him, reserving the smallest share to himself. They seldom walked
singly, but mostly in pairs, hand in hand. They seemed of meek
and gentle dispositions, having no appearance of cruelty in their
countenances or behaviour, yet seemed haughty towards their women.
They lead a careless life, having every thing in common, and seemed to
desire nothing beyond the necessaries of life. They never once offered
to pilfer or steal any of our tools or other utensils; and such was
their honesty, that my men having forgotten their axes one day on
shore, while cutting wood, which was noticed by one of the natives, he
told it to the king, who sent into the wood for the axes, and restored
them with much apparent satisfaction.

Their language is guttural and harsh, and they talk a great deal, but
I could never understand a single word they spoke. Their dwellings
were very mean, being scarcely sufficient to shelter them. Their diet
is, I believe, mostly fish, which they frequently eat raw, but they
sometimes bake it in the sand. They seldom want abundance of this
food, as the men go out to sea on their bark-logs, and are very expert
harponiers. Their harpoons are made of hard wood, and with these
they strike the largest albicores, and bring them ashore on their
bark-logs, which they row with double paddles. This seemed strange
to us, who had often experienced the strength of these fish; for
frequently when we had hold of one of these with very large hooks,
made fast to eight-strand twine, we had to bring the ship to, to bring
them in, and it was then as much as eight or ten men could do; so that
one would expect, when an Indian had struck one of these fish,
from his light float, it would easily run away with the man and the
bark-log; but they have some sleight in their way of management, by
which the strength and struggling of these fish are all in vain. There
are hardly any birds to be seen in this country except a few pelicans.