Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/202

144 their candles—made of the kernel of a nut abounding much in oil—are then lighted. Many of these are stuck upon a skewer of wood, one below the other, and give a very tolerable light, which they often keep burning an hour after dark, and if they have any strangers in the house it is sometimes kept up all night.

Their drums they manage rather better: they are made of a hollow block of wood, covered with shark's skin; with these they make out five or six tunes, and accompany the flute not disagreeably. They know also how to tune two drums of different notes into concord, which they do nicely enough. They also tune their flutes; if two persons play upon flutes which are not in unison, the shorter is lengthened by adding a small roll of leaf tied round the end of it, and moved up and down till their ears (which are certainly very nice) are satisfied. The drums are used chiefly in their heivas, which are at Otahite no more than a set of musicians, two drums for instance, two flutes and two singers, who go about from house to house and play. They are always received and rewarded by the master of the family, who gives them a piece of cloth or whatever else he can spare; and during their stay of maybe three or four hours, receives all his neighbours, who crowd his house full. This diversion the people are extravagantly fond of, most likely because, like concerts, assemblies, etc., in Europe, they serve to bring the sexes easily together at a time when the very thought of meeting has opened the heart and made way for pleasing ideas. The grand dramatic heiva which we saw at Ulhietea is, I believe, occasionally performed in all the islands, but that I have so fully described in the journal (3rd, 7th, and 8th August) that I need say no more about it.

Besides this they dance, especially the young girls, whenever they can collect eight or ten together, and setting their mouths askew in a most extraordinary manner, in the practice of which they are brought up from their earliest childhood. In doing this they keep time to a surprising nicety; I might almost say as truly as any dancers I have