rhime. The reader will eafily perceive that they are of very different fructure. Tede pahai de parow-a E pahah Tayo malama tai ya ya. E Turai eat tu terara patee whennua toai Ino o maio Pretane to whennuaia no Tute. Of these verses our knowledge of the language is too imperfect to attempt a tranflation. They frequently amuse themselves by fing ing fuch couplets as thefe when they are alone, or with their families, especially after it is dark; for though they need no fires, they are not without the comfort of artificial light between fun-fet and bedtime. Their candles are made of the kernels of a kind of oily nut, which they stick one over another upon a skewer that is thrust through the middle of them; the upper one being lighted, burns down to the fecond, at the fame time confuming that part of the skewer which goes through it; the fecond taking fire, burns in the fame manner down to the third, and so of the rest: some of thefe candles will burn a confiderable time, and they give a very tolerable light. They do not often fit up above an hour after it is dark; but when they have ftrangers who fleep in the houfe, they generally keep a light burning all night, poffibly as a check upon fuch of the women as they wish not to honour them with their favours. Of their itinerary concerts I need add nothing to what has been faid already; efpecially as I shall have occafion, more particularly, to mention them when I relate our adventures upon another island. In other countries, the girls and unmarried women are fuppofed to be wholly ignorant of what others upon fome occafions may appear to know ; and their conduct and converfation are confequently restrained within narrower bounds, and kept at a more remote distance from whatever relates to a connection with the other fex: but here it is juft contrary. Among other diverfion, there is a dance, called Timorodee, which is performed by young girls, whenever eight or ten of them can be collected together, confifting of motions and gestures beyond imagination wanton, in the practice of which they are brought up from their earliest childhood, accompanied by words, which, if it were poffible, would more explicitly convey the fame ideas. In these dances they keep time with an exactnefs which is fcarcely excelled by the best performers upon the ftages of Europe. But the practice which is allowed to the virgin, is prohibited to the woman from the moment that he has put these hopeful leffons in practice, and realized the fymbols of the dance. It cannot be fuppofed that, among these people, chastity is held in much eftimation. It might be expected that filters and daughters would be offered to strangers, either as a courtefy, or for reward; and that breaches of conjugal fidelity, even in the wife, fhould not be otherwife punished than by a few hard words, or perhaps a flight beating, as indeed is the cafe : but there is a fcale in diffolute fenfuality, which these people have 5 afcended, afcended, wholly unknown to every other nation whofe manners have been recorded from the beginning of the world to the prefent hour, and which no imagination could poffibly conceive. A very confiderable number of the principal people of Otaheite, of both fexes, have formed them. felves into a fociety, in which every woman is common to every man; thus fecuring a perpetual variety as often as their inclination prompts them to feek it, which is fo frequent, that the fame man and woman feldom cohabit together more than two or three days. These focieties are distinguished by the name of Arreoy; and the members have meetings, at which no other is prefent, where the men amuse themselves by wreftling, and the women, notwithstanding their occafional connexion with different men, dance the Timorodee in all its latitude, as an incitement to defires which it is faid are frequently gratified upon the fpot. This however is comparatively nothing. If any of the women happen to be with child, which in this manner of life happens lefs frequently than if they were to cohabit only with one man, the poor infant is smothered the moment it is born, that it may be no incumbrance to the father, nor interrupt the mother in the pleafures of her diabolical proftitution. It fometimes indeed happens, that the paffion which prompts a woman to enter into this fociety, is furmounted when she becomes a mother, by that inflinctive affection which Nature has given to all creatures for the prefervation of their offspring; but even in this cafe, fhe is not permitted to spare the life of her infant, except the can find a man who will patronize it as his child: if this can, be done, the murder is prevented; but both the man and woman being deemed by this act to have appropriated each other, are ejected from the community; and forfeit all claim to the privileges and pleasures of the Arreoy for the future; the woman from that time being diflinguished by the term Whannorunow, bearer of children," which is here a term of reproach; though none can be more honourable in the estimation of wifdom and humanity, of right reason, and every paffion that diftinguifhes the man from the brute. It is not fit that a practice fo horrid and fo strange should be imputed to human beings upon flight evi dence, but I have fuch as abundantly juftifies me in the account that [ have given. The people themselves are to far from concealing their connection with fuch a fociety as a difgrace, that they boaft of it as a privilege; and both my felf and Mr. Banks, when particular perfons, have been pointed out to us as mem. bers of the Arreoy, have questioned them about it, and received the ac. count that has been here given from their own lips. They have acknowledged, that they had long been of this accurfed fociety, that they belonged to it at that time, and that feveral of their children had been put to death. But I must not conclude my açcount of the domeftic life of these people, without mentioning their perfonal cleanliness. If that which leffens the good of life and increases the evil is vice, furely cleanliness is a virtue: the want of it tends to destroy both beauty and health, and mingles difguft with our best p'eafures. pleasures. The natives of Otaheite, both men and women, constantly wash their whole bodies in running water three times every day; once as foon as they rife in the morning, once at noon, and again before they fleep at night, whether the fea or river is near them or at a distance. I have already observed, that they wash not only the mouth, but the hands at their meals, almost between every morfel; and their clothes, as well as their perfons, are kept without fpot or ftain; fo that in a large company of these people, nothing is fuffered but heat, which, perhaps, is more than can be faid of the politeft affembly in Europe. If neceffity is the mother of invention, it cannot be supposed to have been much exerted where the liberality of Nature has rendered the diligence of art almoft fuper. Huous; yet there are many in ftances both of ingenuity and labour among these people, which, confidering the want of metal for tools, do honour to both. Their principal manufacture is their cloth, in the making and dying of which I think there are fome particulars, which may inftruct even the artificers of Great Britain, and for that reafon my defcription will be more minute. Their cloth is of three kinds; and it is made of the bark of three different trees, the Chinese paper mulberry, the bread-fruit tree, and the tree which refembles the wild fig-tree of the Weft-Indies. The finest and whiteft is made of the paper mulberry, Aouta; this is worn chiefly by the principal people, and when it is dyed red takes a better colour. A fecond fort, inferior in whitenefs and foft nefs, is made of the bread-fruit tree, Oaroo, and worn chiefly by the inferior people; and a third of the tree that refembles the fig, which is coarfe and harsh, and of the colour of the darkett brown paper: this, though it is lefs pleafing both to the eye and the touch, is the most valuable, because it re. fits water, which the other two forts will not. Of this, which is the most rare as well as the most afeful, the greater part is perfumed, and worn by the chiefs an a morning dress. Ail thefe trees are propagated with the greatest care, particularly the mulberry, which covers the largeft part of the cultivated land, and is not fit for ufe after two or three years growth, when it is about fix or eight feet high, and fomewhat thicker than a man's thumb; its excellence is to be thin, ftrait, tall, and without branches: the lower leaves, therefore, are carefully plucked off, with their germs, as often as there is any appearance of their producing a branch. But though the cloth made of these three trees is different, it is all manufactured in the fame manner; I fhall, therefore, defcribe the procefs only in the fine fort, that is made of the mulberry. When the trees are of a proper fize, they are drawn up, and ftripped of their branches, after which the roots and tops are cut off; the bark of these rods being then flit up longitudinally, is easily drawn off, and, when a proper quantity has been procured, it is carried down to fome running water, in which it is depofited to foak, and fecured from floating away by heavy ftones : when it is fuppofed to be fufficiently foftened, the women-fervants go down down to the brook, and ftripping themselves, fit down in the water, to separate the inner bark from the green part on the outfide; to do this they place the under-fide upon a flat fmooth board, and with the fhell which our dealers call tyger's tongue, Tellina gargadia, fcrape it very carefully, dipping it continually in the water, till nothing remains but the fine fibres of the inner coat. Being thus prepared in the afternoon, they are spread out upon plantain leaves in the evening; and in this part of the work there appears to be fome difficulty, as the mistress of the family always fuperintends the doing of it: they are placed in lengths of about eleven or twelve yards, one by the fide of another, till they are about a foot broad, and two or three layers are also laid one upon the other care is taken that the cloth fhall be in all parts of an equal thickness, fo that if the bark hap. pens to be thinner in any particular part of one layer than the reft, a piece that is fomewhat thicker is picked out to be laid over it in the next. In this ftate it remains till the morning, when great part of the water which it contained when it was laid out is either drained off or evaporated, and the several fibres adhere together, fo as that the whole may be raised from the ground in one piece. It is then taken away, and laid upon the fmooth fide of a long piece of wood, prepared for the purpofe, and beaten by the women fervants, with inftruments about a foot long, and three inches thick, made of a hard wood: which they call Etoa. The fhape of this inftrument is not unlike a fquare razor ftrop. only that the handle is VOL. XVI. longer, and each of its four fides or faces is marked, lengthways, with fmall grooves, or furrows, of different degrees of fineness; those on one fide being of a width and depth fufficient to receive a small packthread, and the others finer in a regular gradation, fo that the last are not more than equal to fewing filk. They beat it first with the coarsest fide of this mallet, keeping time like our fmiths; it spreads very fast under the strokes, chiefly however in the breadth, and the grooves in the mallet mark it with the appearance of threads; it is fucceffively beaten with the other fides, laft with the finest, and is then fit for ufe. Sometimes, however, it is made ftill thinner, by beating it. with the finest fide of the mallet, after it has been feveral times dou bled: it is then called Hoboo, and is almoft as thin as a muflin; it becomes very white by being bleached in the air, but is made ftill whiter and fofter by being washed and beaten again after is has been worn. Of this cloth there are several forts, of different degrees of finenefs, in proportion as it is..more or lefs beaten without being dou bled: the other cloth alfo differs in proportion as it is beaten; but they differ from each other in confequence of the different materials of which they are made. The bark of the bread-fruit is not taken till the trees are confiderably longer and thicker than thofe of the fig; the procefs afterwards is the fame. When cloth is to be washed after it has been worn, it is taken down to the brook, and left to foak, being kept faft to the bottom as at first, by a flone; it is then gently C wrung wrung or fqueezed; and sometimes feveral pieces of it are laid one upon another, and beaten together with the coarseft fide of the mallet, and they are then equal in thicknefs to broad-cloth, and much more foft and agreeable to the touch, after they have been a little while in ufe, though, when they come immediately from the mallet, they feel as if they had been ftarched. This cloth fometimes breaks in the beating, but is eafily repaired by pafting on a patch with a glutten. that is prepared from the root of the Pea, which is done fo nicely that it cannot be discovered. The women alfo employ themselves in. removing blemishes of every kind, as our ladies do in needle-work or knotting; fometimes, when their work is intended to be very fine, they will paste an entire covering of hoboo over the whole. The principal excellencies of this cloth are its coolness and foftnefs; and its imperfections, its being pervious to water like paper, and almost as cafily torn. The colours with which they dye this cloth are principally red and yellow. The red is exceedingly beautiful, and I may venture to say, a brighter and more delicate colour than any we have in Europe; that which approaches nearest is our full fcarlet, and the beft imitation which Mr. Banks's natural history painter could produce, was by a mixture of vermillion and carmine. The yellow is also a bright colour, but we have many as good. [We shall here omit the defcrip. tion of the vegetables they ufe to procure the colours, and the man. ner in which they dye their cloths, to fhew their ingenuity in other parts of their domeftic ceconomy.] 4 Another confiderable manufac ture is matting of various kinds; fome of which is finer, and better in every refpect, than any we have in Europe: the coarfer fort ferves them to fleep upon, and the finer to wear in wet weather. With the fine, of which there are also two forts, much pains is taken, especially with that made of the bark of the Pcerou, the Hibiscus taliaceus of Linnæus, fome of which is as fine as a coarfe cloth: the other fort, which is ftill more beautiful, they called Vanne: it is white, gloffy, and fhining, and is made of the leaves of their Wharrow, a species. of the Pandanas, of which we had no opportunity to fee either the flowers or fruit: they have other matts, or as they call them Moeas, to fit or to fleep upon, which are formed of a great variety of rushes and grafs, and which they make, as they do every thing else that is plaited, with amazing facility and dispatch. They are alfo very dexterous in making basket and wicker-work: their baskets are of a thousand different patterns, many of them exceedingly neat; and the making them is an art that every one practifes, both men and women: they make occafional baskets and pan niers of the cocoa-nut leaf in a few minutes, and the women who vi fited us early in a morning ufed to fend, as foon as the fun was high, for a few of the leaves, of which they made little bonnets to shade their faces, at fo fmall an expence of time and trouble, that, when the fun was again low in the evening, they used to throw them away. Thefe bonnets, however, did not cover the head, but confifted only of a band that went round it, and a fhade |