FIRST VOYAGE 103 



The various other Indian inhabitants of this country 

 attach themselves each to the original jcustoms of that in 

 which either themselves or their ancestors were born ; 

 keeping themselves apart from those of other nations 

 and practising both the virtues and vices peculiar to their 

 own countries. 



The hair of the people, which is black, without a single 

 exception, grows in great abundance. The women fasten 

 it to the crown of the head with a bodkin, having first 

 twisted it into a circle, round which circle they place an 

 elegant wreath of flowers ; so that the whole head-dress has 

 the most beautiful appearance that imagination can form 

 an idea of. 



It is the universal custom, both with the men and women, 

 to bathe in a river once a day, and sometimes oftener, which 

 not only promotes health, but prevents that contraction of 

 filth which would be otherwise unavoidable in so hot a 

 climate. 



Almost every person has read or heard of the Mohawks ; 

 and these people are so denominated from a corruption of 

 the word Amock, which will be well explained by the 

 following story and observations. To run a muck is, to get 

 drunk with opium, and then seizing some offensive weapon, 

 to sally forth from the house, kill the person or persons 

 supposed to have injured the Amock, and any other person 

 that attempts to impede his passage, till he himself is taken 

 prisoner, or killed on the spot. While Captain Cook was 

 at Batavia, a person whose circumstances in life were 

 independent, becoming jealous of his brother, intoxicated 

 himself with opium, and then murdered his brother and two 

 other men who endeavoured to seize him. This man, 

 contrary to the usual custom, did not leave his own house, 

 but made his resistance from within it ; yet he had taken 

 such a quantity of the opium that he was totally delirious. 



During the time that Captain Cook was at Batavia, 

 several instances of the like kind occurred ; and he was 

 informed by an officer, whose duty it was to take such 

 offenders into custody, that hardly a week passed in the year 

 in which he was not obliged to exercise his authority. 

 When he takes one of them alive, he is amply rewarded ; 

 but this is not often the case, as they are so desperate as 

 not to be easily apprehended. When they are killed in the 

 attempt to take them, the officer has only the customary 

 gratification. Those who are taken alive are broken on the 

 wheel, as near as possible to the place where the first murder 

 Was perpetrated ; and, as they are seldom apprehended 

 without being previously wounded, the time of their 

 execution is sooner or later, according to the opinions 



