150 A V O Y A G E T O 



»777- prcfll'd a diflike to our complicated compofitions, vet were 



December. ' * 



" ' they always delighted with the more melodious founds pro- 

 duced fingly on our inftruments, as approaching nearer to 

 the fimplicity of their own. 



Neither are they Grangers to the foothing effedls pro- 

 duced by particular forts of motion ; which, in fome cafes, 

 feem to allay any perturbation of mind, with as much fuc- 

 cefs as miific. Of this, I met with a remarkable inftance. 

 For on walking, one day, about Matavai Point, where our 

 tents were erecTted, I faw a man paddling, in a fmall canoe, 

 fo quickly, and looking about with fuch cagernefs, on each 

 fide, as to command all my attention. At firll, I imagined 

 that he had flolen fomething from one of the fliips, and 

 was purfued ; but, on waiting patiently, faw him repeat his 

 amufement. He went out from the fhore, till he was near 

 the place where the fwell begins to take its rife ; and, 

 watching its firft motion very attentively, paddled before it, 

 ■with great quicknefs, till he found that it overtook him, and 

 had acquired fufFicient force to carry his canoe before it, 

 without pafling underneath. He then fat motionlefs, and 

 was carried along, at the fame fwift rate as the wave, till it 

 landed him upon the beach. Then he ilarted out, emptied 

 his canoe, and went in fearch of another fwell. I could not 

 help concluding, that this man felt the mod fupreme plea- 

 . fure, while he was driven on, fo fail and fo fmootlily, by the 

 fea; efpccially as, though the tents and fhips were fo near, 

 he did not fecm, in the Icaft, to envy, or even to take any 

 notice of, the crowds of his countrymen colle(5tcd to view 

 them as obje(fl:s which were rare and curious. During my 

 flay, two or three of the natives came up, who feemed to 

 fliare his felicity, and always called out, when there was 

 an appearance of a favourable fwell, as he fomctimcs miiT- 



