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Routledge Handbook of Islam in the West 1st Edition
Roberto Tottoli Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Roberto Tottoli
ISBN(s): 9780415691321, 041569132X
Edition: 1
File Details: PDF, 2.72 MB
Year: 2014
Language: english
 Routledge Handbook of Islam
in the West

Islam has long been a part of the West in terms of religion, culture, politics and society.
Discussing this interaction from al-Andalus to the present, this Handbook explores the influence
Islam has had, and continues to exert; particularly its impact on host societies, culture and
politics.
Highlighting specific themes and topics in history and culture, chapters cover:

 European paradigms
 Muslims in the Americas
 Cultural interactions
 Islamic cultural contributions to the Western world
 Western contributions to Islam

Providing a sound historical background, from which a nuanced overview of Islam and Western
society can be built, the Routledge Handbook of Islam in the West brings to the fore specific themes
and topics that have generated both reciprocal influence and conflict.
Presenting readers with a range of perspectives from scholars based in Europe, the USA and
the Middle East, this Handbook challenges perceptions on both Western and Muslim sides and
will be an invaluable resource for policy-makers and academics with an interest in the history of
Islam, religion and the contemporary relationship between Islam and the West.

Roberto Tottoli teaches Islamic studies at the University of Naples L’Orientale, where he is
currently director of the Department of Asia, Africa, and the Mediterranean. He has published
studies on the biblical tradition in the Qur’an and Islam (Biblical Prophets in the Qur’an and Muslim
Literature, Richmond, 2002; The Stories of the Prophets of Ibn Mutarrif al-Tarafi, Berlin, 2003) and
the medieval Islamic literature. He also dealt with the aspects and dynamics of contemporary
Islam, editing the volume Le Religioni e il mondo moderno. III. Islam (Torino, 2009).
This page intentionally left blank
Routledge Handbook of
Islam in the West

Edited by
Roberto Tottoli
First published 2015
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2015 Roberto Tottoli
The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the
authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and
are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Routledge handbook of Islam in the West / edited by Roberto Tottoli.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Muslims–Non-Muslim countries. 2. East and West. 3. Civilization, Western–Islamic
influences. 4. Islam–History. I. Tottoli, Roberto.
BP52.5.R68 2014
297.09182’1–dc23
2013043513

ISBN: 978-0-415-69132-1 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-79427-3 (ebk)

Typeset in Bembo
by Taylor & Francis Books
 Contents

List of figures and tables viii

List of contributors ix

Introduction: Islam in the West: histories and contemporary issues of

the Western umma 1
Roberto Tottoli

PART 1
History 17
Part 1.1: European paradigms 19

1 The borders of Muslim Spain 21

Alessandro Vanoli

2 The converted Muslims of Spain: Morisco cultural resistance and engagement

with Islamic knowledge (1502–1610) 38
Mercedes García-Arenal

3 Muslims and Islam in Sicily from the mid-eleventh to the end of

the twelfth century: contemporary perceptions and today’s
interpretations 55
Annliese Nef

4 The Muslims in southeastern Europe: from Ottoman subjects to

European citizens 70
Nathalie Clayer

v
Contents

5 Muslims in Western Europe in the late twentieth century: emergence

and transformations in “Muslim” revindications and collective
mobilization efforts 85
Ghaliya Djelloul and Brigitte Maréchal
Part 1.2: Muslims in the Americas 107

6 Islam in America: the beginnings 109

Kambiz GhaneaBassiri

7 Black Muslims 123

Herbert Berg

8 American Muslim associational life from 1950 to the present 137

Kathleen Moore

9 Islam in Mexico and Central America 154

Mark Lindley-Highfield of Ballumbie Castle

10 Muslims in South America: history, presence, and visibility of a religious

minority in a Christian context 170
Marco Gallo

PART 2
Culture 181
Part 2.1: Interactions, conflicting, converging 183

11 Europe’s identity crisis, Islam in Europe, and the crisis of European secularity 185
Luca Mavelli

12 Emergence of Western Muslim identity: factors, agents, and discourses 198

Adis Duderija

13 The multicultural idea and Western Muslims 214

Anna Triandafyllidou

14 Social and political Islamophobia: stereotyping, surveillance, and silencing 229

Salua Fawzi

15 A Muslim modernity: Ismaili engagement with Western societies 244

Karim H. Karim

16 Conversion to Islam in modern Western Europe and the United States 259
Patrick D. Bowen

vi
 Contents

17 Muslim political radicalization in the West 272

Tahir Abbas
Part 2.2: Contributing to the Western world 287

18 Landscapes of Muslim art and architecture in the West 289

Eric R. Roose

19 Islamic organizations in the West: new welfare actors in the new

welfare systems in Europe 304
Elisa Banfi

20 Islam in the arts in the USA 320

Sylvia Chan-Malik

21 European Muslim youth and popular culture: at the crossroads of

fun and faith 334
Miriam Gazzah

22 Muslim material culture in the Western world 348

Johan Fischer
Part 2.3: Contributing to Islam 363

23 A religious law for Muslims in the West: the European Council for
Fatwa and Research and the evolution of fiqh al-aqalliyyat al-muslima 365
Uriya Shavit and Iyad Zahalka

24 Ethical questions in Western Islamic experience 378

Francesca Forte

25 Gender, feminism, and critique in American Muslim thought 395

Juliane Hammer

26 Development and perspectives of Islamic economics (banking and

finance) in the West 411
Gian Maria Piccinelli

27 The production of Western Islamic knowledge 426

Stefano Allievi

28 Islam, Sufism, and the postmodern in the religious melting pot 441
Francesco Alfonso Leccese

Index 455

vii
 List of figures and tables

Figures
15.1 The Aga Khan Development Network’s organizational chart 252

Tables
5.1 Number of people of “attributed” Muslim origin 87
8.1 No national American Muslim organization represents a large portion of the
community 147
8.2 Advocacy organizations listed by Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life
(updated May 15, 2012) 148
8.3 Non-profit organizations by and for American Muslim women 149
13.1 Muslim populations in Europe and North America 217

viii
 List of contributors

Tahir Abbas is Professor of Sociology at Fatih University in Istanbul, Turkey. He is author of

Islamic Radicalism and Multicultural Politics (2011), editor of the four-volume Islam and Education
(2010), and co-editor of Honour, Violence, Women and Islam (with M.M. Idriss, 2011). He is a
specialist in the area of Muslim minorities and ethnic studies in the West. He is currently
completing a critical observational perspective on the Muslim world and Muslim minorities in
the West, and a monograph on comparative Islamisms based on research and study visits carried
out in Turkey, Pakistan, and Indonesia.

Stefano Allievi, Ph.D., is Professor of Sociology at the University of Padua. He specializes in

migration issues, sociology of religion, and cultural change, and has particularly focused his
studies and research on the presence of Islam in Europe. He has published extensively on these
issues in different languages (www.stefanoallievi.it).

Elisa Banfi is currently Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the Institute for Citizenship Studies
(InCiTe) at the University of Geneva.

Herbert Berg is Professor of Religion specializing in Islam in the Department of Philosophy

and Religion at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. His research focuses on Islamic
origins and on African American Islam. His publications include Elijah Muhammad and Islam
(2009) and The Development of Exegesis in Early Islam (2000).

Patrick D. Bowen, a recent graduate of the University of Denver-Iliff School of Theology

Joint Ph.D. Program in Religious Studies, is the author of over a dozen articles and book
chapters concerning Islam in the West. His forthcoming three-volume book is entitled A History
of Conversion to Islam in the United States.

Sylvia Chan-Malik is Assistant Professor of American and Women’s and Gender Studies at
Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Her research examines the intersections of race, religion,
gender, and sexuality, with a specific focus on the history of Islam in the United States. Her current
book project is titled Insurgent Traditions: Race, Gender, and Islam in the United States, 1923–2013.

ix
List of contributors

Nathalie Clayer is Professeur at the EHESS and a senior research fellow at the CNRS (Paris).
She has published on religion, nationalism, and the state-building process in the Balkans and the
Ottoman Empire. Publications include Aux Origines du nationalisme albanais (Paris, 2007) and,
with Xavier Bougarel, Les Musulmans de l’Europe du Sud-Est (XIXe–XXe siècles) (Paris, 2013).

Ghaliya Djelloul is a Ph.D. candidate at CISMOC and teaching assistant at the Université
Catholique de Louvain. Her research covers intersections between gender and Islam, and her
latest publication is: Parcours de féministes musulmanes belges (2013).

Adis Duderija received his Ph.D. from the School of Social and Cultural Studies at the University
of Western Australia in 2010. Dr. Duderija is currently Visiting Senior Lecturer at the Uni-
versity of Malaya, Malaysia. He has authored a number of works on Western Muslim identity
construction and contemporary Islamic reform and hermeneutics. He is the author of Constructing
a Religiously Ideal “Believer” and “Woman” in Islam: Neo-Traditional Salafi and Progressive Muslim
Hermeneutics (2011). He is also the editor of Maqasid Al Shari‘ah and Contemporary Muslim
Reformist Thought: An Examination (forthcoming).

Salua Fawzi is currently a Ph.D. candidate at McGill University at the Institute of Islamic
Studies. Her research focuses on Muslim American young adults, with a particular emphasis on
their involvement in Muslim Student Associations and how this shapes their understanding of
religious orthodoxy, authority, and praxis.

Johan Fischer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Society and Globalization,

Roskilde University, Denmark. His work focuses on modern Islam and consumer culture in
Southeast Asia and Europe. More specifically, Johan explores the interfaces between class, con-
sumption, market relations, Islam, and the state in a globalized world. A central focus in this research is
the theoretical and empirical focus on the proliferation of halal commodities on a global scale.

Francesca Forte gained her Ph.D. in Philosophy in 2008. From 2010 to 2013 she held a two-
year research fellowship at the Department of Philosophy, University of Milan. Her research
interests include: Islamic philosophy (in particular Averroè and latin translations of Arabic texts),
the relationship between Islam and human rights, and the matter of history in contemporary
Islamic thought. Currently she teaches Islamic studies in the class of religious sciences at Bruno
Kessler Foundation, Trento.

Marco Gallo graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the University of Rome
La Sapienza. He has been living and working in Buenos Aires for over two decades, where he is
Pontifical Chair John Paul II Benedict XVI Francis at the Catholic University of Buenos Aires.
He has written contributions and articles on interreligious dialogue, with a particular focus on
Islamic–Christian relations.

Mercedes García-Arenal is a Research Professor at the Centro de Ciencias Humanas y

Sociales, CSIC, Madrid. Her first book was Inquisición y Moriscos: los procesos del Tribunal de
Cuenca (Madrid, 1978). The most recent, with Fernando R. Mediano, Un Oriente español. Los
moriscos y el Sacromonte en tiempos de Contrarreforma (Madrid, 2010), now in a revised version in
English, The Orient in Spain: Converted Muslims, the Forged Lead Books of Granada and the rise of
Orientalism (Leiden, Brill, 2013); and, with Gerard Wiegers (eds.) A Mediterranean Diaspora: The
Expulsion of Moriscos from Spain (Leiden, Brill, 2014).

x
 List of contributors

Miriam Gazzah is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science
Research (AISSR), working within the research program “Islamic Cultural Performances: New
Youth Cultures in Europe.” Her research interests include: European-Muslim youth, popular cul-
ture, music, and Islam. In 2008 she obtained her Ph.D. at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. Her
thesis is entitled Rhythms and Rhymes of Life: Music and Identification Processes of Dutch-Moroccan Youth.

Kambiz GhaneaBassiri is Associate Professor of Religion and Humanities at Reed College.

He is the author of numerous publications on Islam in America, including A History of Islam in
America: From the New World to the New World Order (2010).

Juliane Hammer is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Kenan Rifai Scholar of Islamic
Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the author of Palestinians Born
in Exile (2005) and American Muslim Women, Religious Authority, and Activism: More than a Prayer
(2012), and the co-editor of A Jihad for Justice: Honoring the Work and Life of Amina Wadud (with
Kecia Ali and Laury Silvers, 2012) and of The Cambridge Companion to American Islam (with
Omid Safi, 2013). She is currently working on research projects focused on American Muslim
efforts against domestic violence and Islamic/Muslim marriage and family in discourse and
practice in the United States.

Karim H. Karim is a Professor and the Director of the Centre for the Study of Islam at
Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He has served previously as Director of Carleton’s
School of Journalism and Communication and the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London, and
has been a Fellow of Harvard University’s Center for the Study of World Religions. He holds
degrees in Islamic Studies and Communication Studies from Columbia and McGill universities.
Dr. Karim has been a distinguished lecturer at venues in North America, Europe, and Asia. He
won the inaugural Robinson Prize for his book Islamic Peril: Media and Global Violence. Karim is
currently working on a three-volume series of books on Western–Muslim relations.

Francesco Alfonso Leccese, Ph.D. in Studies on Near East and Maghreb (University of Naples
L’Orientale, 2007), is Adjunct Professor of Culture and Society of the Arab Language Countries
at the University of International Studies of Rome and Research Fellow at the Department of
Political and Social Sciences at the University of Calabria. He is a specialist in contemporary Sufism
with a focus on the Arab world and has written articles in journals, including Oriente Moderno and
Annual Review of Islam in Africa. He is currently working on non-ethnical transnational Sufi networks.

Mark Lindley-Highfield of Ballumbie Castle is an Associate Lecturer and Research Affiliate

in the Department of Religious Studies at the Open University. He is a social anthropologist
by training and was educated at the universities of Oxford, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and the Open
University. Mark has carried out a prolonged period of fieldwork studying the motivations for
religious conversion to Islam and Anglican Christianity in Mexico.

Brigitte Maréchal is Director of the CISMOC (Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Islam
in the contemporary World) at IACCHOS Institute and Professor at the Université Catholique
de Louvain. Her publications include: Muslims in the Enlarged Europe (2003), Les Frères musulmans
en Europe (2009), and Yearbook of Muslims in Europe as co-editor.

Luca Mavelli is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent.
His research focuses on questions of secularity, postsecularity, security, and political violence in

xi
List of contributors

international relations. He is the author of Europe’s Encounter with Islam: The Secular and the
Postsecular (Routledge, 2012), and has co-edited and contributed to the 2012 Special Issue of
the Review of International Studies on “The Postsecular in International Relations.” His articles
have appeared, among others, in the European Journal of International Relations, Millennium: Journal
of International Studies, and the Journal of Religion in Europe.

Kathleen Moore is Professor and Chair of the Religious Studies Department at the University
of California Santa Barbara. Moore teaches courses on Islam in America and Muslim diasporas
and the law. Her most recent book, The Unfamiliar Abode: Islamic Law in the United States and
Britain, was published in 2010. The book provides an account of new forms of Islamic legal
knowledge in diasporic networks. She is co-author of a book titled Muslim Women in America:
Challenges Facing Islamic Identity Today, and has written several articles on American Muslims and
the law. She is currently writing a book on Islam, Feminism and the Law: Difference in Diaspora,
about anti-essentialism, religion, and justice seen through the lens of Muslim women in diaspora.

Annliese Nef is currently Maître de Conférences at the University Paris 1-Panthéon. After
dedicating her Ph.D. to Norman Sicily, she is now studying Islamic Sicily. She is author of
Conquérir et gouverner la Sicile islamique aux XIe et XIIe siècles (Rome, 2011) and editor of A
Companion to Medieval Palermo (Leiden, 2013).

Gian Maria Piccinelli is Professor of Islamic Law and Private Comparative Law, and Director
of the “Jean Monnet” Department of Political Sciences at the Second University of Naples. He
has written several comparative essays on Islamic contemporary legal systems, with special regard
to civil, commercial, and banking law. He has directed and collaborated in several scientific
research projects concerning Islamic Law, the Legal Systems of Arab and Mediterranean
Countries, and the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.

Eric R. Roose is a cultural anthropologist and an art historian with an ongoing interest in the
comparative iconology of modern religious architecture. Between 2009 and 2012 he was a
postdoctoral fellow, funded by the Cultural Dynamics Programme of the Netherlands Organisation
for Scientific Research, at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research.

Uriya Shavit is a Senior Lecturer at the Department for Arabic and Islamic Studies and the
Program in Religious Studies at Tel Aviv University. He is the author of The New Imagined
Community: Advanced Media Technologies and the Construction of National and Muslim Identities of
Migrants (2009), Islamism and the West: From “Cultural Attack” to “Missionary Migrant” (2013), and
numerous articles on Muslim minorities in the West. His studies of the religious law of Muslim
minorities are supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant 627.11).

Roberto Tottoli teaches Islamic studies at the University of Naples L’Orientale, where he is
currently Director of the Department of Asia, Africa, and the Mediterranean. He has published
studies on the biblical tradition in the Qur’an and Islam (Biblical Prophets in the Qur’an and Muslim
Literature, Richmond, 2002; The Stories of the Prophets of Ibn Mutarrif al-Tarafi, Berlin, 2003) and
the medieval Islamic literature. He also dealt with the aspects and dynamics of contemporary
Islam, editing the volume Le Religioni e il mondo moderno. III. Islam (Torino, 2009).

Anna Triandafyllidou is Professor and Director of the Cultural Pluralism Research Area at the
Global Governance Programme of the European University Institute (Robert Schuman Centre

xii
 List of contributors

for Advanced Studies) in Florence, Italy. She has been a Visiting Professor at the College of
Europe in Bruges since 2002, and Editor in Chief of the Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies.

Alessandro Vanoli teaches History of the Mediterranean at the University of Bologna. His
research is focused on the history of the West Mediterranean and the relationship between
Islam, Judaism, and Christianity in the Iberian Peninsula and in Sicily during the Middle Ages.
His publications include La Sicilia musulmana (Bologna, 2012); La Reconquista (Bologna, 2009);
La Spagna delle tre culture. Ebrei, cristiani e musulmani tra storia e mito (Rome, 2006).

Iyad Zahalka currently serves as the chief Qadi of Jerusalem. His Ph.D. dissertation discussed
fiqh al-aqalliyyat al-muslima and the Arab minority in Israel. He has published a number of articles
on Islamic law in academic compilations and two textbooks in Hebrew and Arabic on the
shari‘a courts in Israel.

xiii
This page intentionally left blank
 Introduction
Islam in the West: histories and contemporary
issues of the Western umma

Roberto Tottoli

The question of the history of the presence of Muslims and Islam in Europe and America is no
doubt a sensitive point in contemporary Western societies. It deals with history and identity,
and the West and the Islamic world as conceptual frameworks. As such, it touches on various
debates about the moving borders, the supposed essence and the intersection between the West
and the Islamic world. The idea of this book originated in the aftermath of September 11th,
and reflects on the new perception of Muslim presence in the West, which has developed in
the decade since. It also relates to the European polemics of some years ago about a European
constitution and a mention therein of Europe’s Christian roots. This book does not deal with
some supposed Islamic roots within the Western world, but aims to show that the past and
present history of Europe and America attests that Islam has made a significant impact, which is
testimony to a Muslim community, or Muslim communities, in the West today. These con-
stitute a sort, as I mentioned in the title, of outer and Western umma which interrogates and
interrelates with the Islamic community living in the Muslim world and, along with this, with
the Western societies in which the Muslims live and act.
Many studies coming from various disciplines have analyzed the physical numbers of Muslims
in Europe and the Americas today, and have discussed many aspects of this in relation to social
dynamics, specific national organizations, various juridical questions, and also the topic of the
religious discourses. Along with this, Islamic studies have produced new outlines and approaches
to the historical episodes connecting Islam to the West, such as from the most famous cases of
Muslim Spain and the Ottoman Balkans, to the complex history of the diffusion of Islam in
North and South America after the European colonization. The two perspectives of the past
historical cases and the many challenges of the contemporary Muslim Western communities are
put together here in order to comprehensively consider some of the many points relating to the
complex question of Islam in the West.

The two conceptual frameworks

We are perfectly aware that a first problem arising is in the title itself and the problems con-
nected to the definition of the terms used. Islam and West are two differing concepts, one

1
Roberto Tottoli

relating to a religion and pointing to a religious community and the second a geographical
entity or supposed space. The question is complicated by the fact that, although according to
today’s perception the two terms are accepted as referring to two well-known realities, the
concepts themselves had not always been the same throughout history and may not perfectly
reflect the situation at different times and places. The juxtaposition of the two concepts, of
Islam “and” the West, has been a popular subject. It has been made by a few fortunate essays
(cf., for example, Daniel 1960; Lewis 1993) and by many other subsequent successful titles.
However, the subject we are dealing with here, the interaction between the two supposed
different entities, of Islam in the West, is more nuanced and complicated. The question of Islam
and Muslims “in” the West is different though apt to be declined in different ways. This is, for
instance, attested by other works, such as the essays collected by M. Farrar et al. (2012) bearing
the title Islam in the West, conceived in the realm of multiculturalism and as made explicit in the
opening pages of the introduction of the editors, dealing with the relationships between
Muslims and Western societies.
The concept of a religious community in another society or societies in a defined space
relates to several problems on the proper meaning of all this (geographical, cultural, political?).
However, the title as such, with all its limits, creates a challenge, to which this volume will try
to respond. Before we delve any further, a few words are indeed necessary to better understand
the two terms (Islam, West) so as to give a proper definition of their use in the perspective of
this volume.
As a matter of fact a concept like that of an Islam in the West makes sense once we define
what we mean by “Islamic world.” Though at first sight the definition appears simple and clear
cut, this is not the case. The concept itself emerged in Western thought quite late (Haneda
2007). But it cannot be denied that a classical Islamic world is conceived as covering the places
and countries where today there is a majority of Muslims. However, it is not straightforward to
decide where to draw the line. First of all, the idea of Europe, then of Christendom, does not
correspond to today’s perceptions of the West. The border given by the Mediterranean is
somehow distorted by the contemporary perception of the sea as a much more definite division
than earth, but this was not the case in the past (cf. on this point Dakhlia and Kaiser 2013: 7–31).
Further, when we come to some European regions and places removed from the current
Mediterranean Sea, things get complicated. The presence of Muslims in Eastern Europe is not
only connected to recent immigration but also to the historical presence going back in some
cases to Ottoman rule and even before. For all these reasons, although the Muslim perspective
of what constitutes the Islamic world today may mostly coincide with what Europeans and
Americans consider as such, some little differences connected to sensitive points still exist.
Muslim Spain is, for instance, usually included in the abode of Islam according to classical
theory, and the position of other territories in the past under Muslim rule is from time to time
recalled by Muslims who in this way aim to re-discuss borders and the presence of Muslims in
specific places.
Muslim classical theory has indeed elaborated and defined a concept of a specific space
inhabited by Muslims and above all under Muslim rule. That is the conception of the dar
al-islam (“the abode of Islam”), which finds a self-definition in a counteracting dar al-harb or dar
al-kufr (“the abode of the war,” “the abode of misbelief”), also including a middle position in
the dar al-sulh (“the abode of the treaty”), which is of no relevance in our perspective since it
still characterizes the outer world with respect to Islam. Recent studies have underlined how
these concepts emerged and found their definitive diffusion at least two centuries after the
origin of Islam (cf. Calasso 2010). Notwithstanding this, the expression of the theory in
the classical period with a more or less stable and consistent part of the world under Muslim

2
 Introduction

rule and inhabited by most of the Muslims attests to the strong theological relevance of the
concept of a place for Islam and Muslims. There can be no doubt about this, and the rich lit-
erature dedicated to geographical descriptions and travels in this abode of Islam attests to a
fundamental unity and consequently a self-perception as a realm distinct from an outer world
(see, for example, Miquel 1967–88). This is true even if in the geographical works the concept
dar al-islam/dar al-harb does not constitute the reference framework (Miquel 1967–88, II: 533)
and the interaction between the Muslim realm and the outside appears frequent and constant.
The scant mention of these expressions in geographical and travel literature is not surprising,
and attests to how the concept was predominantly theological and juridical, rather than geo-
graphical. It is in the realm of positive law that the terms make sense, when it is defined what a
Muslim should do when finding himself outside the abode of Islam and thus without a Muslim
rule permitting him to accomplish all that he needs in terms of religious duties. Though in
juridical literature the historical situation during the Middle Ages attests to a much more complex
situation in the question of Muslims residing outside the dar al-islam than the simple dichotomy
(Abou El Fadl 1994), it is beyond doubt that Muslim theory has defined a Muslim world,
inhabited by Muslims. There is no doubt, for the sake of this, that there are realms defined as
Islam and an outer world, which includes the West, so that it makes sense from the Muslim
perspective to deal with those Muslims who found their way outside this abode of Islam.
The other concept, i.e. the West, reflects similar dynamics in its formation and definition.
The famous criticism by E.W. Said (1978), who spoke in terms of an image of the Orient created
by a Western world and defined as such in contraposition to an Orient, has at least recalled the
attention to the cultural nature of the definition of the West. Many books have been published
in the last decades about the definition of the West and its “others” (see, for example, Federici
1995), its meaning in world history (cf. Stearns 2003), the long history of its supposed crisis or
decline (Herman 1997), the changing conceptual framework in contemporary Western scenes,
and even its supposed uniqueness in world history (Duchesne 2011). All of this, on one side,
attests to all the problems around the definition itself of a history and a culture using a geo-
graphical concept such as the West, but on the other side also that a supposed part of the world
sharing something coming from the history of European civilization and in the last centuries
spread in other continents (America and Oceania) exists or is apt to be described as such, i.e. a
whole sharing something. And this notwithstanding that cultural concepts change and are sub-
ject to erosion, re-evaluation, and that they sometimes also give origin to differing and con-
trasting meanings depending on the different observers (cf. Bonnett 2004). The list of references
on the topics related to the West would be long and not useful to our book. What is apparent is
that it makes sense for the sake of this discussion to accept the identification of a Western space,
more or less corresponding in Muslim theory to a part of the dar al-harb, and more specifically
the part occupied by European civilization, abruptly corresponding to Europe, America, and
Oceania.

The book
This volume is consequently compiled from contributions about the history and the present
situation of the Muslim communities living outside of the abode of Islam and who inhabited or
today inhabit Western countries. The essays focus on some episodes of this contact and of this
particular situation which leads some Muslims outside their regions in the Muslim world, to
Europe and America above all. It is thus a history of the contacts between two supposedly dif-
ferent realms, which reflect cultural and geographical boundaries which shift over time and are
still in flux following on from the events of the last decades and also those happening now.

3
Roberto Tottoli

The volume is divided into two parts, one dedicated to historical events and one to the
current situation. This does not aim to be a historical portrait, but historical cases must be
brought to the reader’s attention since they reflect relevant aspects of the relation between Islam
and the West and bear still some significance to the situation today, and even to the current
presence of Muslims in some regions. However, the chapters in Part 1 of the volume are not
meant to give a simple historical description of what happened, but rather to focus on some
related themes in which to insert the most important data regarding the history of Muslims in
Europe and America. The contributions touch on history, but also aim to emphasize some
concepts and specific concerns of the presence of Muslims in the West, in a given place and
time. Though different in content, the perspective and approach in Part 2 of the volume is
similar. The topics of the contributions reflect the desire to highlight single questions and
themes, considered relevant to the subject as a whole, and upon which to measure a specific,
national, or continental situation, but also giving some information on what is happening on
the other continent. Also here, there are no historical or descriptive outlines, but a tentative
attempt to deal with sensitive points of the present and also of the near future.
Before going to an introductory description of the themes identified and the main questions
emerging from the individual contributions, it is necessary to underline the originality of this
approach, which aims to contribute to the large literature on these topics which has appeared in
recent years. No doubt, other works deal with the question of Islam inside the “Western”
space, sharing the same comprehensive attitude to combining a historical perception of past
episodes with the contemporary situation prompted by the new presence of immigrant Muslim
communities in the West. The works edited by Dakhlia and Vincent (2011) and Dakhlia and
Kaiser (2013), for instance, take this same approach, beginning with the suggestions of the
present situation and trying to answer the questions of why the Muslim presence before the
twentieth century has been so much neglected, and furthermore whether the terms Muslim and
European can coexist. The two volumes thus give a historical outline of the situation grosso
modo between the fifteenth and the eighteenth century in the Mediterranean Sea. As a matter of
fact, not many works have tried to give a comprehensive portrait including Europe and
America, but there are some examples (cf. Metcalf 1996 on Muslim spaces in Europe and
America). Much more similar to the themes dealt with in this volume is the collection of essays
edited by Y. Yazbek Haddad (2002) titled Muslims in the West; the volume includes two sections
on Europe and North America, and emphasizes the question of a Muslim space in the Western
societies, but discusses only contemporary cases. The anthology of articles collected by
D. Westerlund and I. Svanberg under the title Islam in the West (2010), along with proving the
need for a definition of the terms in question, that is, the transformations of Islam in Western
societies and their repercussions in Islamic or predominantly Muslim countries in Asia and
Africa, includes more than seventy chapters on the topic. The material, which has all been
previously published, is collected together in this volume for the first time, and divided into
chapters on various topics, alternate historical cases, and contemporary themes, ranging from
Europe to America, though American subjects are few.
The large historical part at the beginning tries to give a comprehensive portrait of the main
chapters of the Muslim presence in Europe and America; contributors to the second con-
temporary section have been asked to deal with specific cases, but at the same time they keep
one eye open to the situation across the ocean, with the aim of giving for the first time a
comprehensive portrait around a concept dealing with Muslims in Europe and America. We are
perfectly aware how difficult it is to find parallel concepts and to touch comprehensively dif-
fering situations and cases, but the aim was to see the story of Muslims in Europe and America
as a possible common experience, though leading to differing responses. In this regard, the

4
 Introduction

contributions collected here no doubt bear some new considerations in the depth of literature
on these topics.

History: Europe
But let us come now to the concrete discussion of what emerged from the contributions that in
the two parts and five sections constitute the volume as introduced above. The first section in
Part 1 touches upon historical episodes of the Muslim presence in Europe. The prominence
given to Europe is due to the historical connections and relations between European civilization
and Islam since its emergence in the beginning of the seventh century. As a matter of fact the
wave of the first conquest was the occasion which brought Muslims to Europe, and to places
that today belong to European countries. There are indeed many episodes in the first centuries
after the advent of Islam which attest to Muslim presence between France, the Italian coasts,
and in general all the northern Mediterranean shores. Also in this regard we have plenty of
studies, mostly touching specific cases and historical episodes.
However, there is no doubt that the more relevant case in history connected to the presence
of Muslims in Europe is that of the Iberian Peninsula, the medieval al-Andalus of the Muslim
sources. It is a history of almost a thousand years, rich in detail, questions, and also still a sensi-
tive point in contemporary Spain. Notwithstanding the political judgment of Muslim and even
Jewish presence in the Iberian Peninsula, their role in respect to the modern Spain and
Portugal, and the historical reality connected to the proper myth of al-Andalus, this constitutes
the main chapter of Islam in Europe. And one that, because of its relevance, fits in this con-
ceptual framework with some difficulties, since while Spain and Portugal are part of Europe, on
the other hand, classical Islamic theory considers them as dar al-islam. In the economy of the
volume as a whole, notwithstanding all these questions, the contributions dealing with it
are dedicated to two specific issues, more related to subjects of relevance in the definition of the
relation between Muslim communities and a surrounding outer world. Alessandro Vanoli
(Chapter 1) has delved into the question of the moving borders that followed the Muslim
conquest and that determined the Arabization and Islamization of part of the Peninsula, living
side by side with Christian entities in the north. The question of the borders is relevant since
the presence of Muslims gave rise to a Muslim space which gained wide renown and prestige in
the Islamic world. But it was at the same time a frontier place, and this double sense of
belonging and precariousness, well underlined by Vanoli, constitutes a fundamental aspect of
the long Islamic history in the Iberian Peninsula. Though it is not easy to draw a clear line in a
history of almost a thousand years, Vanoli no doubt succeeded in showing how concepts of
belonging around these moving borders shaped complex ways of coexistence and interaction,
thus marking the most important experience of Islam in Europe.
After the end of the Nasrid reign of Granada there is the last chapter in the history of Islam
on the Iberian Peninsula, the story of the Moriscos, the crypto-Muslims who faced restrictions
and persecutions by the Catholic crown and were forced into exile in 1609. Dealing with them
is thus the description of a minority living in a Christian European country facing persecution
but strongly fighting for its faith and traditions. Mercedes García-Arenal (Chapter 2) takes into
consideration, in particular, this cultural resistance and discusses historical testimonies on the
diffusion of the written culture which was hidden and preserved at high risk in the Morisco
communities. Under the evangelizing efforts of the Christian crown and the surrounding new
Spanish societies, Moriscos were strongly attached to their faith traditions. Taken from a dif-
ferent perspective, it is indeed a story of failed assimilation according to Christians and, at the
same time, of resistance and fierce adherence to traditional knowledge through their specific

5
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
 The rocks are abundantly furnished with great quantities of
excellent muscles; one sort of which, that is not very common,
measures above a foot in length. There are also cockles buried in
the sand of the small beaches; and in some places oysters, which,
though very small, are well tasted. Of other shell-fish, there are ten
or twelve sorts, such as periwincles, wilks, limpets, and some very
beautiful sea-ears; also another sort which stick to the weeds; with
some other things, as sea-eggs, star-fish, &c. several of which are
peculiar to the place. The natives likewise sometimes brought us
very fine cray-fish, equal to our largest lobsters, and cuttle-fish,
which they eat themselves.
Insects are very rare. Of these, we only saw two sorts of dragon
flies, some butterflies, small grashoppers, several sorts of spiders,
some small black ants, and vast numbers of scorpion flies, with
whose chirping the woods resound. The only noxious one is the
sand-fly, very numerous here, and almost as troublesome as the
musquitoe; for we found no reptile here, except two or three sorts of
small harmless lizards.[164]
It is remarkable, that, in this extensive land, there should not even
be the traces of any quadruped, only excepting a few rats, and a
sort of fox-dog, which is a domestic animal with the natives.
Neither is there any mineral worth notice, but a green jasper or
serpent-stone, of which the New Zealanders make their tools and
ornaments. This is esteemed a precious article by them; and they
have some superstitious notions about the method of its generation,
which we could not perfectly understand. It is plain, however, that
wherever it may be found (which, they say, is in the channel of a
large river far to the southward), it is disposed in the earth in thin
layers, or, perhaps, in detached pieces, like our flints; for the edges
of those pieces, which have not been cut, are covered with a whitish
crust like these. A piece of this sort was purchased, about eighteen
inches long, a foot broad, and near two inches thick; which yet
seemed to be only the fragment of a larger piece.
The natives do not exceed the common stature of Europeans;
and, in general, are not so well made, especially about the limbs.
This is, perhaps, the effect of sitting, for the most part, on their
hams; and of being confined, by the hilly disposition of the country,
from using that sort of exercise which contributes to render the body
straight and well-proportioned. There are, however, several
exceptions to this; and some are remarkable for their large bones
and muscles; but few that I have seen are corpulent.
Their colour is of different casts, from a pretty deep black to a
yellowish or olive tinge; and their features also are various, some
resembling Europeans. But, in general, their faces are round, with
their lips full, and also their noses towards the point; though the first
are not uncommonly thick, nor the last flat. I do not, however,
recollect to have seen an instance of the true aquiline nose amongst
them. Their teeth are commonly broad, white, and well set; and
their eyes large, with a very free motion, which seems the effect of
habit. Their hair is black, straight, and strong, commonly cut short
on the hind part, with the rest tied on the crown of the head: but
some have it of a curling disposition, or of a brown colour. In the
young, the countenance is generally free or open; but in many of the
men it has a serious cast, and sometimes a sullenness or reserve,
especially if they are strangers. The women are, in general, smaller
than the men; but have few peculiar graces, either in form or
features, to distinguish them.
The dress of both sexes is alike; and consists of an oblong
garment about five feet long, and four broad, made from the silky
flax already mentioned. This seems to be their most material and
complex manufacture, which is executed by knotting; and their work
is often ornamented with pieces of dog-skin, or chequered at the
corners. They bring two corners of this garment over the shoulders,
and fasten it on the breast with the other part, which covers the
body; and about the belly, it is again tied with a girdle made of mat.
Sometimes they cover it with large feathers of birds (which seem to
be wrought into the piece of cloth when it is made), or with dog-
skin; and that alone we have seen worn as a covering. Over this
garment, many of them wear mats, which reach from the shoulders
to near the heels. But the most common outer-covering is a quantity
of the above sedgy plant, badly dressed, which they fasten on a
string to a considerable length, and, throwing it about the shoulders,
let it fall down on all sides, as far as the middle of the thighs. When
they sit down with this upon them, either in their boats, or upon the
shore, it would be difficult to distinguish them from large grey
stones, if their black heads, projecting beyond their coverings, did
not engage one to a stricter examination.
By way of ornament, they fix in their heads feathers, or combs of
bone, or wood, adorned with pearl shell, or the thin inner skin of
some leaf. And in the ears, both of men and women, which are
pierced, or rather slit, are hung small pieces of jasper, bits of cloth,
or beads when they can get them. A few also have the septum of
the nose bored in its lower part; but no ornament was worn there
that we saw; though one man passed a twig through it, to show us
that it was sometimes used for that purpose. They wear long
beards, but are fond of having them shaved.
Some are punctured or stained in the face with curious spiral and
other figures, of a black or deep blue colour; but it is doubtful
whether this be ornamental, or intended as a mark of particular
distinction; and the women, who are marked so, have the puncture
only on their lips, or a small spot on their chins. Both sexes often
besmear their faces and heads with a red paint, which seems to be a
martial ochre mixed with grease; and the women sometimes wear
necklaces of shark’s teeth, or bunches of long beads, which seem to
be made of the leg-bones of small birds, or a particular shell. A few
also have small triangular aprons adorned with the feathers of
parrots, or bits of pearl shells, furnished with a double or treble set
of cords to fasten them about the waist. I have sometimes seen
caps or bonnets made of the feathers of birds, which may be
reckoned as ornaments; for it is not their custom to wear any
covering on their heads.
They live in the small coves formerly described, in companies of
forty or fifty, or more; and sometimes in single families, building
their huts contiguous to each other; which, in general, are miserable
lodging-places. The best I ever saw was about thirty feet long,
fifteen broad, and six high, built exactly in the manner of one of our
country barns. The inside was both strong and regularly made of
supporters at the sides, alternately large and small, well fastened by
means of withes, and painted red and black. The ridge pole was
strong; and the large bull-rushes, which composed the inner part of
the thatching, were laid with great exactness parallel to each other.
At one end was a small square hole, which served as a door to creep
in at; and near it another much smaller, seemingly for letting out the
smoke, as no other vent for it could be seen. This, however, ought to
be considered as one of the best, and the residence of some
principal person; for the greatest part of them are not half the above
size, and seldom exceed four feet in height; being, besides,
indifferently built, though proof against wind and rain.
No other furniture is to be seen in them, than a few small baskets
or bags, in which they put their fishing-hooks, and other trifles; and
they sit down in the middle round a small fire, where they also
probably sleep, without any other covering than what they wear in
the day, or perhaps without that; as such confined places must be
very warm, though inhabited but by a few persons.
They live chiefly by fishing, making use either of nets of different
kinds, or of wooden fish-hooks pointed with bone; but so oddly
made, that a stranger is at a loss to know how they can answer such
a purpose. It also appears, that they remove their habitations from
one place to another when the fish grow scarce, or for some other
reason; for we found houses now built in several parts, where there
had been none when we were here during our last voyage, and even
these have been already deserted.
Their boats are well built, of planks raised upon each other, and
fastened with strong withes, which also bind a long narrow piece on
the outside of the seams to prevent their leaking. Some are fifty feet
long, and so broad as to be able to sail without an outrigger; but the
smaller sort commonly have one; and they often fasten two together
by rafters, which we then call a double canoe. They carry from five
to thirty men or more; and have often a large head ingeniously
carved, and painted with a figure at the point, which seems intended
to represent a man, with his features distorted by rage. Their
paddles are about four or five feet long, narrow, and pointed; with
which, when they keep time, the boat is pushed along pretty swiftly.
Their sail, which is seldom used, is made of a mat of a triangular
shape, having the broadest part above.
The only method of dressing their fish, is by roasting, or rather
baking, for they are entirely ignorant of the art of boiling. In the
same manner they dress the root, and part of the stalk, of the large
fern-tree, in a great hole dug for that purpose, which serves as an
oven. After which they split it, and find within a fine gelatinous
substance, like boiled sago-powder, but firmer. They also use
another smaller fern root, which seems to be their substitute for
bread, as it is dried and carried about with them, together with dried
fish in great quantities, when they remove their families, or go far
from home. This they beat with a stick till it becomes pretty soft,
when they chew it sufficiently, and spit out the hard fibrous part, the
other having a sweetish mealy taste not at all disagreeable.
When they dare not venture to sea, or perhaps from choice, they
supply the place of other fish with muscles and sea-ears; great
quantities of the shells of which lie in heaps near their houses. And
they sometimes, though rarely, find means to kill rails, penguins, and
shags, which help to vary their diet. They also breed considerable
numbers of the dogs, mentioned before, for food; but these cannot
be considered as a principal article of diet. From whence we may
conclude, that as there is not the least sign of cultivation of land,
they depend principally for their subsistence on the sea, which,
indeed, is very bountiful in its supply.
Their method of feeding corresponds with the nastiness of their
persons, which often smell disagreeably from the quantity of grease
about them, and their clothes never being washed. We have seen
them eat the vermin, with which their heads are sufficiently stocked.
They also used to devour, with the greatest eagerness, large
quantities of stinking train oil, and blubber of seals, which we were
melting at the tent, and had kept near two months; and, on board
the ships, they were not satisfied with emptying the lamps, but
actually swallowed the cotton and fragrant wick with equal voracity.
It is worthy of notice, that though the inhabitants of Van Diemen’s
land appear to have but a scanty subsistence, they would not even
taste our bread, though they saw us eat it; whereas these people
devoured it greedily, when both mouldy and rotten. But this must
not be imputed to any defect in their sensations; for I have observed
them throw away things which we eat, with evident disgust, after
only smelling to them.
They show as much ingenuity, both in invention and execution, as
any uncivilized nations under similar circumstances. For, without the
use of any metal tools, they make every thing by which they procure
their subsistence, clothing, and warlike weapons, with a degree of
neatness, strength, and convenience, for accomplishing their several
purposes. Their chief mechanical tool is formed exactly after the
manner of our adzes; and is made, as are also the chissel and
goudge, of the green serpent-stone or jasper already, mentioned;
though sometimes they are composed of a black, smooth, and very
solid stone. But their master-piece seems to be carving, which is
found upon the most trifling things; and, in particular, the heads of
their canoes are sometimes ornamented with it in such a manner, as
not only shows much design, but is also an example of their great
labour and patience in execution. Their cordage for fishing-lines is
equal, in strength and evenness, to that made by us; and their nets
not at all inferior. But what must cost them more labour than any
other article, is the making the tools we have mentioned; for the
stone is exceedingly hard, and the only method of fashioning it, we
can guess at, is by rubbing one stone upon another, which can have
but a slow effect. Their substitute for a knife is a shell, a bit of flint,
or jasper. And, as an auger, to bore holes, they fix a shark’s tooth in
the end of a small piece of wood. It is true, they have a small saw
made of some jagged fishes’ teeth, fixed on the convex edge of a
piece of wood nicely carved. But this, they say, is only used to cut up
the bodies of their enemies whom they kill in battle.
No people can have a quicker sense of an injury done to them,
and none are more ready to resent it. But, at the same time, they
will take an opportunity of being insolent when they think there is no
danger of punishment; which is so contrary to the spirit of genuine
bravery, that, perhaps, their eagerness to resent injuries is to be
looked upon rather as an effect of a furious disposition than of great
courage. They also appear to be of a suspicious or mistrustful
temper (which, however, may rather be acquired than natural), for
strangers never came to our ships immediately, but lay in their boats
at a small distance, either to observe our motions, or consult
whether or no they should risk their safety with us. To this they join
a great degree of dishonesty; for they steal every thing they can lay
their hands on, if there be the least hope of not being detected; and,
in trading, I have little doubt but they would take advantages, if they
thought it could be done with safety; as they not only refuse to trust
a thing in one’s hand for examination, but exult, if they think they
have tricked you in the bargain.
Such conduct, however, is in some measure to be expected where
there appears to be but little subordination, and consequently few, if
any laws, to punish transgressions. For no man’s authority seems to
extend farther than his own family; and when, at any time, they join
for mutual defence, or any other purpose, those amongst them who
are eminent for courage or prudence, are directors. How their
private quarrels are terminated is uncertain; but, in the few we saw,
which were of little consequence, the parties concerned were
clamorous and disorderly.
Their public contentions are frequent, or rather perpetual; for it
appears, from their number of weapons, and dexterity in using
them, that war is their principal profession. These weapons are
spears, patoos and halberts, or sometimes stones. The first are
made of hard wood pointed, of different lengths, from five to twenty,
or even thirty feet long. The short ones are used for throwing as
darts. The patoo or emeete is of an elliptical shape, about eighteen
inches long, with a handle made of wood, stone, the bone of some
sea animal, or green jasper, and seems to be their principal
dependance in battle. The halbert, or long club, is about five or six
feet long, tapering at one end with a carved head, and at the other,
broad or flat, with sharp edges.
Before they begin the onset, they join in a war-song, to which
they all keep the exactest time, and soon raise their passion to a
degree of frantic fury, attended with the most horrid distortion of
their eyes, mouths, and tongues, to strike terror into their enemies;
which, to those who have not been accustomed to such a practice,
makes them appear more like demons than men, and would almost
chill the boldest with fear. To this succeeds a circumstance, almost
foretold in their fierce demeanor, horrid, cruel, and disgraceful to
human nature; which is, cutting in pieces, even before being
perfectly dead, the bodies of their enemies, and, after dressing them
on a fire, devouring the flesh, not only without reluctance, but with
peculiar satisfaction.
One might be apt to suppose, that people, capable of such excess
of cruelty, must be destitute of every humane feeling, even amongst
their own party. And yet we find them lamenting the loss of their
friends, with a violence of expression which argues the most tender
remembrance of them. For both men and women, upon the death of
those connected with them, whether in battle or otherwise, bewail
them with the most doleful cries; at the same time cutting their
foreheads and cheeks, with shells or pieces of flint, in large gashes,
until the blood flows plentifully and mixes with their tears. They also
carve pieces of their green stone, rudely shaped as human figures,
which they ornament with bright eyes of pearl shell, and hang them
about their necks, as memorials of those whom they held most dear;
and their affections of this kind are so strong, that they even
perform the ceremony of cutting, and lamenting for joy, at the return
of any of their friends, who have been absent but for a short time.
The children are initiated, at a very early age, into all the
practices, good or bad, of their fathers; so that you find a boy or
girl, nine or ten years old, able to perform all the motions, and to
imitate the frightful gestures, by which the more aged use to inspire
their enemies with terror, keeping the strictest time in their song.
They likewise sing, with some degree of melody, the traditions of
their forefathers, their actions in war, and other indifferent subjects;
of all which they are immoderately fond, and spend much of their
time in these amusements, and in playing on a sort of flute.
Their language is far from being harsh or disagreeable, though the
pronunciation is frequently guttural; and whatever qualities are
requisite in any other language to make it musical, certainly obtain
to a considerable degree here, if we may judge from the melody of
some sorts of their songs. It is also sufficiently comprehensive,
though, in many respects, deficient, if compared with our European
languages, which owe their perfection to long improvement. But a
small specimen is here subjoined, from which some judgment may
be formed. I collected a great many of their words, both now and in
the course of our former voyage; and being equally attentive, in my
inquiries, about the languages of the other islands throughout the
South Sea, I have the amplest proof of their wonderful agreement,
or rather identity. This general observation has indeed been already
made in the accounts of the former voyages.[165] I shall be enabled,
however, to confirm and strengthen it, by a fresh list of words,
selected from a large vocabulary in my possession; and by placing in
the opposite column, the corresponding words as used at Otaheite,
the curious reader will, at one view, be furnished with sufficient
materials for judging by what subordinate changes the difference of
dialect has been effected.
English. New Zealand. Otaheite.
Water, Ewy, Evy.
A tail of a dog, Wyeroo, Ero.
Death, dead, Kaoo, matte, Matte, roa.
To fly, Ererre, Eraire.
A house, Ewharre, Ewharre.
To sleep, Moea, Moe.
A fish-hook, Makoee, Matou.
Shut, Opanee, Opanee.
A bed, Moenga, Moera.
A butterfly, Epaipe, Pepe.
To chew or eat, Hekaee, Ey.
Cold, Makkareede, Mareede.
To-day, Agooanai, Aooanai.
The hand, Reenga, Ereema.
Large, Keeerahoi, Erahoi.
Red, Whairo, Oora, oora.
We, Taooa, Taooa.
Where is it? Kahaia, Tehaia.
A stone, Powhy, Owhy.
A man, Tangata, Taata.
Black, Purra, purra, Ere, ere.
White, Ema, Ooama.
To reside, or dwell, Nohoanna, Nohonoa.
Out, not within, Woho, Woho.
Male kind (of any animal), Toa, Etoa.
Female, Eoowha, Eooha.
A shark, Mango, Mao.
To understand, Geetaia, Eetea.
Forgot, Warre, Ooaro.
Yesterday, Taeninnahoi, Ninnahoi.
One, Tahaee, Atahay.
Two, Rooa, Erooa.
Three, Toroo, Toroo.
Four, Faa, Ahaa.
Five, Reema, Ereema.
Six, Ono, Aono.
Seven, Heetoo, Aheitoo.
Eight, Waroo, Awaroo.
Nine, Eeva, Aeeva.
 Ten, Angahoora, Ahooroo.
The New Zealanders to these numerals prefix Ma; as,
Eleven, Matahee.
Twelve, &c. &c. Marooa, &c. &c.
Twenty, Mangahoora.
 BOOK II.

FROM LEAVING NEW ZEALAND TO OUR ARRIVAL AT

OTAHEITE, OR THE SOCIETY ISLANDS.
 CHAP. I.

PROSECUTION OF THE VOYAGE.—BEHAVIOUR OF THE TWO NEW

ZEALANDERS ON BOARD.—UNFAVOURABLE WINDS.—AN ISLAND
CALLED MANGEEA DISCOVERED.—THE COAST OF IT EXAMINED.
—TRANSACTIONS WITH THE NATIVES.—AN ACCOUNT OF THEIR
PERSONS, DRESS, AND CANOE.—DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND.
—A SPECIMEN OF THE LANGUAGE.—DISPOSITION OF THE
INHABITANTS.

O n the 25th, at ten o’clock in the morning, a light breeze springing

up at N. W. by W., we weighed, stood out of the Sound, and made
sail through the strait, with the Discovery in company. We had hardly
got the length of Cape Tierawhitte, when the wind took us aback at
S. E. It continued in this quarter till two o’clock the next morning,
when we had a few hours’ calm. After which we had a breeze at N.;
but here it fixed not long, before it veered to the E., and after that to
the S. At length, on the 27th at eight o’clock in the morning, we took
our departure from Cape Palliser, which, at this time, bore W., seven
or eight leagues distant. We had a fine gale, and I steered E. by N.
We had no sooner lost sight of the land than our two New Zealand
adventurers, the sea-sickness they now experienced giving a turn to
their reflections, repented heartily of the step they had taken. All the
soothing encouragement we could think of, availed but little. They
wept both in public and in private; and made their lamentations in a
kind of song, which, as far as we could comprehend the meaning of
the words, was expressive of their praises of their country and
people, from which they were to be separated for ever. Thus they
continued for many days, till their sea-sickness wore off, and the
tumult of their minds began to subside. Then these fits of
lamentation became less and less frequent, and at length entirely
ceased. Their native country and their friends were, by degrees,
forgot, and they appeared to be as firmly attached to us, as if they
had been born amongst us.
The wind had not remained many hours at S., before it veered to
S. E. and E.; and, with this, we stood to the N., till the 28th at noon.
Being then in the latitude of 41° 17ʹ, and in longitude of 177° 17ʹ E.,
we tacked and stood to the S. E., with a gentle breeze at E. N. E. It
afterward freshened, and came about to N. E.; in which quarter it
continued two days, and sometimes blew a fresh gale with squalls,
accompanied with showers of rain.
On the 2d of March at noon, being in the latitude of 42° 35ʹ 30ʺ,
longitude 180° 8ʹ E. the wind shifted to north-west; afterward to
south-west; and between this point and north it continued to blow,
sometimes a strong gale with hard squalls, and at other times very
moderate. With this wind we steered north-east by east and east,
under all the sail we could carry, till the 11th at noon, at which time
we were in the latitude of 39° 29ʹ, longitude 196° 4ʹ E.
The wind now veered to north-east and south-east, and I stood to
the north, and to the north-east, as the wind would admit, till one
o’clock in the morning on the 16th, when having a more favourable
gale from the north, I tacked and stood to the east, the latitude
being 33° 40ʹ, and the longitude 198° 50ʹ E. We had light airs and
calms by turns, till noon the next day, when the wind began to
freshen at east south-east, and I again stood to the north-east. But
as the wind often veered to east and east north-east, we frequently
made no better than a northerly course; nay sometimes to the
westward of north. But the hopes of the wind coming more
southerly, or of meeting with it from the westward, a little without
the tropic, as I had experienced in my former visits to this ocean,
encouraged me to continue this course. Indeed it was necessary that
I should run all risks, as my proceeding to the north this year, in
prosecution of the principal object of the voyage, depended entirely
on my making a quick passage to Otaheite, or the Society Islands.
The wind continued invariably fixed at east south-east, or seldom
shifting above two points on either side. It also blew very faint, so
that it was the 27th before we crossed the tropic, and then we were
only in the longitude of 201° 23ʹ east, which was nine degrees to
the westward of our intended port. In all this run we saw nothing,
except now and then a tropic bird, that could induce us to think we
had sailed near any land. In the latitude of 34° 20ʹ, longitude 199°,
we passed the trunk of a large tree, which was covered with
barnacles, a sign that it had been long at sea.
On the 29th, at ten in the morning, as we were standing to the
north-east, the Discovery made the signal of seeing land. We saw it
from the mast-head almost the same moment, bearing north-east by
east by compass. We soon discovered it to be an island of no great
extent, and stood for it till sunset, when it bore north north-east,
distant about two or three leagues.
The night was spent in standing off and on, and at day-break the
next morning, I bore up for the lee or west side of the island, as
neither anchorage nor landing appeared to be practicable on the
south side, on account of a great surf[166], which broke every where
with violence against the shore, or against the reef that surrounded
it.
We presently found that the island was inhabited, and saw several
people, on a point of the land we had passed, wading to the reef,
where, as they found the ship leaving them quickly, they remained.
But others, who soon appeared in different parts, followed her
course, and sometimes several of them collected into small bodies,
who made a shouting noise altogether, nearly after the manner of
the inhabitants of New Zealand.
Between seven and eight o’clock, we were at the west north-west
part of the island, and being near the shore, we could perceive with
our glasses, that several of the natives, who appeared upon a sandy
beach, were all armed with long spears and clubs, which they
brandished in the air with signs of threatening, or, as some on board
interpreted their attitudes, with invitations to land. Most of them
appeared naked, except having a sort of girdle, which being brought
up between the thighs, covered that part of the body. But some of
them had pieces of cloth of different colours, white, striped, or
chequered, which they wore as a garment thrown about their
shoulders. And almost all of them had a white wrapper about their
heads, not much unlike a turban; or, in some instances, like a high
conical cap. We could also perceive that they were of a tawny colour,
and in general of a middling stature, but robust, and inclining to
corpulence.
At this time, a small canoe was launched in a great hurry from the
further end of the beach, and a man getting into it, put off, as with a
view to reach the ship. On perceiving this, I brought to, that we
might receive the visit; but the man’s resolution failing, he soon
returned toward the beach, where, after some time, another man
joined him in the canoe; and then they both paddled towards us.
They stopt short, however, as if afraid to approach, until Omai, who
addressed them in the Otaheite language, in some measure quieted
their apprehensions. They then came near enough to take some
beads and nails, which were tied to a piece of wood, and thrown
into the canoe. They seemed afraid to touch these things, and put
the piece of wood aside without untying them. This, however, might
arise from superstition; for Omai told us, that when they saw us
offering them presents, they asked something for their Eatooa, or
god. He also, perhaps improperly, put the question to them, whether
they ever ate human flesh? which they answered in the negative,
with a mixture of indignation and abhorrence. One of them, whose
name was Mourooa, being asked how he came by a scar on his
forehead, told us that it was the consequence of a wound he had
got in fighting with the people of an island which lies to the north-
eastward, who sometimes came to invade them. They afterward
took hold of a rope. Still, however, they would not venture on board;
but told Omai, who understood them pretty well, that their
countrymen on shore had given them this caution, at the same time
directing them to inquire, from whence our ship came, and to learn
the name of the captain. On our part, we inquired the name of the
island, which they called Mangya or Mangeea; and sometimes added
to it Nooe, nai, naiwa. The name of their chief, they said, was
Orooaeeka.
Mourooa was lusty and well made, but not very tall. His features
were agreeable, and his disposition seemingly no less so; for he
made several droll gesticulations, which indicated both good nature
and a share of humour. He also made others which seemed of a
serious kind, and repeated some words with a devout air, before he
ventured to lay hold of the rope at the ship’s stern; which was
probably to recommend himself to the protection of some divinity.
His colour was nearly of the same cast with that common to the
most southern Europeans. The other man was not so handsome.
Both of them had strong, straight hair, of a jet colour, tied together
on the crown of the head with a bit of cloth. They wore such girdles
as we had perceived about those on shore, and we found they were
a substance made from the Morus papyrifera, in the same manner
as at the other islands of this ocean. It was glazed like the sort used
by the natives of the Friendly Islands; but the cloth on their heads
was white, like that which is found at Otaheite. They had on a kind
of sandals, made of a grassy substance interwoven, which we also
observed were worn by those who stood upon the beach; and, as
we supposed, intended to defend their feet against the rough coral
rock. Their beards were long; and the inside of their arms, from the
shoulder to the elbow, and some other parts, were punctured or
tatooed, after the manner of the inhabitants of almost all the other
islands in the South Sea. The lobe of their ears was pierced, or
rather slit, and to such a length, that one of them stuck there a knife
and some beads, which he had received from us; and the same
person had two polished pearl shells, and a bunch of human hair,
loosely twisted, hanging about his neck, which was the only
ornament we observed. The canoe they came in (which was the only
one we saw), was not above ten feet long, and very narrow; but
both strong and neatly made. The forepart had a flat board fastened
over it, and projecting out, to prevent the sea getting in on plunging,
like the small Evaas at Otaheite; but it had an upright stern, about
five feet high, like some in New Zealand; and the upper end of this
stern-post was forked. The lower part of the canoe was of white
wood, but the upper was black, and their paddles, made of wood of
the same colour, not above three feet long, broad at one end, and
blunted. They paddled either end of the canoe forward indifferently;
and only turned about their faces to paddle the contrary way.
We now stood off and on; and as soon as the ships were in a
proper station, about ten o’clock I ordered two boats, one of them
from the Discovery, to sound the coast, and to endeavour to find a
landing-place. With this view, I went in one of them myself, taking
with me such articles to give the natives, as I thought might serve to
gain their good-will. I had no sooner put off from the ship, than the
canoe with the two men, which had left us not long before, paddled
towards my boat; and, having come alongside, Mourooa stept into
her without being asked, and without a moment’s hesitation.
Omai, who was with me, was ordered to inquire of him, where we
could land; and he directed us to two different places. But I saw,
with regret, that the attempt could not be made at either place,
unless at the risk of having our boats filled with water, or even
staved to pieces. Nor were we more fortunate in our search for
anchorage; for we could find no bottom, till within a cable’s length of
the breakers. There we met with from forty to twenty fathoms
depth, over sharp coral rocks; so that anchoring would have been
attended with much more danger than landing.
While we were thus employed in reconnoitring the shore, great
numbers of the natives thronged down upon the reef, all armed as
above mentioned. Mourooa, who was now in my boat, probably
thinking that this warlike appearance hindered us from landing,
ordered them to retire back. As many of them complied, I judged he
must be a person of some consequence among them. Indeed if we
understood him right, he was the king’s brother. So great was the
curiosity of several of them, that they took to the water, and
swimming off to the boats, came on board them without reserve.
Nay, we found it difficult to keep them out; and still more difficult to
prevent their carrying off every thing they could lay their hands
upon. At length, when they perceived that we were returning to the
ships, they all left us, except our original visitor Mourooa. He,
though not without evident signs of fear, kept his place in my boat,
and accompanied me on board the ship.
The cattle and other new objects that presented themselves to
him there, did not strike him with so much surprise as one might
have expected. Perhaps his mind was too much taken up about his
own safety to allow him to attend to other things. It is certain that
he seemed very uneasy; and the ship, on our getting on board,
happening to be standing off shore, this circumstance made him the
more so. I could get but little new information from him; and,
therefore, after he had made a short stay, I ordered a boat to carry
him in toward the land. As soon as he got out of the cabin, he
happened to stumble over one of the goats: his curiosity now
overcoming his fear, he stopped, looked at it, and asked Omai what
bird this was? and not receiving an immediate answer from him, he
repeated the question to some of the people upon deck. The boat
having conveyed him pretty near to the surf, he leaped into the sea
and swam ashore. He had no sooner landed, than the multitude of
his countrymen gathered round him, as if with an eager curiosity to
learn from him what he had seen; and in this situation they
remained when we lost sight of them. As soon as the boat returned,
we hoisted her in, and made sail from the land to the northward.
Thus were we obliged to leave unvisited, this fine island, which
seemed capable of supplying all our wants. It lies in the latitude of
21° 57ʹ S. and in the longitude of 201° 53ʹ E. Such parts of the
coast as fell under our observation, are guarded by a reef of coral
rock, on the outside of which the sea is of an unfathomable depth. It
is full five leagues in circuit, and of a moderate and pretty equal
height; though in clear weather it may be certainly seen at the
distance of ten leagues; for we had not lost sight of it at night when
we had run above seven leagues, and the weather was cloudy. In
the middle it rises into little hills, from whence there is a gentle
descent to the shore, which at the south-west part is steep, though
not above ten or twelve feet high; and has several excavations made
by the beating of the waves against a brownish sand-stone of which
it is composed. The descent here is covered with trees of a deep
green colour, very thick, but not high, which seem all of one sort,
unless nearest the shore, where there are great numbers of that
species of dracæna found in the woods of New Zealand, which are
also scattered in some other places. On the north-west part, the
shore, as we mentioned above, ends in a sandy beach; beyond
which the land is broken down into small chasms or gullies, and has
a broad border of trees resembling tall willows; which, from its
regularity, might be supposed a work of art, did not its extent forbid
us to think so. Farther up on the ascent, the trees were of the deep
green mentioned before. Some of us supposed these to be the rima,
intermixed with low cocoa palms, and a few of some other sorts.
They seemed not so thick as on the south-west part, and higher;
which appearance might be owing to our nearer approach to the
shore. On the little hills were some trees of a taller sort, thinly
scattered; but the other parts of them were either bare and of a
reddish colour, or covered with something like fern. Upon the whole,
the island has a pretty aspect, and might be made a beautiful spot
by cultivation.
As the inhabitants seemed to be both numerous and well fed,
such articles of provision as the island produces must be in great
plenty. It might, however, be a matter of curiosity to know,
particularly, their method of subsistence; for our friend Mourooa told
us, that they had no animals, as hogs and dogs, both which,
however, they had heard of; but acknowledged they had plantains,
bread-fruit, and taro. The only birds we saw, were some white egg-
birds, terns, and noddies; and one white heron, on the shore.
The language of the inhabitants of Mangeea is a dialect of that
spoken at Otaheite; though their pronunciation, as that of the New
Zealanders, be more guttural. Some of their words, of which two or
three are perhaps peculiar to this island, are here subjoined, as
taken, by Mr. Anderson, from Omai, who had learnt them in his
conversations with Mourooa. The Otaheite words, where there is any
resemblance, are placed opposite.
English. Mangeea. Otaheite.
A cocoa-nut, Eakkaree, Aree.
Bread-fruit, Kooroo, Ooroo.
A canoe, Ewakka, Evaa.
Friend, Naoo, mou.
A man, Taata, or Tangata, Taata.
Cloth, or cloth- Taia, taia aoutee, Eoute.
plant,
Good, Mata, Myty.
A club, Pooroohee.
Yes, Aee, Ai.
No, Aoure, Aoure.
A spear, Heyhey.
A fight, or battle, Etamagee, Tamaee.
A woman, Waheine, Waheine.
A daughter, Maheine, Maheine.
The sun, Heetaia matooa.
I, Ou, Wou.
The shore, Euta, Euta.
What is that? Ehataieee? Owytaieeoa?
There, Oo.
A chief, Ereekee, Eree.
Great or powerful, Manna (an adjunct to the
last.)
To kiss, Ooma.
The natives of Mangeea seem to resemble those of Otaheite and
the Marquesas in the beauty of their persons, more than any other
nation I have seen in these seas; having a smooth skin, and not
being muscular. Their general disposition also corresponds, as far as
we had opportunities of judging, with that which distinguishes the
first mentioned people. For they are not only cheerful, but, as
Mourooa showed us, are acquainted with all the lascivious
gesticulations which the Otaheiteans practise in their dances. It may
also be supposed, that their method of living is similar. For, though
the nature of the country prevented our seeing many of their
habitations, we observed one house near the beach, which much
resembled, in its mode of construction, those of Otaheite. It was
pleasantly situated in a grove of trees, and appeared to be about
thirty feet long, and seven or eight high, with an open end, which
represented an ellipse divided transversely. Before it, was spread
something white on a few bushes; which we conjectured to be a
fishing-net, and, to appearance, of a very delicate texture.
They salute strangers much after the manner of the New
Zealanders, by joining noses; adding, however, the additional
ceremony of taking the hand of the person to whom they are paying
civilities, and rubbing it with a degree of force upon their nose and
mouth.[167]
 CHAP. II.

THE DISCOVERY OF AN ISLAND CALLED WATEEOO.—ITS COASTS

EXAMINED.—VISITS FROM THE NATIVES ON BOARD THE SHIPS.
—MESS. GORE, BURNEY, AND ANDERSON, WITH OMAI, SENT ON
SHORE.—MR. ANDERSON’S NARRATIVE OF THEIR RECEPTION.—
OMAI’S EXPEDIENT TO PREVENT THEIR BEING DETAINED.—HIS
MEETING WITH SOME OF HIS COUNTRYMEN, AND THEIR
DISTRESSFUL VOYAGE.—FARTHER ACCOUNT OF WATEEOO, AND
OF ITS INHABITANTS.

A fter leaving Mangeea, on the afternoon of the 30th, we continued

our course northward all that night, and till noon on the 31st; when
we again saw land, in the direction of N. E. by N., distant eight or
ten leagues.
Next morning, at eight o’clock, we had got abreast of its north
end, within four leagues of it, but to leeward; and could now
pronounce it to be an island, nearly of the same appearance and
extent with that we had so lately left. At the same time, another
island, but much smaller, was seen right ahead. We could have soon
reached this; but the largest one had the preference, as most likely
to furnish a supply of food for the cattle, of which we began to be in
great want.
With this view, I determined to work up to it; but as there was but
little wind, and that little was unfavourable, we were still two
leagues to leeward at eight o’clock the following morning. Soon
after, I sent two armed boats from the Resolution, and one from the
Discovery, under the command of Lieutenant Gore, to look for
anchoring-ground, and a landing-place. In the mean time, we plied
up under the island with the ships.
Just as the boats were putting off, we observed several single
canoes coming from the shore. They went first to the Discovery, she
being the nearest ship. It was not long after, when three of these
canoes came alongside of the Resolution, each conducted by one
man. They are long and narrow, and supported by outriggers. The
stern is elevated about three or four feet, something like a ship’s
stern-post. The head is flat above, but prow-like below, and turns
down at the extremity, like the end of a violin. Some knives, beads,
and other trifles were conveyed to our visitors; and they gave us a
few cocoa-nuts, upon our asking for them. But they did not part with
them by way of exchange for what they had received from us. For
they seemed to have no idea of bartering; nor did they appear to
estimate any of our presents at a high rate.
With a little persuasion, one of them made his canoe fast to the
ship, and came on board; and the other two, encouraged by his
example, soon followed him. Their whole behaviour marked that
they were quite at their ease, and felt no sort of apprehension of our
detaining, or using them ill.
After their departure, another canoe arrived, conducted by a man
who brought a bunch of plantains as a present to me; asking for me
by name, having learnt it from Omai, who was sent before us in the
boat with Mr. Gore. In return for this civility, I gave him an axe, and
a piece of red cloth; and he paddled back to the shore well satisfied.
I afterward understood from Omai, that this present had been sent
from the king, or principal chief of the island.
Not long after, a double canoe, in which were twelve men, came
toward us. As they drew near the ship, they recited some words in
concert, by way of chorus[168], one of their number first standing up,
and giving the word before each repetition. When they had finished
their solemn chant, they came alongside, and asked for the chief. As
soon as I showed myself, a pig and a few cocoa-nuts were conveyed
up into the ship; and the principal person in the canoe made me an
additional present of a piece of matting, as soon as he and his
companions got on board.
Our visitors were conducted into the cabin, and to other parts of
the ship. Some objects seemed to strike them with a degree of
surprise; but nothing fixed their attention for a moment. They were
afraid to come near the cows and horses; nor did they form the least
conception of their nature. But the sheep and goats did not surpass
the limits of their ideas; for they gave us to understand that they
knew them to be birds. It will appear rather incredible, that human
ignorance could ever make so strange a mistake; there not being the
most distant similitude between a sheep or goat, and any winged
animal. But these people seemed to know nothing of the existence
of any other land-animals, besides hogs, dogs, and birds. Our sheep
and goats, they could see, were very different creatures from the
two first, and therefore they inferred, that they must belong to the
latter class, in which they knew there is a considerable variety of
species. I made a present to my new friend of what I thought might
be most acceptable to him; but, on his going away, he seemed
rather disappointed than pleased. I afterward understood that he
was very desirous of obtaining a dog, of which animal this island
could not boast, though its inhabitants knew that the race existed in
other islands of their ocean. Captain Clerke had received the like
present, with the same view, from another man, who met with from
him the like disappointment.
The people in these canoes were in general of a middling size, and
not unlike those of Mangeea; though several were of a blacker cast
than any we saw there. Their hair was tied on the crown of the
head, or flowing loose about the shoulders; and though in some it
was of a frizzling disposition, yet, for the most part, that, as well as
the straight sort, was long. Their features were various, and some of
the young men rather handsome. Like those of Mangeea, they had
girdles of glazed cloth, or fine matting, the ends of which, being
brought betwixt their thighs, covered the adjoining parts.
Ornaments, composed of a sort of broad grass, stained with red,
and strung with berries of the night-shade, were worn about their
necks. Their ears were bored, but not slit; and they were punctured
upon the legs, from the knee to the heel, which made them appear
as if they wore a kind of boots. They also resembled the inhabitants
of Mangeea in the length of their beards, and like them, wore a sort
of sandals upon their feet. Their behaviour was frank and cheerful,
with a great deal of good-nature.
At three o’clock in the afternoon, Mr. Gore returned with the boat,
and informed me, that he had examined all the west side of the
island, without finding a place where a boat could land, or the ships
could anchor, the shore being every where bounded by a steep coral
rock, against which the sea broke in a dreadful surf. But as the
natives seemed very friendly, and to express a degree of
disappointment when they saw that our people failed in their
attempts to land, Mr. Gore was of opinion, that by means of Omai,
who could best explain our request, they might be prevailed upon to
bring off to the boats, beyond the surf, such articles as we most
wanted; in particular, the stems of plantain trees, which make good
food for the cattle. Having little or no wind, the delay of a day or two
was not of any moment; and therefore I determined to try the
experiment, and got every thing ready against the next morning.
Soon after day-break, we observed some canoes coming off to the
ships, and one of them directed its course to the Resolution. In it
was a hog, with some plantains and cocoa nuts, for which the
people, who brought them demanded a dog from us, and refused
every other thing that we offered in exchange. One of our
gentlemen on board, happened to have a dog and a bitch, which
were great nuisances in the ship, and might have been disposed of
on this occasion for a purpose of real utility, by propagating a race of
so useful an animal in this island. But their owner had no such
views, in making them the companions of his voyage. However, to
gratify these people, Omai parted with a favourite dog he had
brought from England; and with this acquisition they departed highly
satisfied.
About ten o’clock I dispatched Mr. Gore with three boats, two from
the Resolution and one from the Discovery, to try the experiment he
had proposed. And, as I could confide in his diligence and ability, I
left it entirely to himself, to act as from circumstances he should
judge to be most proper. Two of the natives who had been on board
accompanied him; and Omai went with him in his boat as an
interpreter. The ships being a full league from the island when the
boats put off, and having but little wind, it was noon before we could
work up to it. We then saw our three boats riding at their grapplings,
just without the surf, and a prodigious number of the natives on the
shore abreast of them. By this we concluded that Mr. Gore and
others of our people had landed, and our impatience to know the
event may be easily conceived. In order to observe their motions,
and to be ready to give them such assistance as they might want,
and our respective situations would admit of, I kept as near the
shore as was prudent. I was sensible, however, that the reef was as
effectual a barrier between us and our friends who had landed, and
put them as much beyond the reach of our protection, as if half the
circumference of the globe had intervened. But the islanders, it was
probable, did not know this so well as we did. Some of them now
and then came off to the ships in their canoes with a few cocoa-
nuts, which they exchanged for whatever was offered to them,
without seeming to give the preference to any particular article.
These occasional visits served to lessen my solicitude about our
people who had landed. Though we could get no information from
our visitors; yet their venturing on board seemed to imply, at least,
that their countrymen on shore had not made an improper use of
the confidence put in them. At length, a little before sun-set, we had
the satisfaction of seeing the boats put off. When they got on board,
I found that Mr. Gore himself, Omai, Mr. Anderson, and Mr. Burney,
were the only persons who had landed. The transactions of the day
were now fully reported to me by Mr. Gore; but Mr. Anderson’s
account of them being very particular, and including some remarks
on the island and its inhabitants, I shall give it a place here nearly in
his own words.
“We rowed toward a small sandy beach, upon which, and upon
the adjacent rocks, a great number of the natives had assembled,
and came to an anchor within a hundred yards of the reef, which
extends about as far, or a little farther from the shore. Several of the
natives swam off, bringing cocoa-nuts; and Omai, with their
countrymen, whom we had with us in the boats, made them
sensible of our wish to land. But their attention was taken up for a
little time by the dog which had been carried from the ship, and was
just brought on shore, round whom they flocked with great
eagerness. Soon after, two canoes came off; and, to create a greater
confidence in the islanders, we determined to go unarmed, and run
the hazard of being treated well or ill.
“Mr. Burney, the first lieutenant of the Discovery, and I went in
one canoe a little time before the other; and our conductors,
watching attentively the motions of the surf, landed us safely upon
the reef. An islander took hold of each of us, obviously with an
intention to support us in walking over the rugged rocks to the
beach, where several of the others met us, holding the green
boughs of a species of Mimosa in their hands, and saluted us by
applying their noses to ours.
“We were conducted from the beach by our guides, amidst a great
crowd of people, who flocked with very eager curiosity to look at us,
and would have prevented our proceeding, had not some men, who
seemed to have authority, dealt blows with little distinction amongst
them to keep them off. We were then led up an avenue of cocoa-
palms, and soon came to a number of men arranged in two rows,
armed with clubs, which they held on their shoulders much in the
manner we rest a musket. After walking a little way amongst these,
we found a person who seemed a chief, sitting on the ground cross-
legged, cooling himself with a sort of triangular fan, made from a
leaf of the cocoa-palm, with a polished handle of black wood fixed to
one corner. In his ears were large bunches of beautiful red feathers
which pointed forward. But he had no other mark or ornament to
distinguish him from the rest of the people, though they all obeyed
him with the greatest alacrity. He either naturally had, or at this time
put on a serious but not severe countenance; and we were desired
to salute him as he sat by some people who seemed of
consequence.
“We proceeded still amongst the men armed with clubs, and came
to a second chief, who sat fanning himself, and ornamented as the
first. He was remarkable for his size and uncommon corpulence,
though to appearance not above thirty years of age. In the same
manner we were conducted to a third chief, who seemed older than
the two former, and, though not so fat as the second, was of a large
size. He also was sitting, and adorned with red feathers; and after
saluting him as we had done the others, he desired us both to sit
down, which we were very willing to do, being pretty well fatigued
with walking up, and with the excessive heat we felt amongst the
vast crowd that surrounded us.
“In a few minutes the people were ordered to separate; and we
saw, at the distance of thirty yards, about twenty young women,
ornamented as the chiefs with red feathers, engaged in a dance,
which they performed to a slow and serious air sung by them all. We
got up and went forward to see them; and though we must have
been strange objects to them, they continued their dance without
paying the least attention to us. They seemed to be directed by a
man who served as a prompter, and mentioned each motion they
were to make. But they never changed the spot as we do in
dancing; and though their feet were not at rest, this exercise
consisted more in moving the fingers very nimbly, at the same time
holding their hands in a prone position near the face, and now and
then also clapping them together.[169] Their motions and song were
performed in such exact concert, that it should seem they had been
taught with great care; and probably they were selected for this
ceremony, as few of those whom we saw in the crowd equalled
them in beauty. In general they were rather stout than slender, with
black hair flowing in ringlets down the neck, and of an olive
complexion. Their features were rather fuller than what we allow to
perfect beauties, and much alike; but their eyes were of a deep
black, and each countenance expressed a degree of complacency
and modesty peculiar to the sex in every part of the world, but
perhaps more conspicuous here, where Nature presented us with
her productions in the fullest perfection, unbiassed in sentiment by
custom, or unrestrained in manner by art. Their shape and limbs
were elegantly formed; for, as their dress consisted only of a piece of
glazed cloth fastened about the waist, and scarcely reaching so low
as the knees, in many we had an opportunity of observing every
part. This dance was not finished when we heard a noise as if some
horses had been gallopping toward us; and, on looking aside, we
saw the people armed with clubs, who had been desired, as we
supposed, to entertain us with the sight of their manner of fighting.
This they now did, one party pursuing another who fled.
“As we supposed the ceremony of being introduced to the chiefs
was at an end, we began to look about for Mr. Gore and Omai; and
though the crowd would hardly suffer us to move, we at length
found them coming up, as much incommoded by the number of
people as we had been, and introduced in the same manner to the
three chiefs, whose names were Otteroo, Taroa, and Fatouweera.
Each of these expected a present; and Mr. Gore gave them such
things as he had brought with him from the ship for that purpose.
After this, making use of Omai as his interpreter, he informed the
chiefs with what intention we had come on shore; but was given to
understand, that he must wait till the next day, and then he should
have what was wanted.
“They now seemed to take some pains to separate us from each
other; and every one of us had his circle to surround and gaze at
him. For my own part, I was at one time above an hour apart from
my friends; and when I told the chief, with whom I sat, that I
wanted to speak to Omai, he peremptorily refused my request. At
the same time I found the people began to steal several trifling
things which I had in my pocket; and when I took the liberty of
complaining to the chief of this treatment, he justified it. From these
circumstances, I now entertained apprehensions, that they might
have formed the design of detaining us amongst them. They did not,
indeed, seem to be of a disposition so savage, as to make us
anxious for the safety of our persons; but it was, nevertheless,
vexing to think we had hazarded being detained by their curiosity. In
this situation I asked for something to eat; and they readily brought
me some cocoa-nuts, bread-fruit, and a sort of sour pudding, which
was presented by a woman. And on my complaining much of the
heat, occasioned by the crowd, the chief himself condescended to
fan me, and gave me a small piece of cloth, which he had round his
waist.
“Mr. Burney happened to come to the place where I was, I
mentioned my suspicions to him, and, to put it to the test, whether
they were well-founded, we attempted to get to the beach. But we
were stopped when about half way, by some men, who told us that
we must go back to the place which we had left. On coming up, we
found Omai entertaining the same apprehensions. But he had, as he
fancied, an additional reason for being afraid, for he had observed
that they had dug a hole in the ground for an oven, which they were
now heating; and he could assign no other reason for this, than that
they meant to roast and eat us, as is practised by the inhabitants of
New Zealand. Nay, he went so far as to ask them the question; at
which they were greatly surprised, asking in return, whether that
was a custom with us? Mr. Burney and I were rather angry that they
should be thus suspected by him, there having as yet been no
appearances in their conduct toward us, of their being capable of
such brutality.
“In this manner we were detained the greatest part of the day,
being sometimes together, and sometimes separated; but always in
a crowd; who, not satisfied with gazing at us, frequently desired us
to uncover parts of our skin, the sight of which commonly produced
a general murmur of admiration. At the same time, they did not omit
these opportunities of rifling our pockets; and at last, one of them
snatched a small bayonet from Mr. Gore, which hung in its sheath by
his side. This was represented to the chief, who pretended to send
some person in search of it. But in all probability, he countenanced
the theft; for soon after, Omai had a dagger stolen from his side in
the same manner, though he did not miss it immediately.
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