Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/262

214 ed as much as possible, to make them look still more empty. I saw, nevertheless, one man whose stomach was already well lined, but who, in our presence, eat a piece of steatite, which was very soft, of a greenish colour, and twice as large as a man's fist. We afterwards saw a number of others eat of the same earth, which serves to allay the sensation of hunger by filling the stomach, and thereby supporting the viscera of the diaphragm; although that substance affords no nutritive aliment, it is nevertheless very useful to these people, who are often exposed to long privations from food, because they neglect the cultivation of the soil, which is of itself very barren.

It is probable that the natives of New Caledonia have made choice of this earth on account of its being very liable to crumble; it is extremely easy of digestion, and one would never have suspected that cannibals would have recourse to such an expedient when pressed by hunger.

Three women having joined the other savages who surrounded us, gave us no very favourable idea of their music. They sung a trio, keeping time very exactly, but the roughness and discordant tones of their voices excited in us very disagreeable sensations, which the savages, however, seemed to listen to with much pleasure.

Lahaie, the gardener, and myself, ventured into