156 



A VOYAGE TO 



>777- fize and corpulency, now almoft reduced to fkelctons; and, 

 upon inquiring into the caufe of this aheration, it was uni- 

 verfally allowed to be the ufe of the ava. The fkins of 

 thefe people were rough, dry, and covered with fcales ; 

 which, they fay, every now and then, fall off, and their 

 jtkin is,, as it were, renewed. As an excufe for a pracftice fo 

 dcftrucHiive, they allege, that it is adopted to prevent their 

 growing too fat ; but it evidently enervates them; and, in 

 all probability, fliortens their days. As its efFeds had not 

 been fo vifible, during our former vifits, it is not imlikely 

 that this article of luxury had never been fo much abufed 

 as at this time. If it continues to be fo fafliionable, it bids 

 fair to dcftroy great numbers. 



The times of eating, at Otaheitc, are very frequent. Their 

 firfl: meal, or (as it may rather be called) their laft, as they 

 go to fleep after it, is about two o'clock in the morning ; 

 and the next is at eight. At eleven, they dine ; and again, 

 as Omai cxprellcd it, at two, and at live ; and fup at eight. 

 In this article of domeftic life, they have adopted fome 

 cuftoms which are exceedingly whimfical. The women, for 

 inftance, have not only the mortification of being obliged to 

 eat by themfclvcs, and in a different part of the houfe froni- 

 the men ; but, by a flrange kind of policy, are excluded 

 from a fhare of moll of the better forts of food. They dare 

 not tallc turtle, nor fiih of the tunny kind, which is much 

 elleemed ; nor fome particular forts of the bed plantains ; 

 and it is very fcldom that even thofc of the firft rank are 

 fud'ered to cat pork. The children of each fex alfo eat 

 apart ; and the women, generally, ferve up their own vic- 

 tuals ; for tlicy would certainly ftarve, before any grown 

 man would do them fuch an office. In this, as well as in ' 

 fome other cufloms relative to their eating, tlicrc is a myf- 

 lerious conduvfl, which we could never thoroughly compre- 

 J hcnd 



