fouth weft: fide of it, which we judged to be about four
leagues in length, and foon perceived not only that it was
inhabited, but very populous ; for prefemdy after the fhip
came in fight, we Caw at leaf! a thoufand o f the natives
aflEtnbled upon the beach, and in a very fhort time more
ithan fixty canoes, or rather proas, put off from the fhore,
and made towards us. We lay by to receive them, and
they were very foon ranged in a circle round us. Thefe vef-
fels were very neatly made, and fo clean that they appeared
to he quite new: none o f them had fewer than three perfons
on board, nor any o f them more Chan fix. After thefe
Indians had gazed at us fome time, one o f them fuddenly
jumped out of hi6 proa, fwam to the fhip, and ran up the
fide like a cat: as foon as he had ftepped over the gunwale,
he fat down upon it, and bui'ft into a violent fit o f laughter,
then ftarted up, and ran all over the fhip, attempting to
ileal whatever he could la y his hands upon, but without
fuccefs, for being flark naked, it was impoflible to conceal
his booty for a moment. Our feamen put on him a jacket
and trowfers, which produced great merriment, for he had
all the geftures o f a monkey newly .drefied: w e alfo gave
him bread, which he eat with a voracious appetite, and
afterhaving played a thoufand antic tricks, he leaped overboard,
jacket .and trowfers and all, and fwam back again to
his proa,; after this fevcral others fwam to the fhip, ran up
the fide^af the gun-room ports,and having.crept in, fnatched
up whatever :lay in their reach, and immediately leaped
again into ithe :fea, and fwam away at a great rate, though
fame o f them, .having borhlhands full, -held up their arms
quite out.of the water, to prevent their plunder from being
fpoifed. Thefe people are tall, well proportioned, and cleanlimbed
: -their fkin is a b right copper colour, their features
are extremely good, and there is a mixture o f intrepidity
v ■ and
and chearfulnefs in their countenances that is very finking.
They have long black hair, which fome o f them wore tied ■ j
up behind in a great bunch, others in three knots: fome of
them had long beards, fome only whifker*, and fome nothing
more than a fmall tuft at the point o f the chin. They were
all of them flark naked, except their ornaments, which confided
o f fhel'ls, very prettily difpofed and fining together,
and were worn rotlnd their necks, wafts, and waifts: all
their ears were bored, but they had no ornaments in them
•when we faw them: fuch ornaments as they wear, when
.they wear any, .are probably very heavy, for their ears hang
clown almoft to their fhouldets, and fome o f them were
.finite fplit through. One of thefe men, who appeared to be a
perfon o f fome confequence, had a firing o f human teeth
«.bout his waift, which was probably a trophy of his military
prowefs, for he would not part with it in exchange for any
thing that I could offer him. Some o f them were unarmed,
but; others had one o f the moft dangerous weapons I had
sever feen: it was a kind o f fpear, very broad at the end, and
ftuck full o f fhark’s teeth, which are as fharp as a lancet, at
the fides,. for about three feet of its length. We fhewed
them fome cocoa-nuts, and made figns that we wanted
more; but inftead o f giving any intimation that they could
fupply us, they endeavoured to take away thofe we had.
I font out the boats to found foon after we brought to off the
ifland, and when they came back, they reported that there
was ground at the depth of thirty fathom, within two cables’
length o f the fhore; but as the bottom was coral rock, and
thefoundings much too near the breakers for a fhip to lie in
fafety, I was obliged again to make fail, without procuring
any refrefhments for the lick. This ifland, to which my
officers gave the name o f Byron’s Island, lies in lati- Byron’a
Vol. I, tude