*lWm ^le ear by *ts difcordant founds, but made no pleafing im-
preffion on our minds. It is furprifing that the tafte for
mufic fhould be fo general all over the world, when the
ideas of harmony among different nations are fo diftindt!
Charmed with the pidture of real happincfs, which was
thus exhibited before us, Mr. Hodges filled his port-folio
with feveral fketches, which will convey to future times
the beauties of a fcene, of which words give but a faint
. idea. While he was drawing, all the natives looked on
with great attention, and were highly pleafed to find out
the refemblance between his performances and different
perfons among them. Gur acquaintance with their language,
which we were at great pains to improve; was as
yet very imperfedl, and deprived us of the pleafure which
we might have received from a converfation with thefe
good people. A few feparate* words, and an interlude of
dumb mimickry, was all that we had to fupply the place
of a. coherent fpeech. However, even this was fufficient to
amufe the natives, and our docility and endeavours to pi cafe
feemed to be at leaft as agreeable to them, as their focial:
temper and willingnefs to give inftrudlion appeared to u s .
The old man, without changing his attitude, and continuing
to recline his head on the ftool, afked us feveral little
queftions, fuch as the captain’s name, the name of the
country we came from, how long we fhould flay, whether
we had our wives on board, &c. It feemed that he was
already
2 9 3
already apprifed of all thefe things by common report, but Ao”J;T.
wifhed to have them confirmed from our own mouths.
We fatisfied his curiofity as well as we could on thefe
points, and after diftributing little prefents of beads, medals,
and other trifles to his family, we fet forwards once
more on our excurfion. The many paufes which we made
at the hofpitable huts of the natives, always refrefhed us fo
much, that we felt no manner of inconvenience, and could
with eafe have walked round the whole ifland in the fame
manner. The plain at the foot of the mountains offered
no impediment to our progrefs -, on the contrary, its paths
were well beaten, and its whole furface perfectly level, and
covered in many places with a fine growth of graffes. Not
a Angle noxious animal appeared to deter us, and not even
a gnat or muflcetoe hummed unpleafantly about us, or
made us apprehenfive of its bite. The bread-fruit groves,
with their abundant foliage, intercepted the rays of the
meridian fun, whofe action was greatly mitigated by a
frefh fea-breeze. The inhabitants however, who were
ufed to pafs the middle of the day in repofe, dropt off one
by one in the bufhes, fo that only a few remained with us.
After we had walked about two miles farther to the fouth
eaftward, we came to the fea-fhore at a place where it
formed a little inlet. Here, furrounded on all fides with
plantations, we met with a glade or lawn, in the midft of
which we faw a marai (burying-place) built up of three
ranges