ward night feveral large canoes came off to us, filled with people, armed with a
variety of weapons j they paddled round the fhip, finging and dancing j fometimes
grinning, and then threatening: we trafficked with them for fome things j but
they went off with fome others, meaning to take an advantage of us. While
they were partying among themfelves we fired federal muikets at them, loaded
with fmall ¿hot, which they attempted to ikreen themfelves from with their ahavos,1
or cloaks. We fired again, and fplintered one of their canoes, which feemed to
alarm them much, and they paddled away from us as fail as poifible, till they
thought themfelves out of our reach, and then they flopped and threatened ysj
but we fired a great gun, which fo.thoroughly difconcerted them, that they made
the befl of their way to the fhore. Thefe people were much like them we had feen
heretofore, excepting that they were more tataowed : moil of them had the figure
of volutes on their lips, and feveral had their legs, thighs, and part of their bellies,
marked. One woman, in particular, was very curioufly tataowed. The tataow
upon their faces vvas not done in fpirals, but in different figures from what we had
ever feen before.
On the 26th, many canoes vifited us. The people in them were much the fame
as the former. They had a variety of things on board, and about them, but
were loth to part with any of them excepting fiih, of which we obtained a large
quantity.
The coail we failed along this day, was generally barren, and broke into a
number of fmall iflands, among which we prefumed there might be fafe and good
anchorage. We had calm andpleafant weather.
On the 27th, we were among a parcel of fmall broken iflands, which we. called
the Poor Knights j and many canoes came along fide of us, but the people in them
Teemed to be half mad. We afked them for fome fifh, and they took them up by
handfuls and threw them at us, not regarding whether they had any thing from
us in return : more canoes coming up, they began to behave very rudely, and
heaved ftones at us. One man, in particular, moreadive than the reft, took up
a flick and threw it atone of our men on the taffel. A muiket loaded with fmall
(hot was fired at him, upon which he clapped his hands to his face and fell flat in
the*