the black ground, the hair stuck full of pieces of bone and in the hand a grasped club, which they occasionally brandish with the greatest fierceness and agility.  Some dances are performed by men only, some by women only, and in others the sexes mingle.  In one of them I have seen the men drop on their hands and knees and kiss the earth with the greatest fervor, between the kisses looking up to Heaven.  They also frequently throw up their arms, exactly in the manner in which the dancers of the Friendly Islands are depicted in one of the plates of Mr. Cook’s last voyage.

Courtship here, as in other countries, is generally promoted by this exercise, where every one tries to recommend himself to attention and applause.  Dancing not only proves an incentive, but offers an opportunity in its intervals.  The first advances are made by the men, who strive to render themselves agreeable to their favourites by presents of fishing-tackle and other articles which they know will prove acceptable.  Generally speaking, a man has but one wife, but infidelity on the side of the husband, with the unmarried girls, is very frequent.  For the most part, perhaps, they intermarry in their respective tribes.  This rule is not, however, constantly observed, and there is reason to think that a more than ordinary share of courtship and presents, on the part of the man, is required in this case.  Such difficulty seldom operates to extinguish desire, and nothing is more common than for the unsuccessful suitor to ravish by force that which he cannot accomplish by entreaty.  I do not believe that very near connections by blood ever cohabit.  We knew of no instance of it.

But indeed the women are in all respects treated with savage barbarity Condemned not only to carry the children but all other burthens, they meet in return for submission only with blows, kicks and every other mark of brutality.  When an Indian is provoked by a woman, he either spears her or knocks her down on the spot.  On this occasion he always strikes on the head, using indiscriminately a hatchet, a club or any other weapon which may chance to be in his hand.  The heads of the women are always consequently seen in the state which I found that of Gooreedeeana.  Colbee, who was certainly, in other respects a good tempered merry fellow, made no scruple of treating Daringa, who was a gentle creature, thus.  Baneelon did the same to Barangaroo, but she was a scold and a vixen, and nobody pitied her.  It must nevertheless be confessed that the women often artfully study to irritate and inflame the passions of the men, although sensible that the consequence will alight on themselves.