THEPACIFICOCEAN. 481 



-there were at firfl; bur I faw only the hufband, the wife, and ^^^(J^{^^^ 



their child ; and a fourth perfon who bore the human fliape, ^ /- — ' 



and that was all ; for he was the moft deformed cripple I had 

 ever feen or heard of. The other man was almoft blind ; 

 and neither he, nor his wife, were fuch good-looking people 

 as we had fometimes feen amongft the natives of this coaft. 

 The under-lips of both were bored ; and they had in their 

 pofleffion fome fuch glafs beads as I had met with before 

 amongft their neighbours. But iron was their beloved ar- 

 ..ticle. For four knives, which we had made out of an old 

 iron hoop, I got from them near four hundred pounds 

 weight of fifh, which they had caught on this or the pre- 

 ceding day. Some were trout, and the reft were, in fize 

 and tafle, fome what between a mullet and a herring. I gave 

 the child, who was a girl, a few beads ; on which the 

 mother burft into tears, then the father, then the cripple, 

 and, at laft, to complete the concert, the girl herfelf. But 

 this mufic continued not long*. Before night, we had got 



the 



* Captain King has communicated the following account of his interview with the 

 fame family. " On the 12th, while I attended the wooding party, a canoe full of 

 natives approached us ; and, beckoning them to land, an elderly man and woman 

 came on fhore. I gave the woman a fmall knife, making her underftand, that I 

 would give her a much larger one for fome fifh. She made ilgns to me to follow her. 

 I had proceeded with them about a mile, when the man, in crofling a flony beach, 

 fell down, and cut his foot very much. This made me flop ; upon which the wo- 

 man pointed to the man's eyes, which, I obferved, were covered with a thick, white 

 film. He afterward kept clofe to his wife, who apprized him of the obftacles in his 

 way. The woman had a little child on her back, covered with the hood of her 

 jacket : and which I took for a bundle, till I heard it cry. At about two miles dif- 

 tance wc came to their open fkin boat, which was turned on its fide, the convex part 

 toward the wind, and ferved for their houfe. I was now made to perfoi m a fin^ular 

 operation on the man's eyes. Firft, I was dire^lcd to hold my breath ; afterward, to 

 breathe on the difeafcd eyes j and next, to fpit on them. The woman then took both 

 my hands, and preffing ihem to his ftomach, held them there for fome time, while flie 

 related fome calamitous hiftory of her family ; pointing fometim.es to her hufband. 



Vol. II. 3 Q. fometimes 



