208 cook's first voyage 1769. 



of life and increases the evil is vice, surely cleanli- 

 ness is a virtue : the want of it tends to destroy both 

 beauty and health, and mingles disgust with our best 

 pleasures. The natives of Otaheite, both men and 

 women, constantly wash their whole bodies in run- 

 ning water three times every day ; once as soon as 

 they rise in the morning, once at noon, and again 

 before they sleep at night, whether the sea or river 

 is near them or at a distance. I have already ob- 

 served, that they wash not only the mouth but the 

 hands at their meals, almost between every morsel ; 

 and their clothes, as well as their persons, are kept 

 without spot or stain ; so that in a large company of 

 these people nothing is suffered but heat, which, 

 perhaps, is more than can be said of the politest as- 

 sembly in Europe. 



