightful; but unfortunately water is denied to this charming spot. Yams, with other roots, bananas, and bread-fruit, are the principle articles of food; but the latter appeared to be scarce. Here is the pepper-tree, or ava-ava, with which they make an intoxicating liquor, in the same disgusting manner as is practised in the Society Islands. Here are several odoriferous trees and shrubs,

Middle- particularly a species of the lemon tribe; and the bot-
burg- tanical gentlemen met with various new species of
plants. Here also are a few hogs and fowls.

There are no towns or villages; most of the houses
are built in plantations, which are laid out in different
parts, with no other order than what convenience re-
quires. They are neatly constructed, but are less
roomy and convenient than those in the Society Isles.
The floors are a little raised, and covered with thick
strong mats. The same sort of matting serves to inclose
them on the windward side, the others being open.
They have little areas before most of them, which are
planted round with trees or ornamental shrubs, whose
fragrance perfumes the air. Their household furniture
consists of a few wooden platters, cocoa-nut shells, and
pillows made of wood, and shaped like four-footed
stools or forms: their common clothing, with the ad-
dition of a mat, serves them for bedding.

The natives are of a clear mahogany or chestnut
brown, with black hair, in short frizzled curls, which
seems to be burnt at the tips; their beards are cut or
shaven. The general stature of the men is equal to
our middle size, from five feet three to five feet ten
inches; the proportions of the body are very fine, and
the contours of the limbs extremely elegant, though
something more muscular than at Otaheite, which
may be owing to a greater and more constant exertion
of strength in their agriculture and domestic economy.
Their features are extremely mild and pleasing; and
differ from the old Otaheitian faces in being more ob-
long than round, the nose sharper, and the lips rather
thinner. The women are, in general, a few inches
shorter than the men, but not so small as the lower
class of women at the Society Islands. The practice
of puncturing the skin, and blacking it, which is
called tattooing, is in full force among the men here,
for their belly and loins are very strongly marked in
configurations more compounded than those at Ota-
heite. The tenderest parts of the body were not free
from these punctures; the application of which, besides
being very painful, must be extremely dangerous on
glandulous extremities.

The men in general go almost naked, having only
a small piece of cloth round the loins, but some wrap
it in great abundance round them from their waist:
this cloth is manufactured much like that at Ota-
heite, but overspread with a strong glue, which makes
it stiff, and fit to resist the wet. The women are
likewise covered from the waist downwards: they often
have loose necklaces, consisting of several strings of
small shells, seeds, teeth of fishes; and in the middle
of all, the round operculum, or cover of a shell as large
as a crown-piece. The men frequently wear a string
round their necks, from which a mother-of-pearl shell
hangs down on the breast; both the ears of the wo-
men were perforated with two holes, and a cylinder
cut out of tortoise-shell or bone was struck through
both the holes. The most remarkable circumstance
observed of this people was, that most of them wanted
the little finger on one, and sometimes on both hands:
the difference of sex or age did not exempt them from
this amputation; for even among the few children
that were seen running about naked, the greater part
had already suffered such loss. This circumstance was
observed by Tasman. Another singularity which was
observed to be very general among these people, was

a round spot on each cheek-bone, which appeared to
have been burnt or blistered. On some it seemed to
have been recently made, on others it was covered
with scurf, and many had only a slight mark of its
former existence: how, or for what purpose it was
made, could not be learnt. The women here, in ge-
neral, were reserved; and turned, with disgust, from
the immodest behaviour of ungovernable seamen: there
were not, however, wanting some who appeared to be
of easy virtue, and invited their lovers with lascivious
gestures. The language spoken here is soft, and not
unpleasant; and whatever they said was spoken in a
kind of singing tone. Omai and Mahine, who were
both passengers on board the ship, at first declared that
the language was totally new and unintelligible to
them; however, the affinity of several words being
pointed out, they soon caught the particular modifica-
tion of this dialect, and conversed much better with
the natives than any on board the ships could have
done, after a long intercourse. They have the neat-
est ornaments imaginable, consisting of a number of
little flat sticks, about five inches long, of a yellow
wood like box, firmly and elegantly connected to-
gether at the bottom by a tissue of the fibres of cocoa-
nut, some of which were of their natural colour, and
others dyed black; the same fibres were likewise used
in the making of baskets, the taste of which was high-
ly elegant, and varied into different forms and pat-
terns. Their clubs are of a great variety of shapes,
and many of them so ponderous as scarce to be man-
aged with one hand. The most common form was
quadrangular, so as to make a rhomboid at the broad
end, and gradually tapering into a round handle at the
other. Far the greater part were carved all over in
many chequered patterns, which seemed to have re-
quired a long space of time, and incredible patience,
to work up; as a sharp stone, or a piece of coral, are
the only tools made use of: the whole surface of the
plain clubs was as highly polished as if an European
workman had made them with the best instruments.
Besides clubs, they have spears of the same wood,
which were sometimes plain sharp-pointed sticks, and
sometimes barbed with a sting-ray's tail. They have
likewise bows and arrows of a peculiar construction:
the bow, which is six feet long, is about the thick-
ness of a little finger, and when slack forms a slight
curve; its convex part is channelled with a single
deep groove, in which the bow-string is lodged. The
arrow is made of reed, near six feet long, and pointed
with hard wood: when the bow is to be bent, instead
of drawing it so as to increase the natural curvature,
they draw it the contrary way, make it perfectly
straight, and then form the curve on the other side.
Most of their canoes have outriggers, made of poles,
and their workmanship is very admirable: two of
these canoes are joined together with a surprising ex-
actness, and the whole surface receives a very curious
polish. Their paddles have short broad blades, some-
thing like those at Otaheite, but more neatly wrought
and of better wood.

They keep their dead above ground, after the man-
ner of the Society Islands; as a corpse was seen de-
posited on a low hut.

Here were seen several men and women afflicted
with leprosy diseases, in some of whom the disorder
had risen to a high degree of virulence: one man in

particular had his back and shoulders covered with a large cancerous ulcer, which was perfectly livid within, and of a bright yellow all round the edges. A woman was likewise unfortunate enough to have her face destroyed by it in the most shocking manner; there was only a hole left in the place of her nose; her cheek was swelled up, and continually oozing out a purulent matter; and her eyes seemed ready to fall out of her head, being bloody and sore: though these were some of the most miserable objects that could possibly be seen, yet they seemed to be quite unconcerned about their misfortunes, and traded as briskly as any of the rest.