224 VQYAGE IN SEARCH 



through the belly, in the affair that had hap- 

 pened between them and us ; but we did not 

 entirely give credit to this ftory, becaufe v,e 

 thought that they had told it in their own favour 

 in order to avoid being fufpecled by us. 



They had brought an inftrument which they 

 call nbouet^ a name they alfo give to their tombs. 

 It was formed of a fme piece of flat ferpent- 

 ftone, Iharp on the edges, cut nearly in an oval 

 fliape, pcrfecflly polifhed, and of the length of a 

 double decimeter. It was perforated with two 

 holes, in each of which palfed two very pliable 

 ilicjts that fixed it into a wooden handle, to 

 which they were confined by cords of bat's 

 hair; this inilrument was borne on a Hand made 

 out of a cocoa-nut fnell, which was alfo faftened 

 bv cords of the fame kind, fome of which were 

 thicker. (See Plate XXXFIIL Fig. 19.; We 

 had not till now been able to learn the ufe of 

 this inflrument ; thefe favages informed us that 

 it fcrved to cut otf the limbs of their enemies, 

 which they fliare after battle. One of them de- 

 nionftrated its ufe on a man belonging to our 

 fhip, who lay down on his back at the other's 

 requeft. He lirlt reprefcnted a battle, in which 

 he fignified to us that the enemy fell under the 

 flroke of his dart, and the blows of his club, 

 which he wielded with violence; he then per- 

 formed a fort of Pyrrhic dance, holding in his 



hand 



