268 



cook's first voyage 



SEPT. 



they are not loosened, or broken, or forced out, as 

 might be expected, if they were injured by the 

 continual cheiwng of hard and rough substances, 

 but they are gradually wasted like metals that are 

 exposed to the action of powerful acids ; the stumps 

 always adhering firmly to the socket in the jaw, when 

 there is no part of the tooth above the gums : and 

 possibly those who suppose that sugar has a bad 

 effect upon the teeth of Europeans, may not be mis- 

 taken, for it is well known that refined loaf sugar 

 contains a considerable quantity of lime ; and he 

 that doubts whether lime will destroy bone of any 

 kind, may easily ascertain the fact by experiment. 



If the people here are at any time without this 

 odious mouthful, they are smoking. This operation 

 they perform by rolling up a small quantity of to- 

 bacco, and putting it into one end of a tube about 

 six inches long, and as thick as a goose quill, which 

 they make of a palm leaf. As the quantity of to- 

 bacco in these pipes is very small, the effect of it is 

 increased, especially among the women, by swallow- 

 ing the smoke. 



When the natives of this island were first formed 

 into a civil society, is not certainly known, but at 

 present it is divided into five principalities or nigrees : 

 Laai, Seba, Regeeua, Timo, and Massara, each 

 of which is governed by its respective raja or king. 

 The raja of Seba, the principality in which we were 

 ashore, seemed to have great authority, without 

 much external parade or show, or much appearance 

 of personal respect. He was about five-and-thirty 

 years of age, and the fattest man we saw upon the 

 whole island : he appeared to be of a dull phlegmatic 

 disposition, and to be directed almost implicitly by 

 the old man who, upon my presenting him with a 

 sword, had procured us a fair market, in spite of 

 the craft and avarice of the Dutch factors. The 

 name of this person was Mannu Djarme, and it may 

 reasonably be supposed that he was a man of uncom- 



