L I E U T E N A N T C O O K ’S V O Y A G E
the-place where Tupia and the reft of our people were fitting;
Tupia foon prevailed upon them to lay down their arms, and
come forward without them: he then made figns that they
Ihould fit down by him, with which they complied, and
feemed to be under no apprehenfion or conftraint: feveral
more of us then going afhore, they exprefled fome jealoufy
left we Ihould get between them and their arms ; we took
care however to fhew them that we had no fuch intention,
and having joined them, we made them fome more pre-
fents, as a farther teftimony of our good-will, and our defire
to obtain theirs. We continued together, with the utmoft
cordiality, till dinner time, and then giving them to under-
ftand that we were going to eat, we invited them, by figns,
to go with u s : this however they declined, and as foon as
we left them, they went away in their canoe. One of thefe
men was fomewhat above the middle age, the other three
were young; they were in general of the common ftature,
but their limbs were remarkably fmall; their fkin was of
the colour of wood foot, or what would be called a dark chocolate
colour; their hair was black, but not woolly ; it was
fliort cropped, in fome lank, and in others curled. Dampier
fays, that the people whom he faw on the weftern caaft of
this country, wanted two of their fore-teeth, but thefe had
no fuch defect: fome part of their bodies had been painted
red, and the upper lip and breaft of one of them was painted
with ftreaks of white, which he called Carbanda; their features
were far from difagreeable, their eyes were lively, and
their teeth even and white, their voices were- foft and tuneable,
and they repeated many words after us with great facility.
In the night, Mr. Gore and the Matter returned with
the long-boat, and brought one turtle and a few Ihell-fifh.
The yawl had been left upon the flioal with fix men, to
make a farther trial for turtle,
r o u n d t h e w o r l d . 171
The next morning, we had another vifit from four of
natives; three of them had been with its before, but
fourth was a ftranger, whofe name, as we learnt from
companions who introduced him, was Y aparico. This
gentleman was diftinguilhed by an ornament of a very linking
appearance: it was the bone of a bird, nearly as thick
as a man’s finger, and five or fix inches long, which he had
thruft into a hole, made in the griftlq that divides the
noftrils; of this we had feen one inftance, and only one, in
New Zealand ; but upon examination, we found that among
all thefe people this part of the nofe was perforated, to receive
an ornament of the fame kind : they had alfo holes in
their ears, though nothing was then hanging to them, and
had bracelets upon the upper part of their arms, made of
plaited hair, fo that, like the inhabitants of Terra del Fuego,
they feem to be fond o f »ornament, though they are abfo-
lutely without apparel; and one of them, to whom I had
given part of „an,old Hurt, inftead of throwing it over any
part of his body, tied it as a fillet round his head. They
brought with them a fifh, which they gave us, as we fup-
pofed, in return for the fifh that we had given them the day
before. They feemed to be much pleafed, and in no hafte
to leave us, but feeing fome of our gentlemen examine their
canoe with great curiofity and attention, they were alarmed,
and jumping immediately into it, paddled away without
fpeaking a word.
About two the next morning, the yawl, which had been Thurfdayi2.
left upon the fhoal, returned, with three turtles and a: large
fkeat. As it feemed now probable that this fifhery.might be
profecuted with advantage, I fent her out again, after break-
fad, fpr a further fupply. Soon after, three Indians ventured
down to Tupia’s tent, and were fo well pleafed with
their reception, that one of them went with the canoe to
Y 2 fetch