He Met Us At
The Landing-Place, And Would Have Conducted Us To His House, Had We Not
Excused Ourselves.
We therefore were seated on the grass, where we spent
about half an hour in the midst of a vast crowd of people.
After making the
chief a present, consisting of various articles, and an assortment of
garden-seeds, I gave him to understand that we were going away, at which he
seemed not at all moved. He, and two or three more, came into our boat, in
order to accompany us on board; but seeing the Resolution under sail, he
called to a canoe to put alongside, into which he and his friends went, and
returned on shore. While he remained in our boat, he continued to exchange
fish-hooks for nails, and engrossed the trade in a manner wholly to
himself; but, when on shore, I never saw him make the least exchange.
[1] "There appeared to be some low land at the bottom of the hills,
which contained plantations of fine young bananas, whose vivid green
leaves contrasted admirably with the different tints of various
shrubberies, and with the brown colour of the cocoa-palms, which
seemed to be the effect of winter. The light was still so faint, that
we distinguished several fires glimmering in the bushes, but by
degrees we likewise discerned people running along the shore. The
hills which were low, and not so high above the level of the sea as
the Isle of Wight, were agreeably adorned with small clumps of trees
scattered at some distance, and the intermediate ground appeared
covered with herbage, like many parts of England."-G.F.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 322 of 885
Words from 86989 to 87267
of 239428
