They Had Another Advantage Besides, From This Pleasant
Situation; For Numbers Of Birds Continually Twittered In The Tufted
Tops Of The Tree, And Hid Themselves From The Scorching Beams Of The
Sun.
The wild circle of some species of creepers was very agreeable;
and conveyed a sensible pleasure to every one who delighted in this
kind of artless harmony.
The inhabitants themselves were commonly
seated at the foot of these trees, which had this remarkable quality,
that they shot long roots from the upper part of the stem, perfectly
round, as if they had been made by a turner, into the ground, ten,
fifteen, and twenty feet from the tree, and formed a most exact strait
line, being extremely elastic, and as tense as a bow-string prepared
for action. The bark of these trees seems to be the substance of which
they make those little bits of cloth, so remarkable in their dress." -
G.F.
[6] Wafers met with Indians in the Isthmus of Darien of the colour of
a white horse. See his Description of the Isthmus, page 134. See also
Mr de Paw's Philosophical Enquiries concerning Americans, where
several other instances of this remarkable whiteness are mentioned,
and the causes of it attempted to be explained. - This note is by
Captain Cook. The reader may not have forgotten some remarks on the
subject, in a former volume. - E.
[7] It is also worth while noticing the following circumstance, which
occurred during this excursion. "The appearance of a large beef-bone,
which some of our people began to pick towards the conclusion of their
supper, interrupted a conversation that was carried on with the
natives. They talked very loud and earnestly to each other, looked
with great surprise, and some marks of disgust, at our people, and at
last went away altogether, expressing by signs that they suspected the
strangers of eating human flesh. Our officer endeavoured to free
himself and his shipmates from this suspicion; but the want of
language was an insurmountable obstacle to his undertaking, even
supposing it possible to persuade a set of people, who had never seen
a quadruped in their lives." - G.F.
Notwithstanding this appearance of dislike to so horrid a practice, it
must not be hastily inferred, that these people are themselves free
from the vice which they condemned. On the contrary, one might rather
imagine that their so readily conjecturing the circumstance, from what
they saw, proceeded from a conviction of their own occasional
acquiescence in it; and that their present umbrage arose from
apprehension of their own danger in the hands of persons so much more
powerful than themselves. But we reserve the subject of cannibalism
for another place, where perhaps it will be shewn that those very
people are not free from this opprobrium of the savage state. The
reader is already aware, that the younger Forster is not to be too
strictly relied on as to his accounts of our species in its rude
condition, more particularly where it is possible, with some stretch
of liberality, to substitute the pleasing dreams of fancy for the
disagreeable realities of truth. - E.
SECTION IX.
A Description of the Country and its Inhabitants; their Manners,
Customs, and Arts.
I shall conclude our transactions at this place with some account of the
country and its inhabitants. They are a strong, robust, active, well-made
people, courteous and friendly, and not in the least addicted to pilfering,
which is more than can be said of any other nation in this sea. They are
nearly of the same colour as the natives of Tanna, but have better
features, more agreeable countenances, and are a much stouter race; a few
being seen who measured six feet four inches. I observed some who had thick
lips, flat noses, and full cheeks, and, in some degree, the features and
look of a negro. Two things contributed to the forming of such an idea;
first, their rough mop heads, and, secondly, their besmearing their faces
with black pigment. Their hair and beards are, in general, black. The
former is very much frizzled, so that, at first sight, it appears like that
of a negro. It is, nevertheless, very different, though both coarser and
stronger than ours. Some, who wear it long, tie it up on the crown of the
head; others suffer only a large lock to grow on each side, which they tie
up in clubs; many others, as well as all the women, wear it cropped short.
These rough heads, most probably, want frequent scratching; for which
purpose they have a most excellent instrument. This is a kind of comb made
of sticks of hard wood, from seven to nine or ten inches long, and about
the thickness of knitting-needles. A number of these, seldom exceeding
twenty, but generally fewer, is fastened together at one end, parallel to,
and near one-tenth of an inch from each other. The other ends, which are a
little pointed, will spread out or open like the sticks of a fan, by which
means they can beat up the quarters of an hundred lice at a time. These
combs or scratchers, for I believe they serve both purposes, they always
wear in their hair, on one side their head. The people of Tanna have an
instrument of this kind for the same use; but theirs is forked, I think,
never exceeding three or four prongs; and sometimes only a small pointed
stick. Their beards, which are of the same crisp nature as their hair, are,
for the most part, worn short. Swelled and ulcerated legs and feet are
common among the men; as also a swelling of the scrotum. I know not whether
this is occasioned by disease, or by the mode of applying the wrapper
before-mentioned, and which they use as at Tanna and Mallicollo. This is
their only covering, and is made generally of the bark of a tree, but
sometimes of leaves. The small pieces of cloth, paper, &c. which they got
from us, were commonly applied to this use.
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