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H. Claessen The merry maidens of Matavai; A survey of the views of eighteenth-century participant observers and moralists In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 153 (1997), no: 2, Leiden, 183-210 This PDF-file was downloaded from http://www.kitlv-journals.nl Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 07:28:06PM via free access HENRI J.M. CLAESSEN The Merry Maidens of Matavai A Survey of the Views of Eighteenth-Century Participant Observers and Moralists Introduction After the discovery of Tahiti in 1767, the notion of 'paradise regained' and the idea of the 'noble savage' pervaded publications on Polynesia for quite some time. The enthusiasm of the French explorers found an outlet in scholarly reports as well as in more popular descriptions. Nowadays these ideas are still very much alive in popular Hollywood films and in the language of tour operators trying to induce people to visit Polynesia. How did this enthusiasm come about? Where did the rosy picture of Polynesia and the Polynesians originate? Did it spring from the relief which the eighteenth-century sailors must have felt when they finally reached a group of beautiful islands inhabited by hospitable people after a long and hazardous voyage? Should we look for an explanation in the views of French moralists and philosophers like Jean Jacques Rousseau? Or did the visitors indeed experience a touch of paradise in the arms of the merry maidens of Matavai - and other islands? Matavai Bay, the main port of call for eighteenth- and nineteenth-century visitors to Tahiti, became famous for the numerous sexual encounters that took place here between European sailors and Tahitian girls. This way Matavai became a kind of symbol for 'love in the South Seas'. All the above-mentioned factors probably played a part in the devel- opment of South Sea Romanticism. The relief felt by sailors on finally reaching land again can be sensed behind the carefully worded entries in the journals of the captains of expeditions, and is often found expressed more explicitly in the writings of members of their crews. The role of moralists and philosophers has been pointed out again and again, for their views pervaded the writings of French explorers like Bougainville (1771/1966) and Commerson (1769/1915) and the works of authors like Diderot (1772/1966). Such philosophical views were also in evidence in the work of Johann Reinhold Forster, the German naturalist who with his HENRI J.M. CLAESSEN is emeritus professor of anthropology of the University of Leiden. He has specialized in political anthropology and the anthropology of the Pacific, and his most recent publication is (with J.G. Oosten as co-editor) Ideology and the formation of early states, Leiden: Brill, 1996. Professor Claessen's address is Santhorstlaan 87, 2242 BE Wassenaar, The Netherlands. BKI 152-11 (1997) Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 07:28:06PM via free access 184 Henri J.M. Claessen son Georg accompanied James Cook on his second voyage of discovery (J.R. Forster 1778/1996). This influence has been discussed in some depth by anthropologists and historians (e.g., Claessen 1994; Smith 1960; Jongmans 1955; Dorsenne 1929). But what about the merry maidens? They, too, have been the subject of several publications (e.g., Sahlins 1985; Danielsson 1961). So why devote another article to them? The answer is that the maidens as such have so far been given but scant attention. They have often been represented as simple, carefree creatures with no other interest in life than to eagerly await the arrival of European sailors to make love with (see, for example, Samwell 1967, passim). Other eighteenth- century voyagers depicted these same merry maidens as vile prostitutes exploiting the lusts of innocent sailors (e.g., J.R. Forster 1982:390; cf. Guest 1996:xliv-xlvi), or as the unhappy victims of greedy fathers and husbands (Von Krusenstern 1985:60). The purpose of this article is to find out to what extent these varied views represent historical reality - as far as it will be possible for us to have an understanding of the past of a remote culture (cf. Claessen and Oosten 1987). Towards this end a number of journals and memoirs of early visitors in which encounters between Polynesian girls and European men are described in some detail will be examined. This information will be combined with data on the attitude towards sexuality in Polynesia collected by anthropologists in recent years. The combination of these two kinds of information will make it possible, hopefully, to draw some conclusions about the real position of the 'merry maidens' - if they were merry at all - and to find out which views represented historical reality better: the relatively mild views based on intimate personal contacts of the 'participant observers', as one might call them, or the moralists' views based on European/Christian prejudices brimming with ethical judgements. It is between these two poles that we will be directing our course in this article. Tahiti It seems only appropriate to start this investigation in Tahiti, as it was here that intimate contacts between European sailors and Polynesian girls first took place on a large scale. It is true that Tahiti was not the first island in Polynesia to be discovered by Europeans. Long before Captain Wallis entered Matavai Bay in 1767, Dutch navigators like Le Maire and Schouten (1622 and 1618 respectively / 1945), Tasman (1642/1919), and Jacob Roggeveen (1722/1838) had crossed the Pacific Ocean - though their journals hardly contain data on intimate relations between sailors and local girls (which is not to say that there were no such relations). Moreover, intrepid Spanish captains sailed the waters of the Pacific in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries - but their reports are coloured mainly with blood, rather than with sex. Alvaro de Mendana, the discoverer of the Marquesas Islands (1595), has become especially infamous in this respect. Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 07:28:06PM via free access The Merry Maidens of Matavai 185 Beaglehole (1966:67) even styles his journal a 'chronicle of murder' (cf. also Danielsson 1960:23-6) - a harsh, but not undeserved judgement, whatever de Mendana's qualities as a sailor may have been (as is emphasized by Friederici 1925, who only discusses his discovery of the Solomon Islands, which took place in 1568). For the present article the journals of the eighteenth-century voyagers, most of which are characterized by a more open mind and scientific attitude, will provide a better basis. It is not uncommon to begin a discussion of the 'merry maidens' of Matavai with the journals of Bougainville and the members of his staff. But, although the French voyagers were the first to return to Europe with enthusiastic reports about Tahiti, they were not the first to discover the island. The credit for this goes to Captain Samuel Wallis, who with his ship The Dolphin dropped anchor in Matavai Bay in 1767. Wallis was ill at the time and the actual command of his ship rested with George Robertson, the master, and John Gore, the senior midshipman. It is mainly from Robertson's journal (first published in 1948 and reprinted in 1955; here the 1955 edition is used) that the course of the first encounters with the Tahitians will be reconstructed. Wallis' journal, because of his illness at the time, is based mainly on hearsay. His report includes some data which are not found in Robertson's account, however, simply because he received his information from several people (cf. Claessen 1994:17). Apparently there were a number of cultural misunderstandings between the Tahitians and the British from the very start. W.H. Pearson (1969) relates in detail how the English leaders failed to understand the welcome rituals of the Tahitians, and how the Tahitians reacted fiercely to the British 'mistakes'. There was distrust on both sides. The first meeting seemed promising enough, however. More than a hundred canoes came up to The Dolphin and the Tahitians held up plantain tree branches as a sign of peace (Robertson 1955:20). Some Tahitians even ventured aboard The Dolphin, and there was some barter. When more and more canoes arrived and the Tahitians 'began to be a Little surly' (Robertson 1955:22), however, the British became afraid and fired one of their guns. The Tahitians thereupon withdrew. The subsequent meetings display the same pattern: as soon as a large number of canoes surrounded the ship, the British fired a gun. Soon also muskets came into play and the first Tahitian was wounded (Robertson 1955:23). Efforts to establish better relations (on both sides) failed, and tensions grew stronger. In the course of an attempt to get fresh water some skirmishes occurred, and then the Tahitians introduced a new 'weapon' (at least in the perception of the British): 'They [the Tahitians, HC] soon found none of them was hurt, and all returned back to the Water-side, and brought a good many fine young Girls down of different colours. Some was a light copper colour others a mulatto and some Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/2021 07:28:06PM via free access 186 Henri J.M. Claessen almost if not altogether White. This new sight Attracted our men's fancy a good deal, and the natives observed it, and made the Young Girls play a great many droll wanton tricks, and the men made signs of friendship to entice our people ashore, but they very prudently deferred going ashore, until we turned better acquainted with the temper of this people.' (Robertson 1955:34.) It is not clear to what extent the appearance of the girls was intended as a ruse, but it is quite possible that it was only meant as an expression of friendly hospitality.