A Surprise As
Great As That Which The Young Male Black Had Shown Concerning The Boat,
Was Manifested By The Younger Woman In A Pair Of Gloves.
The weather
being cold, a fire was lit, when one of the sailors, approaching it to
warm himself, took off a pair of fur gloves which he was wearing.
"The
young woman, at the sight of that action, gave forth such a loud cry that
we were at first alarmed; but we were not long in recognising the cause
of her fright. We saw, from her expressions and gestures, that she had
taken the gloves for real hands, or at least for a kind of living skin,
that could be taken off, put in the pocket, and put on again at will. We
laughed much at that singular error; but we were not so much amused at
what the old man did a little later with a bottle of arack. As it
contained a great part of our drink, we were compelled to take it from
him, which he resented so much that he went off with his family, in spite
of all I could do to detain them longer."
At Bruni Island, Peron and a party of his compatriots had an adventure
with a party of twenty native women. He did not find them charming. All
were in the condition in which Actaeon saw Diana, when "all undrest the
shining goddess stood," though they did not, when discovered, glow with:
"such blushes as adorn
The ruddy welkin or the purple morn."
Indeed, they appeared to be quite unaware that there was anything
remarkable about their deficiency of clothing.
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