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

weapons; almost every one of them carries a club, and besides that, either darts, or a bow and arrows, butnever both; those who had stones kept them generally in their belts.I cannot conclude this account of their arms without adding an entire passage out of Mr Wales's journal. Asthis gentleman was continually on shore amongst them, he had a better opportunity of seeing what theycould perform, than any of us. The passage is as follows: "I must confess I have been often led to think thefeats which Homer represents his heroes as performing with their spears, a little too much of themarvellous to be admitted into an heroic poem; I mean when confined within the strait stays of Aristotle.Nay, even so great an advocate for him as Mr Pope, acknowledges them to be surprising. But since I haveseen what these people can do with their wooden spears, and them badly pointed, and not of a very hardnature, I have not the least exception to any one passage in that great poet on this account. But, if I seefewer exceptions, I can find infinitely more beauties in him; as he has, I think, scarce an action,circumstance, or description of any kind whatever, relating to a spear, which I have not seen andrecognised among these people; as their whirling motion, and whistling noise, as they fly; their quiveringmotion, as they stick in the ground when they fall; their meditating their aim, when they are going tothrow, and their shaking them in their hand as they go along, &c. &c."I know no more of their cookery, than that it consists of roasting and baking; for they have no vessel inwhich water can be boiled. Nor do I know that they have any other liquor but water and the juice of thecocoa- nut.[4][4] Captain Cook has neglected to notice the musical genius of these people. The following remarkson it are worthy of quotation.--"As I happened to hum a song one day, many of them very eagerlyentreated me to sing to them, and though not one of us was properly acquainted with music, yet weventured to gratify their curiosity, and offered them a great variety of airs. Some German andEnglish songs, especially of the more lively kind, pleased them very much; but Dr Sparrman'sSwedish tunes gained universal applause; from whence it appeared that their judgment in music wasnot influenced by the same rules which regulate the taste of other countries. When we hadperformed, we desired them in return to give us an opportunity of admiring their talents, and one ofthem immediately began a very simple tune; it was however harmonious, and, as for as we couldjudge, superior to the music of all the nations in the tropical part of the South Sea, which we hadhitherto heard. It ran through a much more considerable compass of notes, than is employed atOtaheite, or even at Tonga-Tabboo; and had a serious turn which distinguished it very remarkablyfrom the softer effeminate music of those islands. The words seemed to be naturally arranged, andflowed very currently from the tongue. When the first had finished his song, another began; his tunewas different as to the composition, but had the same serious style which strongly marked thegeneral turn of the people. They were indeed seldom seen to laugh so heartily, and jest sofacetiously, as the more polished nations of the Friendly and Society Islands, who have alreadylearnt to set a great value on these enjoyments. On the afternoon of this day, our friends importunedus to sing to them again. We readily complied with their request, and when they seemed to wonderat the difference in our songs, we endeavoured to make them comprehend that we were natives ofdifferent countries. Hearing this, they pointed out an elderly thin man in the circle of our hearers,and telling us that he was a native of Irromanga, desired him to sing to us. The man immediatelystepped forward, and began a song, in the course of which he made a variety of gesticulations, notonly to our entertainment, but to the great satisfaction of all the people about him. His song was tothe full as musical as that of the people of Tanna, but it seemed to be of a droll or humorous nature,from his various ludicrous postures, and from the particular tone of the whole. The language wasutterly distinct from that of Tanna, but not harsh or ill suited to music. It seemed likewise to have acertain metre, but very different from that slow and serious one which we heard this morning. Itappeared to us when he had done singing, that the people of Tanna spoke to him in his ownlanguage, but that he was not acquainted with theirs. Whether he came as a visitor, or had been taken