ABSTRACT
July f 22d $ We were at noon close in shore on Manicolo; we saw numbers of people wading into the water to their waist, having Clubs in their hands, & waving green boughs in sign that we should come ashore. One had a bow & arrows, & one a Spear. Some open huts were observed close in shore. But we put about against their Expectation. However we put about several times & at last sent two boats into a bay we observed, & as the anchorage seemed good, the Ship followed into the bay. In the mean time the whole beach on the South entrance of the bay was lined with people, & some few came off in boats, but would not come near us; Several a shore & in the boats presented green bows of plants especially the Croton variegatum1 & Dmccena terminalis Linn; & waved with them towards us: nevertheless the greater part of the people were armed with bows & arrows, &: some few with Spears. They came at last near the Ship & got a few pieces of Otahaitee cloth which they eagerly accepted, & afterwards they gave in exchange some of their blunt arrows, pointed with wood only & a little after they even parted with such arrows as were pointed with bones, some of them were daubed with a black stuff, for which reason we suspected them to be poisoned, & wounded a young dog in the leg with it in order to see, what effect it might take.2 The anchor was here dropped in a fine sheltered bay, open to the north only.3 We did nothing understand of the language, which seemed to be harsher than any we had hitherto heard; it has a great many r's in its pronunciation. The people are slender, but finely proportioned, very black, with crisp woolly hair, all naked & have only a bag for the genitals, but the Scrotum is free. The have bracelets about their wrists of Shells & pieces of wood.4 Some had a kind of club, & a few had a cap of mat on their heads.5 When it grew dark, they all retired ashore & had there a good many fires. About 7 o'clock all the Canoes came off & wanted to trade for arrows & trifles, but went off a little while after, when it was ordered none should trade with them, in order to get rid
1 Cadiaeum variegatum (L.) BL, much used in these islands in connexion with mortuary
and propitiatory rites. 2 See p. 567, n. 3 below.
