Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/114

56 and a little grass; on the lee side about one-eighth part of the circle was left open, and against this opening a fire was made. Furniture, I may justly say, they had none; a little, a very little, dry grass laid round the edges of the circle furnished both beds and chairs, and for dressing the shellfish (the only provision I saw them make use of) they had no one contrivance but broiling them upon the coals. For drinking, I saw in a corner of one of their huts a bladder of some beast full of water; in one side of this near the top was a hole through which they drank by elevating a little the bottom, which made the water spring up into their mouths.

In these few huts, and with this small share, or rather none at all, of what we call the necessaries and conveniences of life, lived about fifty men, women, and children, to all appearance contented with what they had, not wishing for anything we could give them except beads. Of these they were very fond, preferring ornamental things to those which might be of real use, and giving more in exchange for a string of beads than they would for a knife or a hatchet.

Notwithstanding that almost all writers who have mentioned this island have imputed to it a want of wood, we plainly distinguished, even at the distance of some leagues, that the largest part of the country, particularly near the sea-coast, was covered with wood, which observation was verified in both the bays we put into. In either of these firing might be got close by the beach in any quantity, and also trees, which to all appearance might be fit for repairing a vessel, or even in cases of necessity for making masts.

The hills are high, though not to be called mountains; the tops of these, however, are quite bare, and on them patches of snow were frequently to be seen, yet the time of the year when we were there answered to the beginning of July in England. In the valleys between these, the soil has much the appearance of fruitfulness, and is in some places of considerable depth; at the bottom of almost every one of these runs a brook, the water of which in general has a reddish cast like that which runs through turf bogs in England; it is very well tasted.