4 98
177+.
D ecem ber .
Sunday *5.-
During our abfenee Some of the natives; in four Small'
canoes, had vifited the fhip; they were defcribed to us as
wretched and poor, but inoffenfive, and ready to part with
their fpears, feal-lkins, and the like. We now regretted
that we had loft the opportunity of feeing them, but fortunately
they returned the next morning, though the weather,
was rainy. The four canoes in which they came were
made of the bark of trees, which could hardly have grown
in this found, on account of their fize. Several fmall flicks
are the ribs which diftend this bark, and another flick,
forms the gunwale, over which they have wrapped the ex-
tremity of the bark, and fewed.it on. A few flones, with a
fmall quantity of earth, are laid in the bottom of each)
canoe, and on this the natives keep a conftant fire. Their,
paddles are fmall, and rudely formed, and they work very'
flowly with them. Each canoe contained from five to eight,
perfons, including children, who, contrary to the cuftom o f
all the nations in the South Sea, were very filent in their approach
to the fhip, and when along fide, hardly pronounced:
any other word than pejfkray. Thofe whom M. de Bougainville;
faw in the Strait of Magelhaens, not far from hence, ufed1
the fame word, from whence he gave them the general name
of Pecherais. We beckoned to them to come into the fhip,.
and fome accepted the invitation, though without the leaff
fign of being pleafed, and feemingly without the fmallelf
degree of curiofity. Their perfons were fhort, not exceeding;
ling five feet fix inches at moft, their heads large, the face
broad, the cheek-bones very prominent, and the nofe very
flat. They had little brown eyes, without life; their hair
was black and lank, hanging about their heads in disorder,
and befmeared with train-oil On the chin they had
a few ftraggling fhort hairs inftead of a beard, and from their
nofe there was a conftant difcbarge of mucus into their ugly
■ open mouth. The whole aflemblage of their features
formed the moft loathfome picture of mifery and wretched-
nefs to which human nature can polfibly be reduced. Mr.
JHodges made a moft excellent drawing of One of the men,
which is extremely charadteriftic, and the print which Mr.
Bafire has executed after it, for captain Cook’s account of
this voyage, is a proof of his confummate fkill. The fhoul-
ders and cheft were broad and bony, but the reft of the figure
was So thin and fhrivelled, that to have feen it Separate,
we could not have fuppofed it belonged to the
fame perfon. Their legs were lean and bowed, and their
knees disproportionately large. They had no other clothing
than a fmall piece of old feal-fkin, which hung from their
Shoulders to the middle of the back, being fattened round
the neck with a firing. The reft of their body was perfectly
naked, not the leaft regard being paid to what Europeans
would term decency. Their natural colour appeared
to be an olive-brown, with a kind of glofs, which
has really fome refemblance to that of copper ; but many
S s s a of
liü