[2] "We Threw A Rope Into One Of These Canoes Which Ran Up Close To
Us, And One Of The
Three people in her came on board, and presented a
root of the intoxicating pepper-tree of the South Sea
Islands, touched
our noses with his like the New Zealanders, in sign of friendship, and
then sat down on the deck without speaking a word. The captain
presented him with a nail, upon which he immediately held it over his
own head, and pronounced fagafetei, which was probably an expression
of thanksgiving. He was naked to the waist, but from thence to the
knees he had a piece of cloth wrapped about him, which seemed to be
manufactured much like that of Otaheite, but was covered with a brown
colour, and a strong glue, which made it stiff, and fit to resist the
wet. His stature was middle-sized, and his lineaments were mild and
tolerably regular. His colour was much like that of the common
Otaheiteans, that is, of a clear mahogany or chesnut brown; his beard
was cut short or shaven, and his hair was black, in short, frizzled
curls, burnt as it were at the tops. He had three circular spots on
each arm, about the size of a crown-piece, consisting of several
concentric circles of elevated points, which answered to the punctures
of the Otaheiteans, but were blacker; besides these, he had other
black punctures on his body. A small cylinder was fixed through two
holes in the loop of his ear, and his left hand wanted the little
finger.
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