Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/134

76 we accordingly dined heartily on fish and bread-fruit with plantains, etc., dressed after their method. Raw fish was offered to us, which it seems they themselves eat. The adventures of this entertainment I much wish to record particularly, but am so much hurried by attending the Indians ashore almost all day long, that I fear I shall scarcely understand my own language when I read it again.

Our chief’s own wife (ugly enough in conscience) did me the honour with very little invitation to squat down on the mats close by me; no sooner had she done so than I espied among the common crowd a very pretty girl with a fire in her eyes that I had not before seen in the country. Unconscious of the dignity of my companion I beckoned to the other, who, after some entreaties, came and sat on the other side of me. I was then desirous of getting rid of my former companion, so I ceased to attend to her, and loaded my pretty girl with beads and every present I could think pleasing to her: the other showed much disgust, but did not quit her place, and continued to supply me with fish and cocoanut milk.

How this would have ended is hard to say; it was interrupted by an accident which gave us an opportunity of seeing much of the people’s manners. Dr. Solander and another gentleman who had not been in as good company as myself found their pockets had been picked: one had lost a snuff-box, the other an opera-glass. Complaint was made to the chief, and to give it weight I started up from the ground, and striking the butt end of my gun, made a rattling noise which I had before used in our walk to frighten the people and keep them at a distance. Upon this every one of the common sort (among whom was my pretty girl) ran like sheep from the house, leaving us with only the chief, his three wives, and two or three better dressed than the rest, whose quality I do not guess at. The chief then took me by the hand to the other end of the house where lay a large quantity of their cloth; this he offered to me piece by piece, making signs that if it would make amends, I might take any part or all. I put