Nor Was Our Search
Now Attended With Success; But This Is No Proof That There Is Not Any.
The
day was too far spent to examine the place well enough to determine this
point.
Night having brought us on board, I was informed that no soul had
been off to the ship; so soon was the curiosity of these people satisfied.
As we were coming on board, we heard the sound of a drum, and, I think, of
some other instruments, and saw people dancing; but us soon as they heard
the noise of the oars, or saw us, all was silent.
Being unwilling to lose the benefit of the moon-light nights, which now
happened, at seven a.m. on the 23d, we weighed; and, with a light air of
wind, and the assistance of our boats, proceeded out of the harbour, the
south end of which, at noon, bore W.S.W., distant about two miles.
When the natives saw us under sail, they came off in canoes, making
exchanges with more confidence than before, and giving such extraordinary
proofs of their honesty as surprised us. As the ship, at first, had fresh
way through the water, several of them dropped astern after they had
received our goods, and before they had time to deliver theirs in return.
Instead of taking advantage of this, as our friends at the Society Isles
would have done, they used their utmost efforts to get up with us, and to
deliver what they had already been paid for. One man, in particular,
followed us a considerable time, and did not reach us till it was calm, and
the thing was forgotten. As soon as he came alongside he held up the thing
which several were ready to buy; but he refused to part with it, till he
saw the person to whom he had before sold it, and to him he gave it. The
person, not knowing him again, offered him something in return, which he
refused, and shewed him what he had given him before. Pieces of cloth, and
marble paper, were in most esteem with them; but edge-tools, nails, and
beads, they seemed to disregard. The greatest number of canoes we had
alongside at once did not exceed eight, and not more than four or five
people in each, who would frequently retire to the shore all on a sudden,
before they had disposed of half their things, and then others would come
off.
At the time we came out of the harbour, it was about low water, and great
numbers of people were then on the shoals or reefs which lie along the
shore, looking, as we supposed., for shell and other fish. Thus our being
on their coast, and in one of their ports, did not hinder them from
following the necessary employments. By this time they might be satisfied
we meant them no harm; so that, had we made a longer stay, we might soon
have been upon good terms with this ape-like nation. For, in general, they
are the most ugly, ill-proportioned people I ever saw, and in every respect
different from any we had met with in this sea. They are a very dark-
coloured and rather diminutive race; with long heads, flat faces, and
monkey countenances. Their hair mostly black or brown, is short and curly;
but not quite so soft and woolly as that of a negroe. Their beards are very
strong, crisp, and bushy, and generally black and short. But what most adds
to their deformity, is a belt or cord which they wear round the waist, and
tie so tight over the belly, that the shape of their bodies is not unlike
that of an overgrown pismire. The men go quite naked, except a piece of
cloth or leaf used as a wrapper.[4]
We saw but few women, and they were not less ugly than the men; their
heads, faces, and shoulders, are painted red; they wear a kind of
petticoat; and some of them had something over their shoulders like a bag,
in which they carry their children. None of them came off to the ship, and
they generally kept at a distance when we were on shore. Their ornaments
are ear-rings, made of tortoise-shell and bracelets. A curious one of the
latter, four or five inches broad, wrought with thread or cord, and studded
with shells, is worn by them just above the elbow. Round the right wrist
they wear hogs' tusks, bent circular, and rings made of shells; and round
their left, a round piece of wood, which we judged was to ward off the bow-
string. The bridge of the nose is pierced, in which they wear a piece of
white stone, about an inch and a half long. As signs of friendship they
present a green branch, and sprinkle water with the hand over the head.
Their weapons are clubs, spears, and bows and arrows. The two former are
made of hard or iron-wood. Their bows are about four feet long, made of a
stick split down the middle, and are not circular. The arrows, which are a
sort of reeds, are sometimes armed with a long and sharp point, made of the
hard wood, and sometimes with a very hard point made of bone; and these
points are all covered with a substance which we took for poison. Indeed
the people themselves confirmed our suspicions, by making signs to us not
to touch the point, and giving us to understand that if we were prickled by
them we should die. They are very careful of them themselves, and keep
them, always wrapped up in a quiver. Some of these arrows are formed with
two or three points, each with small prickles on the edges, to prevent the
arrow being drawn out of the wound.
The people of Mallicollo seemed to be a quite different nation from any we
had yet met with, and speak a different language.
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