m k : ; a T O Y A G E
apd tapered gradually to the end. The chief bulk of thjs animal is behind ; the.
belly being largeft, and the back riling toward the pofteriors. The whole body
is covered with ihort alh-coloured hair ; and the fleih of it tailed like a hare’s»
but has .a more agreeable flavour.
Mr. Banks found, in the woods, an Opoflum*> with two young ones fucking
at her breads.
There were many alligators on the coaft, fome of them very large, and we frequently
faw them fwimming round the ihip.
We found alfo feveral forts of fnakes, ant*., and a finall culpx, or fly, which is
not bigger than a grain of fand ; the bite or fling of which was venomous, and
caufed protuberances on the ikin, which itched violently.
O f fiih, we found many diffèrent forts, and a variety of beautiful ihell-fifli;
among them three forts of oyfters; fome were found in lagoons ; fome adhering
tp the mangrove j and others along the ihore : large çavalhe, or feomber ; large
mullets, fome flat-fiih, a great number of fmall icornbru and flcate or ray-filh ;
one of which, that we caught, was curioufly marked on the back with polygons
finely coloured 5 and another of an orbicular figure, with a blue grey-coloured
back, and white belly, which, tailed like veal ; fome other parts like beef; and
the entrails as agreeable as turtle, We caught alfo turtles of a bright green colour,
fome of which weighed near four hundred pounds-f\
The natives, who were naked, though of a diminutive fi;se, ran very fwiftly,
and were very merry and; facetious. Their bones were fo fmall, that I could more
than fpan their ancles,; and their arms too, above the elbow joint. The
talleft we faw meafured but five feet nine inches ; though their flimnefs made
• T h is creature bas a membraneous bag near the ftomach in- w hich it conceals an d carries its
young when it is apprehenfive of danger.
t O n opening a turtle th at w e caught we found part of a wooden lance in it, which had gone in b y
the breaft before the calapee.
them
them appear taller, moil of them were’ about five1 feet five-inches; and were
painted with red and whiteiti Various -figures* Thè colour of thèir fkitl was'
like -that of woòd-fdot-. Thèy had flattilh nofes» mtfdéi-aÉé-iizèd iflèuihés, règ'u-
lar well-fet large teeth, tinged with yellow. Moil of them had Cut off the
hair from their heads ; but fome of them wore their hair, which was curled and
buihy, and. their beards frizzled... On their breafls and hips were correfpopding
marks like ridge?, or feams, raifed above the reft of the fleih, which looked'like the
cicatrices of ill-healed wounds. Some of them were painted with red ftreaks acrofs
the body, and others ftreaked over the face with white-, which they called Car^
banda. Some of them had a fmall hair-rope about, their loins, and one about an
arm, made of human, hair. They had alfo a bag that hung by their necks, which
they carried ihell-fifh in. Their nofes had holes bored in them, through which
they drew a piece of white bone about three or five inches long, and two round.
[See pi. XXVI. fig. 13. and pi. XXVII.] One of them had his ears bpred in like1
manner, and pieces of bone hung in them. Some of them had necklaces made
of oval pieces of bright ihells, which' lay imbricated over one another, and linked
together by two firings. The worhen, who did not approach nearer to us' than
the oppofite ihore, had feathers fluck on the crown of their heads, faftened, as
we were informed, to a piécè of gum.
They had lances and levers, very neatly made of a reddifli wood ; and had twor
pieces of bone, joined together with pitch, that flood out at the end of them.
To poliih their lances they made ufe of the ficus riduola, which ferved the pur--
pofe of a rafp. Their canoes were made out of the trunks of trees ; had an out-*
rigger; and eight outriggers ,&n which they laid their lances. Their paddles'
were long in the blade. To throw the water out of their canoes, they ufed a large
£hell called the Periian-crown. .
Their language was not harfti, as may be ieen by the following vocabulary^
and they articulated their words very diftindlly, though, in fpeaking, they . made
a great motion with their lips, and uttered their words vociferoufly» efpeeialJy when
they meant to (hew their diffént or difapprobation^ When they .were pleafed»
and would manifeft approbation» they faid Hee, with a long flexion of the voice,
U I in