of Lord North’s Island. 219 
wish to treat them as friends; upon which the islanders immedi- 
ately rowed up to the rock, and eagerly offered them cocoa-nuts, 
and bread made of the cocoa-nut boiled in a liquor extracted from 
the tree. 
The Pelew Islanders are described by the two seamen, in most 
respects, as they are in the well known but highly colored work 
of Keate, published about fifty years before.* But their first rough 
and ferocious reception of their American prisoners was not such 
as was to have been expected, from the benevolent and amiable 
character given of them by that writer. The men were entirely 
naked ; their eyes had a very singular appearance, being of a red- 
dish color; their noses somewhat flat, but not so flat as those of 
the African, nor their lips so thick. Each of the men was armed 
with a spear and a tomahawk, or hatchet, and some had battle- 
axes. They were fancifully tattooed, on various parts of their bod- 
ies; their hair, naturally coarse and black, like that of the Amer- 
ican Indians, was very long, and hung loosely over their shoul- 
ders, giving them a singular and frightful appearance ; their teeth 
were entirely black, being rendered so by chewing what they called 
abooak (written in Keate’s work pook), that is, the aréca or betel 
nut. They also manifested the same disposition to take, without 
leave, any European articles which were new or interesting to them ; 
among which were the nautical instruments and some clothing. 
The women wore a sort of apron, fastened to the waist by a 
curiously wrought girdle, and extending nearly to the knees, and 
left open at the sides. 
They are said to have been excessively fond of trinkets; and, 
(to adopt the language of the “ Narrative,”) “it would cause a fash- 
* M. de Rienzi has given a brief abstract in his valuable work, before cited, 
Vol. III., p. 81. 
