1777* THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 253 



of chorus*, one of their number first standing up, 

 and giving the word before each repetition. When 

 they had finished their solemn chant, they came 

 alongside, and asked for the chief. As soon as I 

 showed myself, a pig and a few cocoa-nuts were con- 

 veyed up into the ship ; and the principal person in 

 the canoe made me an additional present of a piece 

 of matting, as soon as he and his companions got on 

 board. 



Our visitors were conducted into the cabin, and 

 to other parts of the ship. Some objects seemed to 

 strike them with a degree of surprise ; but nothing 

 fixed their attention for a moment. They were 

 afraid to come near the cows and horses ; nor did 

 they form the least conception of their nature. But 

 the sheep and goats did not surpass the limits of their 

 ideas ; for thev ffave us to understand that they 

 knew them to be birds. It will appear rather incred- 

 ible, that human ignorance could ever make so 

 strange a mistake ; there not being the most distant 

 similitude between a sheep or goat, and any winged 

 animal. But these people seemed to know nothing 

 of the existence of any other land-animals, besides 

 hogs, dogs, and birds. Our sheep and goats, they 

 could see, were very different creatures from the two 

 first, and therefore they inferred, that they must be- 

 long to the latter class, in which they knew there is 

 a considerable variety of species. 1 made a present 

 to my new friend of what I thought might be most 



* Something like this ceremony was performed by the inhabi- 

 tants of the Marquesas, when Captain Cook visited them in 1774. 

 See his Id Voyage, Vol. III. It is curious to observe, at what 

 immense distances this mode of receiving strangers prevails. 

 Padillo, who sailed from Manilla in 1710, on a voyage to discover 

 the Palaos Islands, was thus received there. The writer of the 

 relation of his voyage says, " Aussitot qu'ils approcherent de 

 notre bord, ils se mirent a chanter. lis rgloient la cadence, en 

 frappant des mains sur leurs cuisses." 



Lettres Edifianles et Curieuses, torn. xv. p. 323. 



