1778* THE IUCIIIC OCEAN. 217 



practice in Atooi ; especially as we met with no uten- 

 sil there, that could be applied to the purpose of stew- 

 ing or boiling. The only artificial dish we met with, 

 was a taro pudding ; which, though a disagreable 

 mess from its sourness, was greedily devoured by the 

 natives. They eat ofF a kind of wooden plates, or 

 trenchers ; and the women, as far as we could judge 

 from one instance, if restrained from feeding at 

 the same dish with the men, as at Otaheite, are at 

 least permitted to eat in the same place near them. 



Their amusements seem pretty various ; for, during 

 our stay, several were discovered. The dances, at 

 which they use the feathered cloaks and caps, were 

 not seen ; but from the motions which they made 

 with their hands, on other occasions, when they sung, 

 we could form some judgment that they are, in some 

 degree at least, similar to those we had met with at 

 the southern Islands, though not executed so skilfully. 

 Neither had they amongst them either flutes or 

 reeds ; and the only two musical instruments which 

 we observed, were of an exceeding rude kind. One 

 of them does not produce a melody exceeding that 

 of a child's rattle. It consists of what may be called 

 a conic cap inverted, but scarcely hollowed at the 

 base above a foot high, made of a coarse sedge- 

 like plant ; the upper part of which, and the edges, 

 are ornamented with beautiful red feathers ; and to the 

 point, or lower part, is fixed a gourd-shell, larger than 

 the fist. Into this is put something to rattle ; which 

 is done by holding the instrument by the small part, 

 and shaking, or rather moving it, from place to place 

 briskly, either to different sides, or backward and 

 forward, just before the face, striking the breast with 

 the other hand at the same time. The other musical 

 instrument, (if either of them deserve that name) was a 

 hollow vessel of wood, like a platter, combined with 

 the use of two sticks, on which one of our gentlemen 

 saw a man performing. He held one of the sticks, 

 about two feet long, as we do a fiddle, with one hand, 



