5 2 4

CAPTAIN COOK’S FIRST VOYAGE.

came off, and brought hogs, fowls, and plantains, which were purchafed upon verymoderate terms.

Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander went on fhore, and fpent the day very agreeably ; thenatives {hewing them great refpedt. Being conduced to the houfes of the chief people,they were received in an uncommon manner. Upon their entrance into a houfe, theyfound thofe who had ran hadily before them, {landing on each fide of a long mat,fpread upon the ground, and the family fitting at the further end of it. In one houfethey obferved fome very young girls, dreffed in the neated manner, who kept theirplaces, waiting for the ftrangers to accoft them: thefe girls were the moll beautiful thegentlemen had ever feen.

Before their departure they were entertained with a dance, different from any theyhad feen before. The performer put upon his head a large piece of wicker-work,about four feet long, of a cylindrical form, covered with feathers, and edged roundwith fhark’s teeth. Having this head-drefs on, which is called a Whou, he began todance with a flow motion, frequently moving his head, fo as to defcribe a circle withthe top of his wicker cap, and fometimes throwing it fo near the faces of the bye-ftanders, as to make them jump back ; this they confidered as an excellent piece ofhumour, and it always produced a hearty laugh, when pra&ifed upon any of the Englilhgentlemen.

On the 3d, they faw another company of dancers, confiding of fome of the prin-cipal people of the ifland. The women’s necks, breads, and arms, were naked; theother parts of the body were covered with black cloth, which was fadened clofe roundthem ; and by the fide of each bread, next the arms, was a fmall plume of blackfeathers, worn like a' nolegay.

Thus apparelled they advanced fideways, keeping time with great exaftnefs to thedrums, which beat quick and loud ; foon after, they began to {hake themfelves in avery whimfical manner, and put their bodies into a variety of drange podures, fome-times danding in a row one behind another, fometimes fitting down, and at othersfalling with their faces to the ground, and reding on their knees and elbows, movingtheir fingers at the fame time with a quicknefs fcarcely to be credited. The chiefdexterity, however, of thefe dancers, as well as the amufement of the fpe&ators, con-fided in the lafcivioufnefs of their attitudes and gedures, which decency forbids us to

defcribe.

On Saturday the 5th, fome hogs and fowls, and feveral large pieces of cloth, manyof them being fifty or fixty yards in length, together with a quantity of plantains andcocoa-nuts, were fent to Captain Cook as a prefent, from the Earee Rahie of a neigh"bouring ifland called Bolabola, accompanied with a meffage, that he was then on theifland, and intended waiting on the captain the next day.

On Sunday the 6th, the King of Bolabola did not vifit them agreeable to his promife ,his abfence, however, was not in the lead regretted, as he fent three very agreeableyoung women to demand fomething in return for his prefent. After dinner they l eout to pay the King a vifit on fhore, as he did not think proper to come on board. Athis man was the Earee Rahie of the Bolabola men, who had conquered this, and werethe dread of all the neighbouring iflands, they were greatly difappointed, indead 0finding a vigorous, enterprifing young chief, to fee a poor feeble, decrepid old dotar »half blind, and finking under the weight of age and infirmities. He received them witout either that date or ceremony which they had hitherto metwith among the other chie -

They had now plenty of hogs on board, but as they could not be brought to eany fort of European grain, or any provender whatever that the Ihip afforded, tney

4 W ’