1770. ROUND THE WORLD. 157 



had been left upon the shoal, returned with three 

 turtles and a large skeat. As it seemed now pro- 

 bable that this fishery might be prosecuted with ad- 

 vantage, I sent her out again after breakfast, for a 

 further supply. Soon after, three Indians ventured 

 down to Tupia's tent, and were so well pleased with 

 their reception, that one of them went with the 

 canoe to fetch two others whom we had never seen : 

 when he returned, he introduced the strangers by 

 name, a ceremony which, upon such occasions, was 

 never omitted. As they had received the fish that 

 was thrown into their canoe, when they first approach- 

 ed the ship, with so much pleasure, some fish was 

 offered to them now, and we were greatly surprised 

 to see that it was received with the greatest indiffer- 

 ence : they made signs, however, to some of the 

 people, that they should dress it for them, which 

 was immediately done, but after eating a little of it, 

 they threw the rest to Mr. Banks's dog. They staid 

 with us all the forenoon, but would never venture 

 above twenty yards from their canoe. We now * 

 perceived that the colour of their skin was not so 

 dark as it appeared, what we had taken for their 

 complexion, being the effects of dirt and smoke, in 

 which we imagined, they contrived to sleep, not- 

 withstanding the heat of the climate, as the only 

 means in their power to keep off* the musquitos. 

 Among other things that we had given them when 

 we first saw them, were some medals, which we had 

 hung round their necks by a ribband ; and these 

 ribbands were so changed by smoke, that we could 

 not easily distinguish of what colour they had been : 

 this incident led us more narrowly to examine the 

 colour of their skin. While these people were with 

 us, we saw two others on the point of land that lay 

 on the opposite side of the river, at the distance of 

 about two hundred yards, and by our glasses dis- 

 covered them to be a woman and a boy -, the woman, 

 like the rest, being stark naked. We observed, that 



