his penny for one; as a doubloon is about
the price given for a musket in our regulated
list of charges.
When our brig left Tucopea she brought
away two natives of that island, who had
most earnestly entreated the captain to take
them off) and leave them upon any other land
he pleased, as, according to their statement,
Tucopea was so overstocked with inhabitants
that it was scarcely possible to find subsistence;
and the scarcity of food had become
so general, that parents destroyed their children,
rather than witness their sufferings from
famine. Captain Kent, therefore, from motives
of compassion, received them on board
his ship ; and, not having touched at any inhabited
spot, brought them with him here.
Their extraordinary appearance excited a
great deal of surprise, both among Europeans
and New Zealanders. They appeared simple,
timid creatures, though stout and comely; but
their hair was unlike any thing I had before
beheld, as in length it reached below the
waist, and was so abundantly thick as completely
to conceal their faces. By some
curious chemical process which the natives of
Tucopea have discovered, they render their
hair a bright sulphur colour; and, as this mass
of yellow hangs over their faces and shoulders,
they bear the most striking resemblance to
the lion monkey of the Brazils.
These poor creatures, upon landing, shook
with fear, and trembled greatly when they
beheld the New Zealanders, whose character
for cannibalism had reached even their remote
island: when our friend George went
up to them, and lifted up (in order to examine
closely) the curious mass of hair in
which they were enveloped, they burst into
a passionate fit of tears, and ran up to us for
protection. The New Zealanders, with characteristic
cunning, perceiving the horror they
had created, tormented them still more cruelly,
by making grotesque signs, as if they
were about to commence devouring them ;
and, at the same time (like most savages),
evincing the most sovereign contempt for
. them, from their apparent pusillanimity.
After they had been some days on shore,
we had a very diverting scene with them,