1769. ROUND THE WORLD. QQS 



him ; and when we sat down to table, they would go 

 out, sit down upon the ground, at two or three yards' 

 distance from each other, and turning their faces dif- 

 ferent ways, take their repast without interchanging 

 a single word. 



The women not only abstain from eating with the 

 men, and of the same victuals, but even have their 

 victuals separately prepared by boys kept for that pur- 

 pose, who deposit it in a separate shed, and attend 

 them with it at their meals. 



But though they would not eat with us or with 

 each other, they have often asked us to eat with them, 

 when we have visited those with whom w^e were par- 

 ticularly acquainted at their houses; and we have 

 often upon such occasions eaten out of the same 

 basket, and drunk out of the same cup. The elder 

 women, however, always appeared to be oifended at 

 this liberty; and if we happened to touch their vic- 

 tuals, or even the basket that contained it, would 

 throw it away. 



After meals, and in the heat of the day, the mid- 

 dle-aged people of the better sort generally sleep : 

 they are indeed extremely indolent; and sleeping and 

 eating is almost all that they do. Those that are 

 older are less drowsy, and the boys and girls are 

 kept awake by the natural activity and sprightliness 

 of their age. 



Their amusements have occasionally been men- 

 tioned in my account of the incidents that happened 

 during our residence in this island, particularly mu- 

 sic, dancing, wrestling, and shooting with the bow ; 

 they also sometimes vie with each other in throwing a 

 lance. As shooting is not at a mark, but for distance ; 

 throwing the lance is not for distance, but at a mark : 

 the weapon is about nine feet long, the mark is 

 the bole of a plantain, and the distance about 

 twenty yards. 



Their only musical instruments are flutes and drums; 

 the flutes are made of a hollow bamboo about a foot 



