rs, are painted red; they wear a kind of
petticoat; and some of them had something over their shoulders like a bag,
in which they carry their children. None of them came off to the ship, and
they generally kept at a distance when we were on shore. Their ornaments
are ear-rings, made of tortoise-shell and bracelets. A curious one of the
latter, four or five inches broad, wrought with thread or cord, and studded
with shells, is worn by them just above the elbow. Round the right wrist
they wear hogs' tusks, bent circular, and rings made of shells; and round
their left, a round piece of wood, which we judged was to ward off the
bow-string. The bridge of the nose is pierced, in which they wear a piece of
white stone, about an inch and a half long. As signs of friendship they
present a green branch, and sprinkle water with the hand over the head.

Their weapons are clubs, spears, and bows and arrows. The two former are
made of hard or iron-wood. Their bows are about four feet long, made of a
stick split down the middle, and are not circular. The arrows, which are a
sort of reeds, are sometimes armed with a long and sharp point, made of the
hard wood, and sometimes with a very hard point made of bone; and these
points are all covered with a substance which we took for poison. Indeed
the people themselves confirmed our suspicions, by making signs to us not
to touch the point, and giving us to understand that if we were prickled by
them we should die. They are very careful of them themselves, and keep
them, always wrapped up in a quiver. Some of these arrows are formed with
two or three points, each with small prickles on the edges, to prevent the
arrow being drawn out of the wound.

The people of Mallicollo seemed to be a quite different nation from any we
had yet met with, and speak a different language. Of about eighty words,
which Mr Forster collected, hardly one bears any affinity to the language
spoken at any other island or place I had ever been at. The letter R is
used in many of their words; and frequently two or three being joined
together, such words we found difficult to pronounce. I observed that they
could pronounce most of our words with great ease. They express their
admiration by hissing like a goose.

To judge of the country by the little water we saw of it, it must be
fertile; but I believe their fruits are not so good as those of the Society
or Friendly Isles. Their cocoa-nut trees, I am certain, are not; and