JESTS AND RAILLERY. 
97 
from the circumstance of one of their people, the 
first time she saw a foreigner who wore boots, 
exclaiming, with astonishment, that the individual 
had iron legs. It is also said, that among the first 
scissors possessed by the Huahineans, one pair 
became exceedingly dull, and the simple-hearted 
people, not knowing how to remedy this defect, 
tried several experiments, and at length baked the 
scissors in a native oven, for the purpose of sharpen¬ 
ing them. Hence the people of Huahine are often 
spoken of in jest by the Tahitians, as the feia eu 
paoti , or people that baked the scissors. The 
Tahitians themselves were in their turn subjects of 
raillery, from some of their number, who resided at 
a distance from the sea, attempting, on one occa¬ 
sion, to kill a turtle by pinching its throat, or strang¬ 
ling it, when the neck was drawn into the shell, on 
which they were surprised to find they could make 
no impression with their fingers. The Huahineans, 
therefore, in their turn, spoke of the Tahitians as 
the feia uumi honu , the people that strangled 
the turtle. 
Their humour and their jests were, however, but 
rarely what might be termed innocent sallies of wit; 
they were in general low and immoral to a disgust¬ 
ing degree. Their common conversation, when 
engaged in their ordinary avocations, was often such 
as the ear could not listen to without pollution, 
presenting images, and conveying sentiments, whose 
most fleeting passage through the mind left con¬ 
tamination. Awfully dark, indeed, was their moral 
character, and notwithstanding the apparent mild T 
ness of their disposition, and the cheerful vivacity 
of their conversation, no portion of the human race, 
was ever perhaps sunk lower in brutal licentiousness 
and moral degradation, than this isolated people, 
H 
