A General History & Collection of Voyages and Travels ... - Nauticus

former. I told them to return me the axe and nails, and then he should go, (and so he really should,) butthey said they were on shore, and so departed. Though the youth seemed pretty well satisfied, he could notrefrain from weeping when he viewed the land astern.[1][1] Mr G.F. has been so successful in his Otaheitan delineations, that though the subject occupied nosmall space of our preceding volume, and must again engage our attention, when we treat of Cook'sthird voyage, nevertheless we cannot help running the risk of the reader's impatience by a transcriptof some of his sketches. Speaking of the natives first met with, he says, "The people around us hadmild features, and a pleasing countenance; they were about our size, of a pale mahogany brown, hadfine black hair and eyes, and wore a piece of cloth round their middle of their own manufacture, andanother wrapped about the head in curious picturesque shapes like a turban. Among them wereseveral females, pretty enough to attract the attention of Europeans, who had not seen their owncountrywomen for twelve long months past. These wore a piece of cloth with a hole in the middle,through which they had passed the head, so that one part of the garment hung down behind, and theother before, to the knees; a fine white cloth like a muslin, was passed over this in various elegantturns round the body, a little below the breast, forming a kind of tunic, of which one turn sometimesfell gracefully across the shoulder. If this dress had not entirely that perfect form, so justly admiredin the draperies of the ancient Greek statues, it was however infinitely superior to our expectations,and much more advantageous to the human figure, than any modern fashion we had hitherto seen.""It was not long before some of these good people came aboard. That peculiar gentleness ofdisposition, which is their general characteristic, immediately manifested itself in all their looks andactions, and gave full employment to those who made the human heart their study. They expressedseveral marks of affection in their countenance, took hold of our hands, leaned on our shoulders, orembraced us. They admired the whiteness of our bodies, and frequently pushed aside our clothesfrom the breast, as if to convince themselves that we were made like them." According to thisgentleman, it was the women of the "baser sort," who yielded without difficulty to the solicitationsof the sailors. "Some of them," says he, "who came on board for this purpose, seemed not to beabove nine or ten years old, and had not the least marks of puberty. So early an acquaintance withthe world seems to argue an uncommon degree of voluptuousness, and cannot fail of affecting thenation in general. The effect, which was immediately obvious to me, was the low stature of thecommon class of people, to which all these prostitutes belonged. Among this whole order, we sawfew persons above the middle size, and many below it; an observation which confirms what M. deBuffon has very judiciously said on the subject of early connections of the sexes. Their features werevery irregular, and, in general, very ordinary, except the eyes, which were always large and full ofvivacity; but a natural smile, and a constant endeavour to please, had so well supplied the want ofbeauty, that our sailors were perfectly captivated, and carelessly disposed of their shirts and clothes,to gratify their mistresses. The simplicity of their dress, &c. might contribute to this attraction; andthe view of several of these nymphs swimming all nimbly round the sloop, such as nature hadformed them, was perhaps more than sufficient entirety to subvert the little reason which a marinermight have left to govern his passions. As trifling circumstances had given occasion to their takingthe water. One of the officers on the quarter-deck intended to drop a bead into a canoe for a little boyabout six years old; by accident it missed the boat and fell into the sea, but the child immediatelyleaped overboard, and diving after it, brought it up again. To reward his performance, we droppedsome more beads to him, which so tempted a number of men and women, that they amused us withamazing feats of agility in the water, and not only fetched up several beads scattered at once, butlikewise large nails, which, on account of their weight, descended quickly to a considerable depth.Some of them continued a long while under water, and the velocity with which we saw them godown, the water being perfectly clear, was very surprising. The frequent ablutions of these peopleseem to make swimming familiar to them from their earliest childhood; and, indeed, their easyposition in the water, and the pliancy of their limbs, gave us reason to look on them almost asamphibious creatures." These trifling ornaments were most eagerly coveted by all ages and sexes,and often prized much above any other European goods however useful, so prevalent and powerful