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

wine. After dinner I made him presents, and then conducted him, ashore.[3][3] "He, as well as all his countrymen, had not the same facility of pronunciation as theMallecollese; we were therefore obliged to tell him our names, modified according to the softerorgans of the Otaheitans. His features were rather handsome, his eyes large and very lively; and thewhole countenance expressed good humour, sprightliness, and acuteness.As soon as we landed, the youth and some of his friends took me by the hand, with a view, as Iunderstood, to conduct me to their habitations. We had not gone far, before some of them, for whatreason I know not, were unwilling I should proceed; in consequence of which the whole companystopped; and, if I was not mistaken, a person was dispatched for something or other to give me; for Iwas desired to sit down and wait, which I accordingly did. During this interval, several of ourgentlemen passed us, at which they shewed great uneasiness, and importuned me so much to orderthem back, that I was at last obliged to comply. They were jealous of our going up the country, oreven along the shore of the harbour. While I was waiting here, our friend Paowang came with apresent of fruit and roots, carried by about twenty men; in order, as I supposed, to make it appear thegreater. One had a small bunch of plantains, another a yam, a third a cocoa-nut, &c.; but two menmight have carried the whole with ease. This present was in return for something I had given him inthe morning; however, I thought the least I could do now, was to pay the porters.After I had dispatched Paowang, I returned to Wha-a-gou and his friends, who were still fordetaining me. They seemed to wait with great impatience for something, and to be unwilling andashamed to take away the two dogs, without making me a return. As night was approaching, Ipressed to be gone; with which they complied, and so we parted.The preceding day, Mr Forster learnt from the people the proper name of the island, which they callTanna; and this day I learnt from them the names of those in the neighbourhood. The one wetouched at last is called Erromango; the small isle, which we discovered the morning we landedhere, Immer; the Table island to the east, discovered at the same time, Erronan or Footoona; and anisland which lies to the S.E. Annattom. All these islands are to be seen from Tanna.They gave us to understand, in a manner which I thought admitted of no doubt, that they eat humanflesh, and that circumcision was practised among them. They began the subject of eating humanflesh, of their own accord, by asking us if we did; otherwise I should never have thought of askingthem such a question. I have heard people argue, that no nation could be cannibals, if they had otherflesh to eat, or did not want food; thus deriving the custom from necessity. The people of this islandcan be under no such necessity; they have fine pork and fowls, and plenty of roots and fruits. Butsince we have not actually seen them eat human flesh, it will admit of doubt with some, whetherthey are cannibals.[4]To mention only a single instance of his ingenuity; it happened that my father and Captain Cook, oncomparing their vocabularies, discovered that each had collected a different word to signify the sky;they appealed to him to know which of the two expressions was right; he presently held out onehand, and applied it to one of the words, then moving the other hand under it, he pronounced thesecond word; intimating that the upper was properly the sky, and the lower the clouds which movedunder it. His manners at table were extremely becoming and decent; and the only practice which didnot appear quite cleanly in our eyes, was his making use of a stick, which he wore in his hair, insteadof a fork, with which he occasionally scratched his head."--G.F.[4] These people, according to Mr G.F., frequently alluded to this horrid practice, and threatened itindeed to those of the crew that, in opposition to their will, offered to go to certain spots on the