3C) cook's first voyage dec. 



country in the world. Of the ladies of this town 

 some have formed so unfavourable an opinion as to 

 to declare, that they did not believe there was a modest 

 one among them. This censure is certainly too ge- 

 neral ; but what Dr. Solander saw of them when he 

 was on shore, gave him no very exalted idea of their 

 chastity : he told me, that as soon as it was dark, one 

 or more of them appeared in every window, and dis- 

 tinguished those whom they liked, among the gentle- 

 men that walked past them, by giving them nosegays ; 

 that he, and two gentlemen who were with him, re- 

 ceived so many of these favours, that, at the end of 

 their walk, which was not a long one, they threw whole 

 hatfuls of them away. Great allowance must certainly 

 be made for local customs ; that which in one country 

 would be an indecent familiarity, is a mere act of ge- 

 neral courtesy in another ; of the fact, therefore, which 

 I have related, I shall say nothing, but that I am con- 

 fident it is true. 



Neither will I take upon me to affirm, that murders 

 are frequently committed here ; but the churches 

 afford an asylum to the criminal : and as our cock- 

 swain was one day looking at two men, who appeared 

 %o be talking together in a friendly manner, one of 

 them suddenly drew a knife, and stabbed the other ; 

 who not instantly falling, the murderer withdrew the 

 weapon, and stabbed him a second time. He then 

 ran away, and was pursued by some negroes who 

 were also witnesses of the fact ; but whether he 

 escaped or was taken I never heard. 



The country, at a small distance round the town, 

 which is all that any of us saw, is beautiful in the 

 highest degree ; the wildest spots being varied with 

 a greater hixuriance of flowers, both as to number 

 and beauty, than the best gardens in England. 



Upon the trees and bushes sat an almost endless 

 variety of birds, especially small ones, many of them 

 covered with the most elegant plumage ; among 

 v/hich were the humming-bird. Of insects, too, there 



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