OROTAVA, a town in the island of Teneriffe, at the bottom of those mountains out of which the Peck rises, neatly built of stone, on an irregular surface. The most remarkable object near it is a dragon's blood tree, of which the trunk measures, at the height of ten feet from the ground, 36 feet in girth. Concerning this tree there is a tradition current in the island, that it existed, of no inconsiderable dimensions, when the Spaniards made the conquest of Teneriffe, about three centuries ago; and that it was then, what it still is, a landmark, to distinguish the boundaries of landed possessions near it.
Distant about three miles on the sea coast is the puerto, or sea-port, of Orotava, where is carried on a considerable degree of commerce, principally for the exportation of wine. It is chiefly, as at Madeira, in the hands of a few British commercial houses, which import, in return, the manufactures of Great Britain. Within a mile is a collection of living plants from Mexico, and other parts of the Spanish dominions in America. From hence they are to be transplanted into Spain. It is an establishment of some expence; and, whatever may be its success, it shews a laudable atten-
tion, on the part of that government, to the promotion of natural knowledge.
OROTCHYS and BITCHYS, two tribes of Tartars, who were visited by La Perouse in 1787, and of whose manners he gives such an account as renders it difficult to say whether they have the best claim to be called a savage or a civilized people. He fell in with a small village of them on the east coast of Tartary, in a bay to which he gave the name of Baie de Gaspie, in Lat. North, and Lon. East from Paris.
Their village, their employment, their dress, and their apparent ignorance of all religion, bespoke them savages. Their village was composed of four cabins, built in a solid manner, of the trunks of fir-trees, and covered with bark. A wooden bench compassed the apartment round about; and the hearth was placed in the middle, under an opening large enough to give vent to the smoke.
This village was built upon a tongue of low marshy land, which appeared to be uninhabitable during the winter; but on the opposite side of the gulf, on a more elevated situation, and exposed to the south, there was, at the entrance of a wood, another village, consisting of eight cabins, much larger and better built than the first. Above this, and at a very small distance, were three yourts, or subterraneous houses, perfectly similar to those of the Kamtschadales, described in the third volume of Captain Cook's last voyage; they were extensive enough to contain the inhabitants of the eight cabins during the rigour of the cold season; besides, on some of the skirts of this village were seen several tombs, which were larger and better built than the houses; each of them enclosed three, four, or five hiers, of a neat workmanship, ornamented with Chinese stuffs, some pieces of which were brocade. Bows, arrows, lines, and, in general, the most valuable articles of these people, were suspended in the interior of these monuments, the wooden door of which was closed by a bar, supported at its extremities by two props.
Their sole employment seemed to be the killing and curing of salmon, of which they eat raw, the snout, the gills, the small bones, and sometimes the entire skin, which they stript off with infinite dexterity. When the stript salmon were carried to the huts, the women, in the most disgusting manner, devoured the mucilaginous part of them, and seemed to think it the most exquisite food. Every cabin was surrounded with a drying place for salmon, which remain upon poles, exposed to the heat of the sun, after having been during three or four days smoked round the fire, which is in the middle of their cabin; the women, who are charged with this operation, take care, as soon as the smoke has penetrated them, to carry them into the open air, where they acquire the hardness of wood.
The bones of the salmon so cured were scattered, and the blood spread round the hearth; greedy dogs, though gentle and familiar enough, licked and devoured the remainder. The nastiness and stench of this people are disgusting. There is not perhaps anywhere a race of people more feebly constituted, or whose features are more different from those forms to which we attach the idea of beauty; their middle stature is below four feet ten inches, their bodies are lank, their voices thin and feeble, like that of children; they have high
Orotchys. cheek bones, small blear eyes, placed diagonally; a large mouth, flat nose, short chin, almost beardless, and an olive-coloured skin, varnished with oil and smoke. They suffer their hair to grow, and tie it up nearly the same as we do; that of the women falls loose about their shoulders, and the portrait which has just been drawn agrees equally well with their countenances as those of the men, from whom it would be difficult to distinguish them, were it not for a slight difference in the dress, and a bare neck; they are not, however, subjected to any labour, which might, like the American Indians, change the elegance of their features, if nature had furnished them with this advantage. Their whole cares are limited to the cutting and sewing their clothes, disposing of their fish to be dried, and taking care of their children, to whom they give the breast till they are three or four years of age.
With respect to dress, the men and little boys are clothed with a waistcoat of nankeen, or the skin of a dog or a fish, cut in the shape of a waggoner's frock. If it reach below the knee, they wear no drawers; if it do not, they wear some in the Chinese style, which fall as low as the calf of the leg. All of them have boots of seal's skin, but they keep them for the winter; and they at all times, and of every age, even at the breast, wear a leather girdle, to which are attached a knife in its sheath, a steel to strike a light with, a pipe, and a small bag to contain tobacco. The dress of the women is somewhat different; they are wrapped up in a large nankeen robe, or salmon's skin, which they have the art of perfectly tanning, and rendering extremely supple. This dress reaches as low as the ankle-bone, and is sometimes bordered with a fringe of small copper ornaments, which make a noise similar to that of small bells. Those salmon, the skins of which serve for clothing, are never caught in summer, and weigh thirty or forty pounds.
Though they had neither priests nor temples, they seemed to be believers in sorcery, and took the motion of the Frenchmen's hands, when writing, for signs of magic. Thus far they appeared savages.
Their sacred regard of property, their attention to their women, and the delicacy of their politeness to strangers, would, on the other hand, do honour to the most civilized nation. While Perouse and his people were in the bay, one of the families took its departure on a voyage of some length, and did not return during their stay. When he went away, the master of the family put some planks before the door of his house, to prevent the dogs from entering it, and in this state left it full of their effects. "We were soon (says our author) so perfectly convinced of the inviolable fidelity of these people, and their almost religious respect for property, that we left our sacks full of stuffs, beads, iron tools, and, in general, every thing we used as articles of barter, in the middle of their cabins, and under no other seal of security than their own probity, without a single instance of their abusing our extreme confidence; and on our departure from this bay, we firmly entertained the opinion, that they did not even suspect the existence of such a crime as theft."
Their attention to their women, so uncommon among savages, was displayed in their exempting them from hard labour; in their never concluding a bargain with the Frenchmen without previously consulting their wives;
and in their reserving the pendent silver ear-rings and copper trinkets, which they purchased, for their wives and daughters. Of the delicacy of their manners to strangers, we shall give the following interesting instance in the words of Perouse's translator:
Observing with what repugnance they received presents, and how often they refused them with obstinacy, "I imagined (says Perouse) I could perceive, that they were perhaps desirous of more delicacy in the manner of offering them; and to try if this suspicion were well founded, I sat down in one of their houses, and after having drawn towards me two little children, of three or four years old, and made them some trifling caresses, I gave them a piece of rose-coloured nankeen, which I had brought in my pocket. The most lively satisfaction was visibly testified in the countenances of the whole family, and I am certain they would have refused this present, had it been directly offered to themselves. The husband went out of his cabin, and soon afterwards returning with his most beautiful dog, he entreated me to accept of it. I refused it, at the same time endeavouring to make him understand, that it was more useful to him than to me: but he insisted; and perceiving that it was without success, he caused the two children, who had received the nankeen, to approach, and placing their little hands on the back of the dog, he gave me to understand, that I ought not to refuse his children.
"The delicacy of such manners cannot exist but among a very polished people. It seems to me, that the civilization of a nation, which has neither flocks nor husbandry, cannot go beyond it. It is necessary to observe, that dogs are their most valuable property; they yoke them to small and very light sledges, extremely well made, and exactly similar to those of the Kamtschdales. These dogs, of the species of wolf dogs, and very strong, though of a middle size, are extremely docile, and very gentle, and seem to have imbibed the character of their masters."