Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/224

 Wilkes Henry, for these two officers had been great favorites with the crew. We felt very thankful, however, that no more of our number had met the same fate.

On clearing the reefs, we shaped our course for the Sandwich Islands. On the 13th we passed from east to west longitude, and consequently changed our reckoning  by a day.

August 28. On board the Peacock, another island was discovered, and named Bowditch Island, for the author  of "The American Navigator." The people found on this island had no knowledge of fire, which is, I believe,  the only instance of the kind on record. They appeared to be wild with fright when they saw the sparks fly from  the flint and steel; and when we lighted our pipes, and  they saw the smoke issuing from our mouths, they cried  out, "Debolos, debolos," "Devils, devils." When we made a fire on the reef they looked on with the greatest curiosity.

Yet these strange people had their gods to worship. I think there has never been a race of people discovered who did not acknowledge some power superior to their  own. Near the center of the island was their tui-tokelau, or house of their gods. It was oblong in shape, about sixty by eighty feet, and twenty feet in height. It was built of cocoanut wood, and thatched with pandanus  leaves. It was open at the eaves, from which hung many beautiful cowry and mother-of-pearl shells. Their gods, or idols, were placed on the outside of the building. These idols were mostly made from blocks of coral, and were covered with many mats. The largest was fourteen feet high and was named Tagaloa-ilaya-i-te-layi-Tagaloa