through the strait, ten canoes put off from New
Ireland, with about one hundred and fifty men on board, and rowed
towards the ship; they came near enough to exchange some trifles with
us, which were conveyed at the end of a long stick, but none of them
would venture on board. They seemed to prefer such iron as we gave them
to every thing else, though none of it was manufactured except nails;
for, as I observed before, we had no cutlery ware on board. The canoes
were very long and very narrow, with an outrigger, and some of them were
very neatly made: One of them could not be less than ninety feet long,
for it was very little shorter than the ship; it was, notwithstanding,
formed of a single tree; it had some carved ornaments about it, and was
rowed or paddled by three-and-thirty men: We saw no appearance of sails.
The people are black, and woolly-headed, like Negroes, but have not the
flat nose and thick lips; and we thought them much the same people as
the inhabitants of Egmont's Island: Like them, they were all stark
naked, except a few ornaments made of shells upon their arms and legs.
They had, however, adopted a practice without which none of our belles
and beaux are supposed to be completely drest, for the hair, or rather
the wool, upon their heads, was very abundantly powdered with white
powder; the fashion of wearing powder, therefore, is probably of higher
antiquity than it is generally supposed to be, as well as of more
extensive influence; it is indeed carried farther among these people
than among any of the inhabitants of Europe, for they powder not only
their heads but their beards too. Their heads however were decorated
with more showy ornaments, for I observed that most of them had, just
above one ear, stuck a feather, which appeared to have been taken from
the tail of the common dunghill cock; so that these gentlemen are not
without poultry for their table. They were armed with spears, and long
sticks or poles, like the quarter-staff; but we did not see any bows and
arrows among them: Possibly they might have them on board, and think
proper to keep them out of sight. On my part, I kept every body at their
quarters while they were hovering about the ship, and I observed that
they had a very watchful eye upon our guns, as if they apprehended
danger from them; so that possibly they are not wholly unacquainted with
the effect of firearms. They had fishing nets with them, which, as well
as their cordage, seemed