Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/64

50 the language of these natives, for one of the girls said a great deal to us; she talked a long while with extraordinary volubility; though she must have perceived that we could not comprehend her meaning; no matter, she must talk.

The others attempted more than once to charm us by songs, with the modulation of which I was singularly struck, from the great analogy of the tunes to those of the Arabs in Asia Minor. Several times two of them sung the same tune at once, but always one a third above the other, forming a concord with the greatest justness.

Amid these sands grew a species of ficoides, in almost every point resembling the mesembryanthemum edule, or eatable fig-marigold of the Hottentots. It differed completely in the colour of the flowers, indeed, which were red, while those of the fig-marigold of the Hottentots are yellow; but it bore fruit like it, much resembling in flavour a very ripe apple. This fruit is a delicacy among the New-Hollanders, who seek for it with care, and eat it as soon as they find it.

During this long walk, some of our companions took us by the arm from time to time to assist us.

One of the young girls having perceived at a distance a head, which the gunner of the Esperance had carved on the stump of a tree, appear- ed