166 VOYAGE TO THE 



manner, and brought down cocoa-nuts (some of 

 which, by the by, had been previously emptied of 

 their contents), sugar-cane, tee-roots, one bunch of 

 bananas, and several clusters of pandanus nuts; 

 these they threw into the boat without soliciting 

 any return ; and, what is more extraordinary, with- 

 out evincing any desire to steal. All the men then 

 quitted us, excepting one, who was as anxious that 

 we should depart as the women were that we should 

 land. Two of these females behaved in a manner 

 which attracted our attention, although we could 

 not account for their conduct ; they waded out to 

 the boats, crying most piteously, striking their 

 breasts, and pulling their hair, which hung loose 

 over their shoulders, with every demonstration of 

 the deepest distress ; and, to our surprise, threw 

 their arms round our necks, and hugged us so close 

 that we could not disengage ourselves from their 

 embrace without violence. As we were quite un- 

 conscious of the nature of their grief, we could offer 

 them no consolation beyond that of kindness, and 

 giving them some beads and trinkets. After a few 

 minutes they disengaged their arms, began dancing, 

 laughing, and saluting us occasionally with a rub of 

 the nose : in the midst of this mirth they would 

 suddenly relapse into grief, and throw their arms 

 about in a frantic way, until I began to fear they 

 might injure themselves ; but this paroxysm was as 

 short as that of the mirth by which it was succeed- 

 ed ; they again began to dance, and were afterwards 

 quite cheerful. The only cause to which we could 

 attribute this extraordinary conduct, or at least for 

 the melancholy part of it, was that they might in 

 some way be connected with the man who had been 



