e human, and said that they were the bones of a dog; upon which
one of the Indians with some eagerness took hold of his own fore-arm,
and thrusting it towards us, said, that the bone which Mr Banks held in
his hand had belonged to that part of a human body; at the same time, to
convince us that the flesh had been eaten, he took hold of his own arm
with his teeth, and made shew of eating: He also bit and gnawe'd the
bone which Mr Banks had taken, drawing it through his mouth, and
shewing, by signs, that it had afforded a delicious repast; the bone was
then returned to Mr Banks, and he brought it away with him. Among the
persons of this family, there was a woman who had her arms, legs, and
thighs frightfully cut in several places; and we were told that she had
inflicted the wounds upon herself, in token of her grief for the loss
of her husband, who had been lately killed and eaten by their enemies,
who had come from some place to the eastward, towards which the Indians
pointed.

The ship lay at the distance of somewhat less than a quarter of a mile
from the shore, and in the morning we were awakened by the singing of
the birds: The number was incredible, and they seemed to strain their
throats in emulation of each other. This wild melody was infinitely
superior to any that we had ever heard of the same kind; it seemed to be
like small bells, exquisitely tuned, and perhaps the distance and the
water between, might be no small advantage to the sound. Upon enquiry,
we were informed that the birds here always began to sing about two
hours after midnight, and continuing their music till sunrise, were,
like our nightingales, silent the rest of the day.[67] In the forenoon,
a small canoe came off from the Indian village to the ship, and among
those that were in it, was the old man who had first come on board at
our arrival in the bay. As soon as it came alongside, Tupia renewed the
conversation that had passed the day before, concerning their practice
of eating human flesh, during which they repeated what they had told us
already; but, said Tupia, where are the heads? do you eat them too? Of
the heads, said the old man, we eat only the brains, and the next time I
come I will bring some of them, to convince you that what we have told
you is truth. After some farther conversation between these people and
Tupia, they told him that they expected their enemies to come very
shortly, to revenge the death of the seven men whom they had k