PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 45 



by engrossing the attention of the seamen by their 

 caresses and ludicrous gestures. 



In proceeding to the landing-place, the boats had {J25 

 to pass a small isolated rock which rose several feet 

 above the water. As many females as could possibly 

 find room crowded upon this eminence, pressing 

 together so closely, that the rock appeared to be a 

 mass of living beings. Of these Nereids three or 

 four would shoot off at a time into the water, and 

 swim with the expertness of fish to the boats to try 

 their influence on their visiters. One of them, a 

 very young girl, and less accustomed to the water 

 than her companions, was taken upon the shoulders 

 of an elderly man, conjectured to be her father, and 

 was, by him, recommended to the attention of one 

 of the officers, who, in compassion, allowed her a 

 seat in his boat. She was young, and exceedingly 

 pretty ; her features were small and well made, her 

 eyes dark, and her hair black, long, and flowing ; 

 her colour, deep brunette. She was tattooed in 

 arches upon the forehead, and, like the greater part 

 of her countrywomen, from the waist downward to 

 the knee in narrow compact blue lines, which at a 

 short distance had the appearance of breeches. Her 

 only covering was a small triangular maro, made of 

 grass and rushes ; but this diminutive screen not 

 agreeing with her ideas of propriety in the novel 

 situation in which she found herself, she remedied 

 the defect by unceremoniously appropriating to that 

 use a part of one of the officers' apparel, and then 

 commenced a song not altogether inharmonious. 

 Far from being jealous of her situation, she aided all 

 her countrywomen who aspired to the same seat of 

 honour with herself, by dragging them out of the 



