1774-' minted them white with .lime. Their leaders wore a kind
A p r il . ro
f gorget round the neck, or rather on the bread; it confift-
ed of fmall portions of a light wood, like cork, glued together
with gum, in a femicircular form ; a quantity of
fcarlet-beans (abrus precatorius, Linn.J are glued all round it
with the fame gum, forming a great number of rows, of
the length of two or three inches. Thole who were not
pofiefied of this glaring ornament, at leaft wore a firing
round the neck, and fattened it to a piece of fhell, which was
cut and polifhed in the fhape of a large tooth. They were
alfo fond of having bunches of human hair tied on a firing
round their waift, arms, knees., and ancles. Adi thefe ornaments
they freely parted with for a trifling confide rat ion,
except the laft, which rhey valued very highly, though they
were the ufual rettdence of many vermin. It is probable that
thefe bunches of hair were worn in remembrance of their
dead relations, and therefore looked upon with fome veneration
; or elfe they may be the fpoils of their enemies, worn
as the honourable teftimonies of viftory. However a large
nail, or fomething which ftruck their eyes, commonly got
the better of their fcruples.
After we had made thefe obfervations on the people who
furrounded us, we left the beach, and rambled through the
woods at a fhort diftance from captain Cook’s ftation, collecting
feveral plants, of which we had feen the greateft
part at the Society Iflands. As we did not care to advance
far
1 7
far into the country the firft day, we confined ourfelves to jSltl.
the low land, which bordered upon the beach, and which
we found entirely uninhabited. However we met with a
number of fquare compartments among the trees, laid out
with great ftones, moftly of a regular fquare figure; which
we afterwards learnt, were the foundations of their houfes.
It may be conjectured from thence, that thefe places have
been abandoned, on account of fome inconvenience of the
ground •, or that they are only made ufe of at certain fea-
fons. All this part was .deftiiute of plantations, and covered
with foreft-trees, fome of which feemed to, be very
good timber. The natives did not attempt to flop us, and
left us to purfue our walk entirely by ourfelves. A little
hill, covered with long grafs up to our middle, and broken
into a perpendicular wall to the fea, juts forward, and divides
this beach from another to the fouthward. On the
north fide of this hill we found a fine fpriog of clear water,
in the very place where the Spanifli navigators have deferibed
it, which gufhes out of the rock, and is collected in a little
bafon, from whence it flows into the fea. A brook runs
down from the higher hills clofe to i t ; another more con-
fiderable defeends on the middle of the beach, and fupplied
us with water; and again another is to be met with in the
northern corner. This ifland is therefore extremely well
watered ; and the vegetation, as well as the inhabitants,
evidently derive great benefit from it in this hot climate.
V ol. II. D We