ipo. quently thruft out to an incredible length, and the eye-lids
—v—L-i fo forcibly drawn up that the white appears both above and
below, as well as on each fide of the iris, fo as to form a
circle round i t ; nor is any thing negledted that can render
the human fhape frightful and deformed: at the fame time
they brandifh their fpears, Ihake their darts, and cleave the
air with their Patoo-Patoos. This horrid dance is always
accompanied by a fong; it is wild indeed, but not difagree-
able, and every ftrain ends in a loud and deep figh, which
they utter in concert. In the motions of the dance, however
horrid, there is a ftrength, firmnefs, and agility, which-we
could not but behold with admiration; and in their fong
they keep time with fuch exacftnefs, that1 Phave often heard
above an hundred paddles ftruck againft the iides of their
boats at once, fo as 'to produce but a fingle found, at the
divifions of their mufic.
A fong not altogether unlike this, they fometimes fing
without the dance, and as a peaceable amufement : they
have alfo other fongs which are fung by the women, whofe
voices are remarkably mellow and foft, and have a pleafing
and tender effedt; the time is flow, and the cadence mournful
; but it is conducted with more tafte than could be ex-
pefted among the poor ignorant favages of this half defolate
country; efpecially as it appeared to us; who were none of
us much acquainted with muflc as a fcience, to be fung in
parts; it was at leaft fung by many voices at the fame time.
They have fonorous inftruments, but they can fcarcely be
called inftruments of mufic; one is the fhell, called the Triton’s
trumpet, with which they make a noife not unlike that
which our boys fometimes make with a cow’s horn: the
other is a fmall wooden pipe, refembling a child’s nine-pin,
only much fmaller, and in this there is no more mufic than
in
in a pea-whiftle. They feem fenfible indeed that thefe inftruments
are not mufical; for we never heard an attempt to
fing to them, or to produce with them any meafured tones
that bore the leaft refemblance to a tune.
To what has been already faid of the praftice of eating
human flefh, I fhall only add, that in almoft every
cove where we landed, we found flefh bones of men near the
places where fires had been made; and that among the heads
that were brought on board by the old man, fome feemed
to have falfe eyes, and ornaments in their ears as if alive.
That which Mr. Banks bought was fold with great reluctance
by the pofleflbr: the head was manifeftly that of a
young perfon about fourteen or fifteen years of age, and by
the contufions on one fide appeared to have received many
violent blows, and indeed a part of the bone near the eye
was wanting. Thefe appearances confirmed us in the opinion
that the natives of this country give no quarter, nor
take any prifoners to be killed and eaten at .a future time, as
is faid to have been a practice among the Indiansof Florida :
for if prifoners had been taken, this poor young creature,
who cannot be fuppofed capable of making much refiftance,
would probably have been one, and we knew that he was
killed with the reft, for the fray had happened but a few
days before.
The towns or Hippahs of thefe people, which are all fortified,
have been fufficiently defcribed already, and from the
Bay of Plenty to Queen Charlotte’s Sound they feem to be
the conftant refidence of the people: but about Poverty Bay,
Hawke’s Bay, Tegadoo, and Tolaga, we faw no Hippahs, but
fingle houfes fcattered at a diftance from each other; yet
upon the fides of the hills there were ftages of a great length,
furnifhed with ftones and darts, probably as retreats for the
V ol. III. I people
65
1770, march*