Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/56

42 saying to us tangara, which signifies "let us set off." On this we resumed our journey: and they made us halt again, in the same manner, four times, at nearly equal distances.

The attentions lavished on us by these savages astonished us. If our path were interrupted by heaps of dry branches, some of them walked before, and removed them to either side: they even broke off such as stretched across our way from the trees that had fallen down.

We could not walk on the dry grass without slipping every moment, particularly where the ground was sloping; but these good savages, to prevent our falling, took hold of us by the arm, and thus supported us. We found it difficult to persuade them that none of us would fall, even if unassisted; and they continued, nevertheless, to bestow on us these marks of affectionate kindness: nay, they frequently stationed themselves, one on each side, to support us the better. As they obstinately persisted in paying us this obliging attention, we no longer declined it.

They no doubt conceived it to be our intention to return to Port Dentrecasteaux, for we were twice mistaken in the road, and they both times pointed out to us that which led directly to it.

A trifling incident gave us reason to presume, that they sometimes catch birds with their hands. A paroquet,