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.
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