140 VOYAGE TO THE 



habitual confinement of their canoes. Many of them 

 were naked, with the exception of a maro ; but those 

 who were clothed wore coarse cotton gowns with large 

 sleeves ; and almost every person had a pipe, tobacco- 

 pouch, and match fastened to his girdle. As the 

 Loo-Chooans are reputed to be descended from the 

 Japanese, we naturally sought in the countenances of 

 these people features characteristic of that nation, but 

 found that they bore a much nearer resemblance to 

 those of the Malay tribe. Their manners, however, 

 were very different from those of the Malays ; and they 

 were marked with a degree of courtesy and good 

 breeding, which we certainly should not have expected 

 to find in persons of their humble occupation, and 

 inferior condition in life. 



Having obtained permission to look over the ship, 

 they examined attentively those things which inter- 

 ested them, and when their curiosity was satisfied they 

 made a low bow, and returned to their canoes, leaving 

 us well pleased with their manners. About this time 

 several dolphins swam round the ship, and the fisher- 

 men threw over their lines, and met with tolerable suc- 

 cess. Our lines had for some time been towing- 

 overboard with various devices of flying-fish, pieces of 

 cloth, &c. attached to them, and springing from the 

 water with the rise of the ship, in imitation of the 

 action of the flying-fish, but without any success, and 

 we were happy to take a lesson from our new ac- 

 quaintances. Their lines were similar to ours, but 

 their snoeuds were made of wire, and their hooks, 

 when probably baited, were quite concealed in the 

 body of a flying-fish which had one side of the flesh 

 cut away. Several lines thus prepared were allowed 



