a n i m a l among the natives o f the Marquefas. ■ Th e Eaffer Illanders make
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an ornament hanging on the breaft o f a porpeffe’s. bone, the
O-Taheiteans make faws and various utenfils o f bone, lhark’s teeth,
&c. T h e tails o f the fling ray ( raja pafiinaca) are univerfally
employed to arm the fpears o f the natives j the Mallicolefe point
their arrows with bone; and the inhabitants o f Tierra del Fuego
have fifh gigs armed with jagged bones. A variety o f fheils are
alfo made ufe o f in the tropical ifles, fome are eaten, fome make
necklaces, fome bracelets and fifh hooks, others weights to link
their fifhing lines, and they wear fome mifhapen pearls in their
ears. No t even the coral is without its' ufe, for it is employed to
finooth and polifh the furface of their canoes. T h e N ew -Z e e-
landers living continually on fifh, are glad when they can get a dog
or bird to oat, which with them, always is reckoned a dainty.
Th e y employ the fkins o f dogs for their cloaths, but merely for
convenience, namely, to keep them warm : their ornaments are
however, a comb o f the bone o f fome cetaceous animal, which is
fluck in the hair; andfeathers o f gulls, parrots, & c . the firfi they
wear on their head, the lafl on their battle axes ; laflly, they have fome
ornaments which are taken from the mineral kingdom. Among the tropical
ifles, the natives drefs all their meat oyer the fire, with as much
cleanlinefs and nicety as we could do it ourfelves, fo that the delicate
appearance of their victuals often tempted us to yield to their
invitations,
invitations,, which their hofpitable difpofition never failed to exprefs
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in the rnojl engaging manner. A t New-Zeeland too, the inhabitants
tjiough lefs hofpitable, and more uncleanly, yet drefs their
fifh with, fo much care,, that a man with a good appetite would not
refufe to eat with them. But the-people of Tierra del Fuego
are not only miferable in their appearance, being fcarcc : covered
with a. bit o f feal”s. fkin, but they are likewife highly difguffful in
the manner o f taking their food, which confifls o f raw feals flefh,
almoff putrid, and o f which the rank fat is to their taffe the mod
delicious. part: in other places where feals are more fcarce, they
derive their fubfiflence from the mufcle-fhells, which are common
on the rocks. W e found vaff refrefhment from the animals in the
various countries we met with, and only in a few inffances differed
by eating feme fpecies of fifh. T h e one o f thefe was a Sparus, o f
which three were caught at Mallicollo, the largeft about fifteen
inches long ; about fixteen perfons eat o f thefe three fifh, and found
themfelves affedfced with a prodigious numbnefs, which foon made
them quite giddy, and incapable o f Handing ; they had afterwards
excruciating pains in all their hones, which did not go off till ten
days afterwards, by the continual ufe. o f vomits, and fudorifics.
A hog that eat part of the entrails, dwelled prodigioufly, and died
a few hours.after : feveral dogs .alfo which eat of the offal, lay for
a fortnight in the g.re'ateft agonies, howling and foaming at the
mouth, utterly incapable of Handing on their legs. ' A little
E e favourite;
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