1769. ROUND THE WORLD. 101 



in en ted by the flies, which, among other mischief, 

 made it almost impossible for Mr. Parkinson, Mr. 

 Banks's natural-history painter, to work ; for they 

 not only covered his subject so as that no part of its 

 surface could be seen, but even ate the colour off 

 the paper as fast as he could lay it on. We had re- 

 course to musquito-nets and fly-traps, which, though 

 they made the inconvenience tolerable, were very far 

 from removing it. 



On the 22d, Tootahah gave us a specimen of the 

 music of this country : four persons performed upon 

 flutes, which had only two stops, and therefore could 

 not sound more than four notes^ by half tones : they 

 were sounded like our German flutes, except that 

 the performer, instead of applying it to his mouth, 

 blew into it with one nostril, while he stopped the 

 other with his thumb : to these instruments four 

 other persons sung, and kept very good time ; but 

 only one tune was played during the whole concert. 



Several of the natives brought us axes, which they 

 had received from on board the Dolphin, to grind 

 and repair ; but among others tliere was one which 

 became the subject of much speculation, as it appear- 

 ed to be French : after much enquiry, we learnt that 

 a ship had been here between our arrival and the de- 

 parture of the Dolphin, which we then conjectured 

 to have been a Spaniard, but now know to have been 

 the Boudeuse, commanded by M. Bougainville. 



n3 



