human nature feds an inftindive fatisfadion, and good1
humour and Joy are foon revived in the moli dejeded breaft.
Amidft the difmal fcenes of our voyage, thefe intervening-
moments are remarkably contrafted, and therefore had a
great effed upon us. It is fo natural to dwell upon pleaf-
ing fubjeds, that I hope, I need not apologize for my
frequent defcriptions ; and I muft refer the reader to Mr.
Hodges’s view in the interior parts of Namoka, which will
give an idea of a farm in that ifland. It is engraved and
inferted in captain Cook’s account of this voyage.
The natives, who were happy enough to call tbefe fertile
groves their own, did not appear to me to differ in any
refped from thofe of Tonga-Tabboo, and Ea-oowhe. Their
ftature was middle-fixed, theircolour a bright chefnut brown,
and their whole body well-proportioned, without being cor-
pulenr. Their pundures, their drefs, the cuftoms of clipping
the beard, and powdering , the hair, their arms, utenfils, and
canoes, their language and manners were exadly fuch as
we had noticed at Tonga-Tabboo. But in the fliort time
which we Raid on their ifland, we could not obferve any
fubordination among them, though this had ftrongly cha-
raderifed the natives of Tonga-Tabboo, who feemed to
defcend even to fervil'ity in their obeifanee to their king.
At Namoka we could not diftinguiffi any perfons of fuperior
rank or authority, unlefs we except the man, whom our
failors called a Cuftom-houfe officer, and who ihfpeded all
diethe
canoes which came to the fhip. The woman who fent
for the ftolen things, appeared alfo to have fome fway
among them; and fince there is reafon to fuppofe, that
women whofe hair are allowed to grow long, have fome
prerogatives above the reft in the South Sea *, Mr. Patton s.
friendly benefadrefs feems, to have been a lady of a fuperior
clafs, which her whole deportment confirmed. She
was the only woman with long hair whom we faw on the
ifland. I am far from concluding that the people of Namoka
have no fixed government ; on the contt ary, their
vicinity and fimilarity to other iflanders, amongft whom a
monarchical government takes place, and the example of
all the other iflanders of the South Sea which former navigators
have examined, give the greateft room to fuppofe
the fame exifting there. The general coincidence of their
manners with thofe of Tonga-Tabboo, ftrongly prove that
they have the fame origin, and probably the fame religious,
notions ; but notwithftanding this agreement, I never found
a fayetooka or burying-place, during my rambles upon Namoka
nor did any one of our Ihipmates meet with a place
in any wife refembling the burying-places which we found,
at Tonga-Tabboo,
It appears, from the accounts of former voyagers,, that
between the meridians of 1 7 o° eaft from Greenwich,, and.
1774* J u n e ».
See vol. I . p. 327..
iiSa*