between four and five yards long, and about one yard
broad, they wrap round the body in a very easy manner.
This cloth is not woven, but is made, like paper, of
the macerated fibres of an inner bark spread out and
beaten together. Their ornaments are feathers,
flowers, pieces of shells, and pearls: The pearls
are worn chiefly by the women, from whom I purchased
about two dozen of a small size: They were of
a good colour, but were all spoiled by boring.
Mr Furneaux saw several in his excursion to the west,
but he could purchase none with any thing he had to
offer. I observed, that it was here a universal
custom both for men and women to have the hinder part
of their thighs and loins marked very thick with black
lines in various forms. These marks were made
by striking the teeth of an instrument, somewhat like
a comb, just through the skin, and rubbing into the
punctures a kind of paste made of soot and oil, which
leaves an indelible stain. The boys and girls
under twelve years of age are not marked: But
we observed a few of the men whose legs were marked
in chequers by the same method, and they appeared
to be persons of superior rank and authority.
One of the principal attendants upon the queen appeared
much more disposed to imitate our manners than the
rest; and our people, with whom he soon became a favourite,
distinguished him by the name of Jonathan. This
man, Mr Furneaux clothed completely in an English
dress, and it sat very easy upon him. Our officers
were always carried on shore, it being shoal water
where we landed, and Jonathan, assuming new state
with his new finery, made some of his people carry
him on shore in the same manner. He very soon
attempted to use a knife and fork at his meals, but
at first, when he had stuck a morsel upon his fork,
and tried to feed himself with that instrument, he
could not guide it, but by the mere force of habit
his hand came to his mouth, and the victuals at the
end of the fork went away to his ear.
Their food consists of pork, poultry, dog’s
flesh, and fish, bread-fruit, bananas, plantains,
yams, apples, and a sour fruit, which, though not
pleasant by itself, gives an agreeable relish to roasted
bread-fruit, with which it is frequently beaten up.
They have abundance of rats, but, as far as I could
discover, these make no part of their food. The
river affords them good mullet, but they are neither
large nor in plenty. They find conchs, mussels,
and other shellfish on the reef, which they gather
at low-water, and eat raw with bread-fruit before they
come on shore. They have also very fine cray-fish,
and they catch with lines, and hooks of mother-of-pearl,
at a little distance from the shore, parrrot-fish,
groopers, and many other sorts, of which they are
so fond that we could seldom prevail upon them to sell
us a few at any price. They have also nets of
an enormous size, with very small meshes, and with
these they catch abundance of small fish about the
size of sardines; but while they were using both nets
and lines with great success, We could not catch a
single fish with either. We procured some of
their hooks and lines, but for want of their art we
were still disappointed.