intellects. For their fmall thefts were committed with much dexterity; and those of greater confequence with a plan or scheme fuited to the importance of the objects. An extraordinary inftance of the laft fort, their attempts to carry away one of the Discovery's anchors, at mid-day, has been already re Their hair is, in general, ftraight, thick, and ftrong; though a few have it bushy or frizzled. The na. tural colour, I believe, almoft without exception, is black; but the greatest part of the men, and fome of the women, have it stained of a brown, or purple colour; and a few of an orange caft. The first colour is produced by applying a fort of platter of burnt coral, mixed with water; the fecond, by the raspings of a reddish wood, which is made up with water into a poultice, and laid over the hair; and the third is, I believe, the effect of turmeric whose minds we overpowered with root. When I firft vifited these islands, I thought it had been an universal custom for both men and women to wear the hair fhort; but, during our prefent longer ftay, we faw a great many exceptions. Indeed, they are fo whimsical in their fashions of wearing it, that it is hard to tell which is moft in vogue. Some have it cut off from one fide of the head, while that on the other fide remains long; fome have only a portion of it cut fhort, or, perhaps, fhaved; others have it entirely cut off, except a fingle lock, which is left commonly on one fide; or, it is fuffered to grow to its full length, without any of thefe mutilations. The women, in general, wear it fhort. The men have their beards cut fhort; and both men and wo men men ftrip the hair from their armpits. The operation by which this is performed has been already defcribed. The men are ftained from about the middle of the belly, to about half way down the thighs, with a deep blue colour. This is done with a flat bone inftrument, cut full of fine teeth, which, being dipped in the staining mixture, prepared from the juice of the doce done, is ftruck into the fkin with a bit of flick; and, by that means, indelible marks are made. In this manner they trace lines and figures, which, in fome, are very elegant, both from the variety, and from the arrangement. The women have only a few small lines or spots, thus imprinted, on the infide of their hands. Their kings, as a mark of diftinction, are exempted from this cuftom, as alfo from inflicting on themselves any of those bloody marks of mourning, which fhall be mentioned in another place. The men are all circumcifed, or rather fupercifed; as the operation confifts in cutting off only a fmall piece of the forefkin, at the upper part; which, by that means, is 'ren. dered incapable, ever after, of covering the glans. This is all they aim at; as they fay, the operation is practifed from a notion of clean linefs. The drefs of both men and women is the fan'e; and confifts of a piece of cloth or matting (but moftly the former), about two yards wide, and two and half long; at least, fo long as to go once and half round the waift, to which it is confined by a girdle or cord. It is double before, and hangs down, like a petti. coat, as low as the middle of the leg. The upper part of the garment, above the girdle, is plaited : into feveral folds; fo that, when unfolded, there is cloth fufficient to draw up and wrap round the fhoulders; which is very feldom done. This, as to form, is the general drefs; but large pieces of cloth, and fine matting, are worn only by the fuperior people. The inferior fort are fatisfied with fmall pieces; and, very often, wear nothing but a covering made of leaves of plants, or the maro, which is a narrow piece of cloth, or matting, like a sash. This they pafs between the thighs. and wrap round the waist; but the ufe of it is chiefly confined to the men. In their great haivas, or en. tertainments, they have variousdreffes made for the purpose; but the form is always the fame; and the richeft dreffes are covered, more or lefs, with red feathers. On what particular occafion their Chiefs wear their large red feather-caps, I could not learn. Both men and women fometimes fhade their faces from the fun with little bonnets, made of various materials. As the cloathing, fo are the orna. ments, worn by thofe of both sexes, the fame. The most common of thefe are necklaces, made of the fruit of the pandanus, and various fweet-fmelling flowers, which go under the general name of kahula. Others are compofed of fmall fhells, the wing and leg-bones of birds, fhark's teeth, and other things; all which hang loofe upon the breaft. In the fame manner, they often wear a mother of pearl fhell, neatly polifhed, or a ring of the fame fubitance carved, on the upper part of the arm; rings of tortoife-fhell on the fingers; and a number of thefe, joined together, as bracelets on the wrifts. The lobes of the ears (though, B 3 moft most frequently, only one) are perforated with two holes, in which they wear cylindrical bits of ivory, about three inches long, introduced at one hole, and brought out of the other; or bits of reed of the fame fize, filled with a yellow pigment. This feems to be a fine powder of turmeric, with which the women rub themselves all over, in the fame manner as our ladies ufe their dry rouge upon the cheeks. Nothing appears to give them greater pleafure than perfonal clean. linefs; to produce which, they frequently bathe in the ponds, which feem to ferve no other purpose *. Though the water in most of them finks intolerably, they prefer them to the fea; and they are fo fenfible that falt water hurts their skin, that, when neceffit obliges them to bathe in the fea, they commonly have fome cocoa-nut shells, filled with fresh water, poured over them, to wash it off. They are immoderately fond of cocoa-nut oil for the fame jeason; a great quantity of which they not only pour upon their head and shoulders, but rub the body all over, briskly, with a fmaller quantity. And none but those who have feen this practice, can easily conceive how the appearance of the fin is improved by it. This oil, however, is not to be procured by every one; and the inferior fort of people, doubtlets, appear lefs fmooth for the want of it.” Account and Character of the Natives of Otaheite; from Vol. II. of the fame Work. JOTHING could make a ftronger impreffion, at first fight, on our arrival here, than the remarkable contraft between the ro but make and dark colour of the people of Tongataboof, and a fort of delicacy and whitenefs, which diftinguish the inhabitants of Otaheite. It was even some time before that difference could preponderate in favour of the Otaheiteans; and then only, perhaps, because we became accustomed to them, the marks which had recommended the others began to be forgotten. Their women, however, ftruck us as fuperior in every reípect; and as posses. fing all thofe delicate characteristics, which diftinguish them from the other fex in many countries. The beard which the men here wear long, and the hair which is not cut fo fhort, as is the fashion at Tonga taboo, made alfo a great difference; and we could not help thinking, that, on every occafion, they fhewed a greater degree of timidity and ficklenefs. The mufcular appear. ance, fo common amongst the Friendly Inlanders, and which feems a confequence of their being accuf tomed to much action, is loft here, where the fuperior fertility of their country enables the inhabitants to lead a more indolent life; and its place is fupplied by a plumpnefs and smoothness of the skin; which, * So at the Caroline Islands. "Ils font accoutumés à fe baigner trois fos, le jour, le matin, à midi, et fur le foir." Lettres Edifiantes et Curieufes, Tóm. xv. P. 314. One of the Friendly Inlands. though, though, perhaps, more confonant with our ideas of beauty, is no real advantage; as it feems attended with a kind of languor in all their motions, not obfervable in the others. This obfervation is fully verified, in their boxing and wreft. ling, which may be called little better than the feeble efforts of children, if compared to the vigour with which thefe exercises are per. formed at the Friendly Islands. Perfonal endowments being in great efteem amongst them, they have recourfe to feveral methods of improving them, according to their notions of beauty. In particular, it is a practice, efpecially amongst the Erreoes, or unmarried men of fome confequence, to undergo a kind of phyfical operation to render them fair. This is done by remaining a month or two in the houfe; during which time they wear a great quantity of clothes, eat nothing but bread-fruit, to which they afcribe a remarkable property in whitening them. They alfo speak, as if their corpulence and colour, at other times, depended upon their food; as they are obliged, from the change of feasons, to ufe different forts at different times. Their common diet is made up of, at least, nine-tenths of vegetable food; and, I believe, more particularly, the mahee, or ferment. ed bread fruit, which enters almost every meal, has a remarkable effect upon them, preventing a cof. tive habit, and producing a very fenfible coolness about them, which could not be perceived in us who fed on animal food. And it is, perhaps, owing to this temperate courfe of life that they have fo few diseases among them. They only reckon five or fix, which might be called chronic, or national diforders; amongst which are the dropfy, and the fefai, or indolent fwellings before mentioned, as frequent at Tongataboo. But: this was before the arrival of the Europeans; for we have added to this fhort catalogue, a difeafe which abundantly fupplies the place of all the others, and is now almost uni. verfal. For this they feem to have no effectual remedy. The priests, indeed, fometimes give them a medley of fimples; but they own that it never cures them. And yet, they allow that, in a few cafes, nature, without the affiftance of a phyfician, exterminates the poifon of this fatal difeafe, and a perfect recovery is produced. They fay, that if a man is infected with it, he will of ten communicate it to others in the fame house, by feeding out of the fame utenfils, or handling them; and that, in this cafe, they fre quently die, while he recovers; though we fee no reason why this fhould happen. Their behaviour, on all occafions, feems to indicate a great openness and generofity of difpofition. Omai, indeed, who, as their countryman, fhould be fuppofed rather willing to conceal any of their defects, has often faid, that they are fometimes cruel in punishing their enemies. According to his reprefentation," they torment them very deliberately; at one time, tearing out finall pieces of flesh from different parts; at another, taking out the eyes; then cutting off the nose; and lastly, killing them by opening the belly. But this only happens on If cheerfulparticular occafions. nefs argues a conscious innocence, one would fuppofe that their life is feldom fullied by crimes. This, B 4 however, however, I rather impute to their feelings, which, though lively, feem in no cafe permanent; for I never faw them, in any misfortune, labour under the appearance of anxiety, after the critical moment was paft. Neither does care ever feem to wrinkle their brow. On the contrary, even the approach of death does not appear to alter their ufual vivacity. I have feen them, when brought to the brink of the grave by disease, and when preparing to go to battle; but, in neither cafe, ever obferved their countenances overclouded with melancholy, or ferious reflection. Such a difpofition leads them to direct all their aims only to what can give them pleasure and ease. Their amufements all tend to excite and continue their amorous paffions; and their fongs, of which they are immoderately fond, answer the fame purpofe. But as a conftant fucceffion of fenfual enjoyments must cloy, we found, that they frequently varied them to more refined fubjects, and had much pleasure in chanting their triumphs in war, and their occupations in peace; their travels to other islands and adventures there; and the peculiar beauties, and fuperior advantages of their own island over the reft, or of different parts of it over other lefs favourite diftricts. This marks, that they receive great delight from mufic; and though they rather expreffed a diflike to our complicated compofitions, yet were they always delighted with the more melodious founds produced fingly on our inftruments, as approaching nearer to the fimplicity of their own. Neither are they ftrangers to the foothing effects produced by parti. cular forts of motion; which, in fome cafes, feem to allay any per turbation of mind, with as much fuccefs as mufic. Of this, I met with a remarkable inftance. For on walking, one day, about Matavai Point, where our tents were erected, I faw a man paddling, in fmall canoe, fo quickly, and looking about with fuch eagerness, on each fide, as to command all my attention. At first, I imagined that he had ftolen fomething from one of the fhips, and was purfued; but, on waiting patiently, faw him repeat his amusement. He went out from the shore, till he was near the place where the fwell begins to take its rife; and, watching its first motion very attentively, paddled before it, with great quickness, till he found that it overtook him, and had acquired fofficient force to carry his canoe before it, without paffing underneath. He then fat motionless, and was carried along, at the fame fwift rate as the wave, till it landed him upon the beach. Then he ftarted out, emptied his canoe, and went in fearch of another fwell. I could not help concluding, that this man felt the moft fupreme pleasure, while he was driven on, fo faft and fo fmoothly, by the fea; efpecially as, though the tents and fhips were fo near, he did not feem, in the leaft, to envy, or even to take any notice of, the crowds of his countrymen collected to view them as objects which were rare and curious. During my ftay, two or three of the natives came up, who feemed to share his felicity, and always called out, when there was an appearance of a favourable fwell, as he fometimes miffed it, by his back being turned, and looking about for it. By them I understood, that this exercife, which is called eborcoe, was frequent an.ongit |