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.
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