AprU •' that near it were depofited lone inftruments of war,
‘ ~~ -~s— 1 an<^ other things, which he would particularly have ex-
amined but for the ■ flench of the body, which was intolerable.
He faid, that he faw alfo two more fheds of the
fame kind, in one of which were the bones of a human
body that had lain till they were quite dry. We difeovered
afterwards, that this was the way in which they ufually dif-
pofed of their dead.
A kind of market now began to be kept juft without the
lines» and was plentifully fnpplied with every thing but
pork. Tubourai Tamaide was our conftantgueft, imitating
our manners, even to the ufing of a knife and fork,
which he did very handily.
As my curiofity was excited by Mr. Monkhoufe’s account
o f the fituation of the man who had been fhot, I took an opportunity
to go with fome others to fee it. I found the Ihed
under which his body lay, clofe by the houfe in -which he
refided when he was alive, fontc others being not more than
ten yards diftant; it was about 15 feet long, and 11 broad,
and of a proportionable height: one end was wholly open,
and the other end, and the two fides, were partly enclofed
with a kind o f wicker work. The bier on which the corps
was depofited, was a frame of wood like that in which the
fea beds, called cotts, are placed, with a matted bottom, and
fupported by four pofts, at the height o f about five feet from
the ground. The body was covered firft with a matt, and
then with white cloth; by the fide of it lay a wooden mace,
one of their weapons of war, and near the head of it, which
lay next to the clofe end of the fhed, lay two cocoa nut-fhells,
fuch as are fometimes ufed to carry water in ; at the other
■ end a bunch of green leaves, with fome dried twigs, all
■ tiedtogether, wereftuck-in the ground, by which lay aftone
about
about as big as a cocoa-nut: near thefe lay one of the young *7&9-
nlantain trees, which are ufed for emblems of * peace, and W'--ed--ne«-f.- -ig-.'
clofe by it a {tone ax. At the open end of the fhed alfo hung,
in feveral firings, a great number of palm-nuts, and without
the filed, was ftuck upright in the ground, the Item of a
plantain tree about five feet high, upon the top of which
was placed a cocoa-nut-fliell full of frefh water: againft the
fide o f one of the pofts hung a fmall bag, containing a few
pieces of bread-fruit ready roafted, which were not all put in
at the fame time, for fome o f them were frefh, and others
ftale. I took notice that feveral of the natives obferved us
with a mixture o f folicitude and jealoufy in their countenances,
and1 by their geftures exprefled uneafinefs when we
went near the body, Handing themfelves at a little diftance
while we were making our examination, and appearing to-
be pleafed when we came away.
Our refidence on ftiore would by no means have been disagreeable
if we had not been inceflantly tormented by the
flies, which, among other mifehief, made it almoft impoffible
for Mi. Parkinfon, Mr. Banks’s natural hiftory painter, to
work ; for they not only covered’ his fubjeci fo as that no
part of its furface could be feen, but even eat the colour
off the paper as faft as he could lay it on. We had re-
eourfe to mufquito nets and fly-traps, which, though th e y
made th e inconvenience tolerable, were very far from re--
moving it.
On the 22d, Tootahah gave us afpe cimen of the mufic Saturday«,
of this country; four perfons performed upon flutes which
had only two flops, and therefore could not found more than
four notes, by half tones : they were founded like our German
flutes,-except that the performer, inftead of applying it
to