1769. ROUND THE WORLD. 305 



what had been chewed, which had an apjiearance 

 very hke that of tobacco in the same state. In other 

 seasons they have certainly plenty of excellent vege- 

 tables ; but no tame animals were seen among them 

 except dogs, which were very small and ugly. Mr. 

 Banks saw some of their plantations, where the 

 ground was as well broken down and tilled as even in 

 the gardens of the most curious people among us : in 

 these spots were sweet potatoes, coccos or eddas, 

 which are well known and much esteemed both in 

 the East and West Indies, and some gourds : the 

 sweet potatoes were planted in small hills, some 

 ranged in rows, and others in quincunx, all laid by a 

 line with the greatest regularity : the coccos were 

 planted upon flat land, but none of them yet appeared 

 above ground ; and the gourds were set in small 

 hollows, or dishes, much as in England. These 

 plantations were of different extent, from one or two 

 acres to ten : taken together, there appeared to be 

 from 150 to ^00 acres in cultivation in the whole 

 bay, though we never saw an hundred people. Each 

 district was fenced in, generally with reeds, which 

 were placed so close together that there was scarcely 

 room for a mouse to creep between. 



The women were plain, and made themselves more 

 so by painting their faces w^ith red ochre and oil, 

 which, being generally fresh and wet upon their 

 cheeks and foreheads, was easily transferred to the 

 noses of those who thought fit to salute them ; and 

 that they were not wholly averse to such familiarity, 

 the noses of several of our people strongly testified : 

 they were, however, as great coquets as any of the 

 most fashionable ladies in Europe, and the young 

 ones as skittish as an unbroken filly : each of them 

 wore a petticoat, under which there was a girdle, 

 made of the blades of grass highly perfumed, and to 

 the girdle was fastened a small bunch of the leaves 

 of some fragrant plant, which served their modesty 

 as its innermost vejDi. The faces of the men were 



VOL. I. X 



