Be induced to eat of it.
Baneelon also denied it to be a fish; but no common councilman in Europe
could do more justice than he did to a very fine one, that the 'Supply'
had brought from Lord Howe Island, and which was served up at the governor's
table on Christmas Day.
His powers of mind were certainly far above mediocrity. He acquired knowledge,
both of our manners and language, faster than his predecessor had done.
He willingly communicated information; sang, danced, and capered, told us
all the customs of his country, and all the details of his family economy.
Love and war seemed his favourite pursuits; in both of which he had suffered
severely. His head was disfigured by several scars; a spear had passed
through his arm, and another through his leg. Half of one of his thumbs
was carried away; and the mark of a wound appeared on the back of his hand.
The cause and attendant circumstances of all these disasters, except one,
he related to us.
"But the wound on the back of your hand, Baneelon! How did you get that?"
He laughed, and owned that it was received in carrying off a lady
of another tribe by force. "I was dragging her away. She cried aloud,
and stuck her teeth in me."
"And what did you do then?"
"I knocked her down, and beat her till she was insensible,
and covered with blood.
