PELEW 1 
food, which confided chiefly of fifli; and they had alfo a 
kind of fweetmeats, which they prepared from the fugar- 
cane, which feemed to be indigenous. The milk of the 
cocoa-nut was their ufual beverage. They had no me¬ 
thod of meafuring time, but by the height of the fun ; 
and they divided their feafons, like the inhabitants of 
other tropical countries, into wet and dry. They ap¬ 
peared to have fome knowledge of the ftars, to feveral of 
■which they gave names. Thofe iflands that were vifited 
by the Englifli appeared to be populous, but the account 
of their population was not afcertained. Their houfes 
were placed upon large ftones, and railed about three feet 
from the ground ; being conftrufted of planks and bam¬ 
boos, and having the fire-place in the middle, feeured 
with hard rubbifh. Their fifhing- hooks were of tortoife- 
fhell: their twine, cord, and filhing-nets, were well manu¬ 
factured from the hulks of the cocoa-nuts. Th.e mats 
on which they flept, and which they threw over them at 
reft, were formed of plantain-leaf. At their meals they 
ufed a plaintain-leaf inftead of a plate, and the (hell of a 
cocoa-nut ferved them as a cup, which they fometimes 
finely polilhed. Their beft knives were of mother-of- 
pearl, and others of a large mufcle-lhell, or fplit bamboo, 
They had alfo veflels of an oval lhape and reddifti-brown 
colour, which were a kind of earthen-ware, and which 
they ufed for heating their water, and for boiling their 
fifli, yams, See. The principal weapons ufed in their 
battles were fpears, about twelve feet long, formed of 
the bamboo, having its pointed end of very hard wood : 
thefe were barbed tranfverfely, nor could they be drawn 
from the body without lacerating the flelh. Another 
weapon was the dart and fling; the fling was a piece of 
wood about two feet long, with a notch made in it, 
wherein the head of the dart was fixed. The dart was of 
bamboo, pointed with extremely hard wood. Their ca¬ 
noes were formed of the trunks of trees, and neatly orna¬ 
mented. 
The natives of thefe i(lands are a. flout well-made 
people, rather above the middling ftature ; their com¬ 
plexion is of a far deeper colour than what is under- 
flood by the Indian copper, but . not black. They are 
mild, affable, and indurtrious, and, like the inhabitants 
of Otaheite, they form an exception to the general rule 
of favage exiftence. Their hair is long and flowing, ra¬ 
ther difpofed to curl, which they rnoftly form into one 
large loofe curl round their heads: fome of the women, 
who wore remarkably long hair, let it hang loofe down 
their backs. The men were entirely naked : the women 
wore only two little aprons, or rather thick fringes, one 
before and one behind, about ten inches deep and feven 
wide: thefe were made of the hulks of the cocoa-nut 
ftripped into narrow flips, which they dyed with different 
(hades of yellow : this, which was their only drefs, they 
tied round their waifts, commonly with a piece of line, 
though fuch as were of higher rank ufed a ft ring of fome 
kind of beads. Both men and women were tattooed, or, as 
they called it, melgothecl; an operation which is fuppofed 
to have taken place at a certain period of youth, children 
of either fex not being marked by it. The men had their 
left ear bored, and the women both : a few of the firft 
wore beads in the perforated ear; the latter put either 
fome leaf through, or an ear-ring of tortoife-(hell inlaid. 
The cartilage between the noftrils was alfo bored in both 
fexes, through which they frequently put a little fprig or 
blofibm of fome plant or ftirub that accidentally caught 
their fancy. When the men and women grew up, their 
teeth were blacked, which was done by means of fome 
dye; and the operation was tedious and painful. For 
this purpofe they ufed groundfel, with four other 
herbs, bruifed together, and mixed with a little chinam 
into a pafte, which was applied to the teeth every 
morning, in order to dye them black; the patients 
lying with their heads upon the floor, and letting the 
laliva run out of their mouths. At night the pafte 
■was taken away, and they were permitted to eat a lit- 
S L A N D S. 509 
tie. The fame procefs was Repeated the day follow, 
ing 5 and five days were neceflary to complete the opera¬ 
tion. This occafioned great trouble, and made them 
extremely fick. 
Perfons of both fexes were very expert at fwimming, 
and appeared to be as perfectly at eafe in the water as on 
land. The men were admirable divers. Their marriages 
were probably no more than a civil contract, but at the 
fame time the contract was regarded as inviolable. They 
allowed a plurality of wives, but in general had not more 
than two : the king had five, though not living together. 
They did not appear to be in any degree jealous of them, 
permitting them to partake of all their diverfions. When 
a woman was pregnant, (he always feparated from her 
hufband at night, and it was obferved that the utmoft 
attention was paid to women in that fituation. Their 
children are named foon after they are born, and proba¬ 
bly without any ceremony. Some peculiar circum- 
ftances attended their funerals. At the place of inter¬ 
ment, an elderly woman was obferved to get out of the 
new-made grave, who was fuppofed by thofe who attend¬ 
ed to be the mother or fome near relation, who had been 
drawn by affeCtion to the melancholy feene, in order to 
be fatisfied that every thing was duly prepared. When 
the corpfe was laid in the earth, the lamentation of the 
women that attended was very great. Thefe laft fad offices 
feemed to be wholly left to the tendernel's of the weaker 
fex : the men only alfembled round the body before it was 
carried to the grave, where they preferved a folemn filence. 
They had places appropriated to fepulture. Their graves 
were made like ours in country church-yards; having the 
mould raifed up in a ridge over the place where the 
body was depofited, fome flat ftones raifed above them, 
with a flat one laid horizontally over, and furrounded by 
a kind of hurdle-work, to prevent any one from treading 
over them. 
On the article of religion the editor obferves, that our 
people during their continuance with the natives of Pe- 
lew, never law any particular ceremonies, or obferved 
any thing that had the appearance of public worfliip. 
But it would perhaps be going too far to declare that the 
people of Pelew had abfolutely no idea of religion. A 
few occurrences, which are mentioned in the courfe of 
the narrative, would lead us to believe that they could 
not be altogether unacquainted with the nature of reli¬ 
gious worfliip; for, when they were prefent at the public 
prayers of the Englifli, they exprefled no furprife at what 
was doing, but feemed defirous to join in them, and con- 
ftantly preferved the mod profound filence. The general 
even refufed to receive a meflage from the king which 
arrived during divine fervice. And upon another occa- 
fion, when Captain Wilfon told Lee Boo, that good men 
would live again above, he replied, with great earneftnefs, 
“ All fame Pelew : bad men flay in earth ; good men go 
into (ky; become very beautifulholding his hand up, 
and giving a fluttering motion to his fingers. 
The mod wonderful circumftances in the hiftory of this 
people, are the acutenefs of their underftanding, their 
hofpitality, and the implicit confidence which they placed, 
in utter Strangers. That their manners were pleafing, 
and their fociety not difagreeable, is evident from the 
conduit of-Madan Blanchard, one of the feamen, who, 
when the veflel was built and ready to take her departure 
with his captain and his companions, was left behind at 
his own particular requeft. That they had the fulled 
confidence in Capt. Wilfon and his crew, is put beyond a 
doubt by the behaviour of the king and Raa Kook 
when their guefts were to leave them. Raa Kook foli¬ 
ated his brother’s permifiion to accompany the Englifli, 
but from prudential motives was refufed. The Sove¬ 
reign, however, rel'olved to entruft his fecond fon Lee 
Boo to Capt. Wilfon’s care, that he might improve his 
mind, and learn fuch things as at his return would bene¬ 
fit his country. 
The inltruCtions which he gave the young man, and 
the 
