of the ship, the others became exceedingly
troublesome. Some of those in the canoes began to trade, and, according
to their custom, to cheat, by refusing to deliver what had been bought,
after they had received the price: Among these was one who had received
an old pair of black breeches, which, upon a few small shot being fired
at him, he threw into the sea. All the boats soon after paddled off to
some distance, and when they thought they were out of reach, they began
to defy us, by singing their song and brandishing their weapons. We
thought it advisable to intimidate them, as well for their sakes as our
own, and therefore fired first some small arms, and then round shot over
their heads; the last put them in a terrible fright, though they
received no damage, except by overheating themselves in paddling away,
which they did with astonishing expedition.

In the night we had variable light airs; but towards the morning a
breeze sprung up at S. and afterwards at S.E. with which we proceeded
slowly to the northward, along the shore.

Between six and seven o'clock two canoes came off, and told us that they
had heard of yesterday's adventure, notwithstanding which the people
came on board, and traded very quietly and honestly for whatever they
had: Soon after two canoes came off from a more distant part of the
shore; these were of a much larger size, and full of people: When they
came near, they called off the other canoes which were along side of the
ship, and after a short conference they all came up together. The
strangers appeared to be persons of a superior rank; their canoes were
well carved with many ornaments, and they had with them a great variety
of weapons: They had patoo-patoos both of stone and whalebone, upon
which they appeared to set a great value; they had also ribs of whale,
of which we had before seen imitations in wood, carved and adorned with
tufts of dog's hair. Their complexions were browner than those of the
people we had seen to the southward, and their bodies and faces were
more marked with the black stains which they call amoco: They had a
broad spiral on each buttock; and the thighs of many of them were almost
entirely black, some narrow lines only being left untouched, so that at
first sight they appeared to wear striped breeches. With respect to the
amoco, every different tribe seemed to have a different custom, for all
the men in some canoes seemed to be almost covered with it, and those in
o