a r t s being degraded by them, that even' the Princefles o f the blood
AND Royal think it not derogatory to their rank to exhibit their ik ill
in dancing before a crouded audience o f their father’s o r brother's
fubjefts ; and the a&ors were fome o f the Ham or attendants upoik
the King. W e hardly met with a Angle per&n, -who was net able-
to ling a. tune 3 and on all occafions the women fubfervientto the
pleafures o f our feilors, were finging their own extempore compo-
fitions- W e had no opportunity o f forming a judgment o f the*
danceswr drama o f the other iflands in the South Sea;. as our ftayr
among them was-too« Ihort,. and the, knowledge o f their, refpedtive
languages too imperfefK
I cannot leave this fubjeft without mentioning that the N ew -
Zeelanders uled likewife to exhibit to us their war-fong, wh ich
was begun by one o f them, and accompanied with violent dampings,,
motions, and gefhires,, and the br-andithing o f their,battle-axes;,
atthe end. o f every ftanza o f the fong, was a kind o f burden, wh ich
was fung by the whole band o f warriors in chorus, w ith the loudeft
and m oll dreadful, vociferations ;. which- gradually worked.them up
to a kind o f phrenzy, the only, date o f mind in which they fight.
In Q -T ah a I faw a funeral ceremony performed, wherein dancing
was exhibited by three fmall girls, with occafional. interludes by
three men. Between the aids the friends and relations (H ea-b'iddee)
appeared drefied, in pairs, at the entrance o f the houfe, hut earner
n ot
not in ; and'afterwards the whole place, about thirty feet long and
eight feet wide was fpread with cloth, which, was afterwards
given to the drummers. I could Hot learn any other particulars
relative to the meaning or tendency o f this ceremony, except that
it is not uncommon to celebrate the funerals o f people of fome:
rank by the rounds * o f the chief-mourner, drefied in the Heva,,.
( defcribed before p. 450, & c . &c. ) and likewife by a dramatic:
performance, accompanied as cuftomary, by dances-and fongs,.
T h e knowledge o f sciences,, as far. as they are cultivated, a t
Taheitee and its neighbourhood, lies no doubt, in a very fmall.
compafs, i f compared with ours 3 but i t is fufheient. to give them
a great pre-eminence above the inhabitants of the other ifies, and,
contributes in fome meafure to their greater happmefe, whether in-
procuring more enjoyment, or in. averting thofe. evils which are.
the confcquonces o f ignorance and fiupidity. Medicine3 Hijiory,
Geography, Afironcimy, Navigation, and Divinity, are almoft the:,
only fciences o f which: the Taheiteans have fome ideas-
T h e nations, o f the South-Sea-Ifles generally, enjoy a perfect ftate.
® f health, and w e f e w many of them, who had attained to old age,.
for we obferved grey and even white hairs on. their heads-; and all.
the fymptoms and.attendants, o f old age*3 though I muff confeis,,
they
^ H-awke-fWortfej. v©l- ii» g*