Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/179

Rh with as much dexterity as our opera dancers could have done; these plaits were brown and white alternately, but the petticoats were all white. In this dress they advanced sideways, keeping excellent time to the drums, which beat briskly and loud: they soon began to shake their hips, giving the folds of cloth that lay upon them a very quick motion, continued during the whole dance. They sometimes stood, sometimes sat, and sometimes rested on their knees and elbows, generally moving their fingers with a quickness scarcely to be imagined.

One of these girls had in her ear three pearls, one very large but so foul that it was worth scarce anything; the other two were as large as a middling pea, and of a clear water as well as a good shape. For these I offered at different times any price the owner would have, but she would not hear of parting with them; I offered once the price of four hogs down and anything she would ask beside. They have always set a value upon their pearls, if tolerably good, almost equal to our valuation, supposing them (as they always are, however) not spoiled by the drilling.

Between the dances of the women (for they sometimes rested) the men acted a kind of interlude, in which they spoke as well as danced; we were not, however, sufficiently versed in their language to be able to give an account of the drama.

4th. We had often heard Tupia speak of lands belonging to him which had been taken away by the Bola-Bola men. These, he tells us now, are situated in the very bay where the ship lies. On going ashore this morning, the inhabitants confirmed what he had told us, and showed us several different whennuas, which, they all acknowledged, belonged of right to him. The greater number of the people here are, it seems, the so-much-feared Bola-Bola men, and we were told that to-morrow Opoony, the king of that island, will come to visit us. We are much inclined to receive him civilly, as we have met with so civil a reception from his subjects.

We saw the game which the Indians call erowhaw. It