mpanions of his jovial hours have
long ceased to feel the slightest compunctions arising from inward
respect, when they laugh at his heinously red nose, or chorus in his
ribaldry. The islanders of the South Sea are not singular then, in
mentally disjoining official dignity from moral excellence.--E.

[8] "Here, however, as in all other societies of men, we found
exceptions to the general character, and had reason to lament the
behaviour of vicious individuals. Dr Sparrman and myself having left
the beach where the Latoo attracted the attention of all our people,
entered the wood in pursuit of farther discoveries in our branch of
science. The first discharge of my fowling-piece at a bird brought
three natives towards us, with whom we entered into conversation, as
far as our superficial knowledge of their tongue would permit. Soon
after, Dr Sparrman stepped aside into a thicket in search of a
bayonet, which he had lost from the end of his musket. One of the
natives, finding the temptation of the moment irresistible, grasped my
fowling-piece, and struggled to wrest it from me. I called to my
companion, and the two other natives ran away, unwilling to become the
accomplices in this attack. In the struggle, our feet were entangled
in a bush, and we both fell together; but the native, seeing he could
not gain his point, and perhaps dreading the arrival of Dr Sparrman,
got up before me, and took that opportunity of running off. My friend
joined me immediately; and we concluded, that if there was something
treacherous or vicious in the behaviour of this fellow, our separation
was also imprudent, because it had furnished him with an opportunity
to exercise his talents."--G.F.

[9] "We had made such good use of the four months, after our departure
from New Zealand, as to have crossed the South Sea in the middle
latitudes, in the depth of winter, examined a space of more than forty
degrees of longitude between the tropics, and refreshed our people at
Otaheite, the Society Islands, and the Friendly Islands, during one
and thirty days. The season for prosecuting our discoveries in high
southern latitudes advanced, and the savage rocks of New Zealand were
only to give us shelter, whilst we changed our fair-weather rigging,
for such as might resist the storms and vigours of more inhospitable
clima