the fea does not contibute to feed the inhabitants, the country
is not inhabited.
The only tribe with which we had any intercourfe, we
found where the ftiip was careened; iteonfifted of one and
twenty perfons; twelve men, feven women, one boy, and
one g ir l: the women we never faw but at a diftance ; for
when the men came over the river they were always left behind.
The men here, and in other places, were of a middle
fize, and in general well made, clean limbed, and remarkably
vigorous, adtive, and nimble: their countenances were
not altogether without expreffion, and their voices were remarkably
foft and effeminate.
Their fkins were fo uniformly covered with dirt, that it
was very difficult to afcertain their true colour: we made
feveral attempts, by wetting our fingers and rubbing it, to
remove the incruftations, but with very little effedl. With
the dirt they appear nearly as black as a Negroe; and according
to our bell difcoveries, the fkin itfelf is of the colour
of wood foot, or what is commonly called a chocolate colour.
Their features are far from being difagreeable, their nofes
are not flat, nor are their lips thick; their teeth are white
and even, and their hair naturally long and black, it is however
univerfally cropped fhort; in general it is ftrait, but
fometimes it has a flight curl; we faw none that was not
matted and filthy, though without oil or greafe, and to out-
great aftonilhment free from lice. Their beards were of the
fame colour with their hair, and bufhy and thick : they are
not however fuffered to grow long. A man whom we had
feen one day with his beard fomewhat longer than his companions,
we faw the next, with it fomewhat fhorter, and
upon examination found the ends of the hairs burnt: from
this incident, and our having never feen any fharp inftrui
ment
ment among them, we concluded that both ° the hair and the A]u7g)7i° it-.
beard were kept fhort by fingeing them. e— ,—
Both fexes, as I have already obferved, go ftark naked,
and feem to have no more fenfe of indecency in difcovering
the whole body, than we have in difcovering our hands and
face. Their principal ornament is the bone which they
thruft through the cartilage that divides the noftrils from
each other: what perverfion of tafte could make them think
this a decoration, or what could prompt them, before they
had worn it or feen it worn, to fuffer the pain and inconvenience
that mud of neceflity attend it, is perhaps beyond
the power of human fagacity to determine: as this bone is
as thick as a man’s finger, and between five and fix inches
long, it reaches quite acrofs the face, and fo effectually ftop3
up both the noftrils that they are forced to, keep their
mouths wide open for breath, and fnuffle fo when they attempt
to fpeak, that they are fcarcely: intelligible even to
each other. Our feamen, with fome humour, called it their
fpritfail-yard ; and indeed it had fo ludicrous an appearance,
that till we were ufed to it, we found it difficult to refrain
from laughter. Befide this nofe-jewel, they had necklaces,
made of fhells, very neatly cut and ftrung together ; bracelets
of fmall cord, wound two or three times about the upper
part of their arm, and a firing of plaited human hair
about as thick as a thread of yarn, tied round the waift. Befides.
thefe, fome of them had gorgets of fhells hanging round the
neck, fo as to reach erofs the breaft. But though shefe-people
wear no clothes, their bodies have a- covering, befides the
dirt, for they paint them both white and red: the red is
commonly laid on in broad patches upon the fhoulders and
breaft; and the white in ftripes, fome narrow, and fome;
broad: the narrow were drawn over the limbs, and the broad
over the body, not without fome degree of tafte.. The whitewas;
I