14 
PORTER'S JOURNAL. 
not consent to their going on board the ship. After leaving these 
friendly people I proceeded for the frigate, where I found the 
traffic with the canoes that had gone off, had been conducted with 
much harmony. Some of them I passed very close to on their re¬ 
turn, and the natives on board them expressed their extreme sa¬ 
tisfaction by expressions of the most extravagant joy. One of them 
in the fullness of heart, said he was so glad he longed to get 
on shore to dance. On rejoining the ship, I was informed by the 
officers that the natives who had been on board, had expressed 
much surprise at the sight of the goats, sheep, dogs, and other 
animals, but what seemed most to astonish them, was one of the 
large Gallapagoes tortoises: it seemed as though they could not 
sufficiently feast their eyes on it; and to view it more at their ease 
they stretched themselves at full length on the deck around it; and 
this appeared to be their general practice when they wished to 
view leisurely any object that excited their attention, a practice 
which seems to bespeak the natural indolence of this people: and 
yet some circumstances seem to be at variance with this opinion; 
for on occasions they appear capable of the greatest exertions of 
strength and activity, as when paddling their canoes, climbing 
the rocks, &c. The men of this island are remarkably handsome; 
of large stature and well proportioned: they possess every varies 
ty of countenance and feature, and a great difference is observa¬ 
ble in the colour of the skin, which for the most part is that of a 
copper colour: but some are as fair as the generality of working 
people much exposed to the sun of a warm climate. The old 
men, (but particularly the chiefs) are entirely black; but this is 
owing entirely to the practice of tattooing with which they are co¬ 
vered all over, and it requires a close inspection to perceive that 
the blackness of their skin is owing to this cause; and when the 
feye is once familiarised with men ornamented after this manner, 
we perceive a richness in the skin of an old man highly tattooed 
comparable to that which we perceive in a highly wrought piece 
of old mahogany: for, on a minute examination, may be discovered 
innumerable lines curved, straight, and irregular, drawn with the 
utmost correctness, taste and symmetry, and yet apparently without 
order or any determined plan. The young men, the fairness of 
whose skin is contrasted by the ornaments of tattooing, certainly 
