Captain Bligh made two visits to Aitutaki and left unique accounts of their vaka and tattooing, writes Rod Dixon.

William Bligh accompanied Captain Cook on Cook’s third and fatal voyage to the Pacific, passing through the Cook Islands in April 1777 as master of the “Resolution”, calling at Manuae, Mangaia, and Palmerston. He returned to the Cook Islands 12 years later on the “Bounty” just two weeks before the “Bounty” crew mutinied on 28 April 1789.

Bligh’s published account of his voyages indicates that he sighted Aitutaki on Sunday April 12, 1789, aboard the “Bounty”. “Shortly after a canoe, in which were four men, paddled off to us and came alongside without showing any signs of apprehension or surprise. I gave them a few beads and they came into the ship.”

James Morrison, the bosun’s mate, reported that “as soon as they came on board they fell down and kissed Mr. Bligh’s feet”.

Bligh continues “… Being told that I was the Earee” (ariki) or chief of the ship the principal person came and joined noses with me, and presented to me a large mother of pearl shell, which hung with plaited hair round his neck; this he fastened round my neck with signs of great satisfaction ... The name of the large island they told me was Wytootackee (Aitutaki), and the Earee (ariki) was called Lomakkayah. They said that there were no hogs, dogs, or goats upon the island, nor had they yams, or taro; but those plantains, coconuts, fowls, breadfruit, and avees (vī) were there in great abundance.”

Despite claiming to have no pigs, Aitutakians were familiar with the general term “puaka”.

“Notwithstanding they said that no hogs were on the island it was evident they had seen such animals; for they called them by the same name as is given to them at Otaheite, which made me suspect that they were deceiving me. However, I ordered a young boar and sow to be put into their canoe with some yams and taro … I also gave to each of them a knife, a small adze, some nails, beads, and a looking-glass. The latter they examined with great curiosity; but with the ironwork they appeared to be acquainted; calling it aouree (auri), which is the common name for iron among the islands where it is known. As they were preparing to leave us the chief of the canoe took possession of everything that I had given to the others. One of them showed some signs of dissatisfaction, but after a little altercation they joined noses and were reconciled.”

The Aitutakians mention the “avi” which Gerald McCormack identifies as the native Tahiti Apple. When missionaries subsequently introduced the mango, the name vī migrated from the apple to the mango (vī mango), and the Tahiti apple renamed vī kavakava, or bitter vī. Bligh also notes the existing knowledge of iron which the Aitutakians called auri and the use of the hongi for greeting.

Bligh’s unpublished journal provides a more detailed description of the Aitutaki people (the spelling is as in the original):
“They had naturally strong Black hair which they wore loose about the Neck, but from the extreme heat of the Sun and the Salt Water, (like all fishermen) a great part of it was turned of a brown or reddish colour. The Cheif of the Cannoe was tatowed on the Thighs and the Legs, with four small strakes across the upper arms, something like a spear, the others had the same strakes across the hollow of the Knee, but neither were marked on the posteriors as the Otaheiteans (Tahitians). They wore a marro (maro) like most other Islanders and had besides some cloth and matt like those of the Friendly Islands (Tonga) which was wrapt round their middle. They had one Spear in the Cannoe which they gave me. It was a common Pole pointed with the hard Toa Wood ...”

Of particular interest is the presence of tattooing on the thighs, the upper arms, the hollows of the knee and its absence on the posterior. Also, the use of the mat to clothe the midriff in the Tongan manner.

“Cannoe of Whytootachee[Aitutaki] Discovered by HMS Bounty” 1792. Image by Captain William Bligh, (State Library of NSW) – the men are seen wearing the maro and a pearl shell pendant. The canoe itself is unusual for the ‘small elevation” of the stern, and the absence of an upraised bow cover. 24020226

Between 1791 to 1793, Bligh was again in the Pacific as master of HMS Providence collecting breadfruit from Tahiti for slave plantations in the West Indies. The Providence travelled in consort with HMS Assistant under the command of Nathaniel Portlock.

Visiting Aitutaki for a second time (25/26 July, 1792), Bligh was given the names “Comackkaiah, and Tongawarre, as Errees (Arikis) of the Island…”  In 1789, he had recorded that “the Earee (ariki) was called Lomakkayah”. Lomakkayah and Comackkaiah are different spellings of the same name, akin perhaps to Rongokea or similar.

According to Bligh, “They knew all our Plants, and called the Breadfruit Cooroo (Kuru), and Pork Boackah (Puaka) … taking their expression literally it was to be understood they had no Hogs on shore, but I suspect they meant to say they were scarce. Fowls were in abundance. The Scraps of Cloth (tapa) they brought off with them was of the Friendly Island kind. The Men were above the middle size, had very good regular features, were fleshey, and no mark of a want of food. Their Heads covered with strong black Hair were very lousy, and I observed that some of them had had their faces smutted, the remains of it being evident about the Eye brows and under the Throat. Their dress was only a marro (maro), and the Pearl Shell pendent from the neck by plaited human Hair. Their Colour is darker than an Oteheitean … The Men were Tattowed on the Legs, Thighs and Arms. The Legs & Thighs of two Men were fully tinctured as to loose the natural colour of the Skin …”

“Canoes of the island Whytootaky…” [Aitutaki] by George Tobin July 1792 According to George Tobin “The sail was a piece of cloth about the size of an handkerchief fastened by the corners to two spears held upright by one of the crew.” Note the bow cover (poki or papa’ura) rising to a point). [State Library of NSW]/ 24020228

Of particular interest here is Bligh’s use of the term “tinctured” in respect of tattooing. In its 18^th century usage this could refer to the skin being “stained” by tattoo or it may refer to a “palette of colours”, suggesting that Aitutaki tattooing may have involved multiple colours. One of Bligh’s officers also observed that the Aitutaki women were as much tattooed as the men.

Portlock on the Assistant additionally noted the smutting of faces. Some “had their faces painted entirely black, I think with soot …” Some used a red pigment. Older men tended to wear their beards long, while others were clean shaven. Some men had long hair while others wore it short, indicating that short hair among men predated Christian conversion.

George Tobin, third lieutenant on Bligh’s ship Providence, noted in his journal that one man “had every part of his body marked with scars from one to three inches long, which did not appear to be accidental”. Scarification is not usually recorded for the Cook Islands though mourning practices such as dashing the head with a rock or cutting the skin with shells, did leave scarring.

In trading, the Aitutakians focussed on acquiring “nails, beads, and rings” and Portlock “made a point of rewarding their liberality by giving them large towes (metal chains) and spike nails which delight them. They brought plantains and cocoanuts, and I saw pieces of drest (baked) breadfruit in one canoe”.

“I procured from them some small pieces of cloth, two small mats, four paddles, five spears, and three gorgets (pearl shell pendants). Their cloth is much like that of the Friendly Islands (Tonga), being stout, and some of it prettily glazed, and printed in a very regular manner, red, black, and white in small squares.
“Their mats were small and coarsely made, and wrought with more taste than the Otaheitans’ mat, being made with different coloured rushes, which has a pretty effect.”

Bligh and his colleagues also provide important information on the pre-contact Aitutaki vaka.

He notes (original spelling) that one of the Aitutaki “Cannoe was made of one peice of Timber with the common outrigger. The Stern had a Small elevation, and round the Gunwale long poles were lashed to strengthen the upper part of the Cannoe. The head was no way remarkable or was their Paddles materialy different from most others.”

Cook Islands canoes were not just functional tools but decorative art – a highly decorated Mangaian cargo canoe in the 1920s. 24020229

He continues: “In all I observed about 15 Cannoes, some of them might have had 20 Men, I distinctly counted 15 & 9, & 11 in others. Some of the Cannoes had high black feathered ornaments at the Stern. Within the Reef they were managed by setting Poles. Those that were alongside of us were hallowed out of the Trunk of the Breadfruit Tree without any scarf or piece, except in the length, to increase which, they injudiciously join the ends of one piece of hallow Trunk to the end of the other, by a sewing as it may be called, without forming a Scarf to strengthen it. Perhaps to make up for this, is the reason for their supporting the Gunwales by long Poles being lashed along the edge. The Outriggers are common, and, like all I have seen, on the larboard [port] side. I saw not any with Sails.”

Portlock describes canoes of “the double and single kind … We saw upwards of a dozen — none carrying less than five men, the long single ones carrying some eight and some ten, and the double ones of which we saw four had at least sixteen men; the single canoes have outriggers.”

“The canoes are made from a single tree hollowed out, and kept exceedingly white and clean, and ornamented all round with a kind of little red pea with a black eye stuck on the outside of the canoe, and strengthened by a piece of wood one and a half inches thick, that is securely lashed within and just below the gunwale. The largest was forty feet … and round at the bottom. They are, too, very handsomely finished, tapering away gradually towards each end, and terminating in a blunt point. Some of the large canoes had a kind of gallows erected in the stern (the stern post), about six feet high and decorated with many man-of-war birds’ feathers.”

In summary, the Aitutaki canoes they observed were either single with an outrigger or double with two hulls, the latter up to 40 feet long. They were hollowed out of trees – the smaller canoes hollowed from a single trunk (the ‘vaka tavai’ according to Te Rangi Hiroa), the larger from several hollowed trunks (the ‘vaka tutaki tumu’and ‘vaka tamoe’),sewn together butt-ended and reinforced not with scarfs but by poles (stringers/tango) secured along the gunwales.

Neither Tobin or Bligh’s drawings illustrate the high stern post, nor the feathered ornaments but a high stern was usual on Mangaia (repe), Rarotonga and Ngaputoru canoes. They were often carved to allow the insertion of a small fishing god or ornament – as in the case of the “black feathered ornaments” seen by Bligh.

Portlock also provides a description of the paddles he saw – “Their paddles are five feet seven inches long and nine inches broad, neatly made, and pains taken to ornament them. One side of the blade nearly at the grasp is cut out like Cornish work (wood incision), and on the other side just above the point of the paddle is a ridge of about half an inch above the surface of the blade. Besides ornamenting they take pains in staining them with a black dye in variety as their fancy directs.”

These descriptions provide further evidence that canoes and paddles were considered not just functional tools but decorative art – note for example the Aitutaki canoe “ornamented all round with a kind of little red pea with a black eye stuck on the outside”.  And in 1777, Anderson’s description of two Atiuan canoes “curiously stained or painted all over with black, numberless small figures, as triangles, squares, etc.” This and the intriguing if remote possibility that a “tincture” or colour palate might have been used in tattooing in 1792 suggest colourful alternatives to the plain wood finish of contemporary “traditional” vaka and the predominance of black in contemporary tattooing.

References  

Lee, Ida. (1920) Captain Bligh’s Second Voyage To The South Sea: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t1vd70558&seq=9

George Tobin's Providence Journal: https://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/_transcript/2011/D04424/a1220.htm