1 7 7 4 - D ec ember . of them had difguifed themfelves with ftreaks of ted paint,
and fo me times, though feldom, with white ; from whence
it- (hould feem evident, that the ideas of ornament are of
a, more ancient date with mankind, than thofe of {hams
and modefty. The women were nearly- formed as the men,
though fomewhat lefs in ftature ; their features were not
lefs uncouth and ugly, and their drefs exactly the fame.
They had only added atfmall piece of feal-fkin, not fo large
as the palm, of the hand, which, hung down before, fixed
to a firing, which was tred-abo.ut the waifi. Round their
necks they wore leather firings, on which they had hung
a number-of Ihells ; and-on their heads they had a kind of
bonnet,, confifting of a few white qjaill feathers of geefe,
which they occafionally- placed upright on the head, by that
means giving them a refemblance to the French head-dreffes
of the laft century There was but a fingle perfon among
them, who had afmall piece of a guanaco’s flrin fewed on
his-feal-fkin, to lengthen it. The children were perfectly
naked, and, like their mothers, huddled about the fire in
each canoe, fhivering continually with cold, and rarely uttering
any other word than pejftray, which fometimes founded
like a word of endearment, and fometimes feemed to be
the exprelfion of complaint. Thofe of the men who had
come on-deck, fpoke a few other words, which, contained
many; confonants and gutturals, particularly the U of the
Fontanges i
Welch j
Welch; and all feemed to lifp very ftrongly, which contributed
to make them’wholly unintelligible. They accepted
trifles, fuch as beads, without feemirig to value them, but
at the fame time they alfo gave away their own arms, or
even their ragged feal-fkins, without the leaft concern ;
their whole character being the ftrangeft compound of ftur-
pidity,' indifference, and inadfivity. They had no other
arms than bows and arrows ; the former were made of a
kind of berberry wood, very finall and ill-fhaped; and the
latter of a different wood, between two and three feet long,
feathered at one end, and not pointed. The points are put
on occafionally, and they carried them in little feal-fkin
fatchels, and parted only with a fingle one, which was a
wretched irregular triangle of black (late. Befides thefe
they have fifh-gigs, of which the ftaffs are. about ten feet
long, of equal thicknefs, but angular inftead of being round,
and provided at one end with a fharp bone about a . foot
long, which has a fingle barb on one fide, and is occafion.-
ally tied on. Thefe inftruments they employ to take fliells
from the rocks, according to the accounts of former voyagers
*. All thofe geftures, which the moft: wretched nation
in the South Sea had eafily underftood, were made to
them in vain ; they feemed not to have the moft diftant
idea of teaching us their language, and having probably
See.Hawkefworth, vol. II. p. 56-.
1774-
D ecember,