oulders, and
his legs punctured in compartments after a taste which we had observed
no where else. He had only a belt round his middle, from whence a kind
of net-work descended before, too thin to conceal any thing from the
sight. A string was tied about his neck, and a flat bone, something
shaped like a tongue, and about four inches long, was fastened to it,
and hung down on the breast. This he told us, was a porpoise's bone
(eavee toharra) expressing it exactly by the same words which an
Otaheitean would have made use of. Mahine, who had already expressed
his impatience to go ashore, was much pleased to find that the
inhabitants spoke a language so similar to his own, and attempted to
converse with our new visitor several times, but was interrupted by
the questions which many other persons in the ship put to him."--G.F.

[4] "Almost all of them were naked, some having only a belt round the
middle, from whence a small bit of cloth, six or eight inches long, or
a little net, hang down before. A very few of them had a cloak which
reached to the knees, made of cloth, resembling that of Otaheite in
the texture, and stitched or quilted with thread to make it the more
lasting. Most of these cloaks were painted yellow with the turmeric
root."--G.F.

[5] "After staying among the natives for some time on the beach, we
began to walk into the country. The whole ground was covered with
roots and stones of all sizes, which seemed to have been exposed to a
great fire, where they had acquired a black colour and porous
appearance. Two or three shrivelled species of grasses grew up among
these stones, and in a slight degree softened the desolate appearance
of the country. About fifteen yards from the landing place, we saw a
perpendicular wall of square hewn stones, about a foot and a half or
two feet long, and one foot broad. Its greatest height was about seven
or eight feet, but it gradually sloped on both sides, and its length
might be about twenty yards. A remarkable circumstance was the
junction of these stones, which were laid after the most excellent
rules of art, fitting in such a manner as to make a durable piece of
architecture. The stone itself, of which they are cut, is not of great
hardness, being a blackish brown cavernous and brittle stony lava. The
ground rose from the water side upw