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you with our Patoo patoos: in this manner they continued to threaten us, venturing by degrees nearer and nearer till they were close alongside, at intervals talking very civily and answering any questions we askd them but quickly renewing their threats till they had by our non-resistance gaind courage enough to begin their war song and dance; after which they either became so insolent that we found it nescessary to chastise them by firing small shot at them, or else threw three or four stones on board and as if content with having offerd such an insult unreveng'd left us.
The War Song and dance consists of Various contortions of the limbs during which the tongue is frequently thrust out incredibly far and the orbits of the eyes enlargd so much that a circle of white is distinctly seen round the Iris: in short nothing is omittd which can render a human shape frightful and deformd, which I suppose they think terrible. During this time they brandish their spears, hack the air with their patoo patoos and shake their darts as if they meant every moment to begin the attack, singing all the time in a wild but not disagreable manner and ending every strain with a loud and deep fetchd sigh in which they all join in concert. The whole is accompanied by strokes struck against the sides of the Boats &c with their feet, Paddles and arms, the whole in such excellent time that tho the crews of several Canoes join in concert you rarely or never hear a single stroke wrongly placd.
This we calld the War song, for tho they seemd fond of using it upon all occasions whether in war or peace they I beleive never omit it in their attacks. Besides this they have several other songs which their women sing prettily enough in parts; they are all in a slow melancholy stile but certainly have more taste in them than could be expected from untaught savages. Instrumental musick they have not, unless a kind of wooden pipe or the shell calld Tritons Trumpet with which they make a noise not much differing from that made by boys with a Cows horn may be calld such. They have indeed besides these a kind of small pipe of wood, crooked and shapd almost like a large tobacco pipe head, but it has hardly more musick in it than a whistle with a Pea in it; but on none of these did I ever hear them attempt to play a tune or sing to their musick.
That they eat the bodies of such of their enemies as are killd in war is a fact which, tho universaly acknowledg'd by them from our first landing
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