Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/139

Rh man could learn to do in years. In spite of the rain some provisions are brought to the market, which is kept just without the lines.

21st. Several of our friends at the tents this morning; one from his grim countenance we have called Ajax, and at one time thought to be a great king. He had in his canoe a hog, but chose rather to sell it in the market than give it to us as a present, which we accounted for by his having in the morning received a shirt in return for a piece of cloth; this may have made him fear that had he given the hog it might have been taken into the bargain, a proceeding very different from that of our friend Lycurgus, who seems in every instance to place a most unbounded confidence in us.

22nd. Our friends as usual come early to visit us, Hercules with two pigs, and a Dolphin's axe which he wished to have repaired, as it accordingly was. Lycurgus brought a large fish, an acceptable present, as that article has always been scarce with us. Trade brisk to-day; since our new manufacture of hatchets has been set on foot we get some hogs, though our tools are so small and bad that I only wonder how they can stand one stroke.

The flies have been so troublesome ever since we have been ashore, that we can scarcely get any business done; they eat the painter's colours off the paper as fast as they can be laid on, and if a fish has to be drawn, there is more trouble in keeping them off than in the drawing itself.

Many expedients have been thought of, but none succeed better than a mosquito-net covering table, chair, painter and drawings, but even that is not sufficient. A fly-trap was necessary within this to attract the vermin from eating the colours. For this purpose tar and molasses were mixed yesterday together, but this did not succeed, for the plate which had been smeared with it was left outside the tent to clean, and one of the Indians noticing this took the opportunity, when he thought no one was observing him, of taking some of this mixture up into his hand. I saw him, and was curious to know for what use it was intended: the gentleman had a large sore on his body, to which this clammy