with most of the inhabitants of these seas, they have never appeared, in
the smallest degree, hostile; but, on the contrary, like the most
civilized people, have courted an intercourse with, their visitors by
bartering, which is the only medium that unites all nations in a sort of
friendship. They understand barter (which they call _fukkatou_) so
perfectly, that at first we imagined they might have acquired this
knowledge of it by commercial intercourse with the neighbouring islands;
but we were afterward assured, that they had little or no traffic,
except with Feejee, from which they get the red feathers, and the few
other articles mentioned before. Perhaps no nation in the world traffic
with more honesty and less distrust. We could always safely permit them
to examine our goods, and to hand them about one to another; and they
put the same confidence in us. If either party repented of the bargain,
the goods were re-exchanged with mutual consent and good-humour. Upon
the whole, they seem possessed of many of the most excellent qualities
that adorn the human mind; such as industry, ingenuity, perseverance,
affability, and, perhaps, other virtues which our short stay with them
might prevent our observing.
The only defect sullying their character, that we know of, is a
propensity to thieving, to which we found those of all ages, and both
sexes, addicted, and to an uncommon degree. It should, however, be
considered, that this exceptionable part of their conduct seemed to
exist merely with respect to us; for, in their general intercourse with
one another, I had reason to be of opinion, that thefts do not happen
more frequently (perhaps less so) than in other countries, the dishonest
practices of whose worthless individuals are not supposed to authorise
any indiscriminate censure on the whole body of the people. Great
allowances should be made for the foibles of these poor natives of the
Pacific Ocean, whose minds were overpowered with the glare of objects,
equally new to them, as they were captivating. Stealing, amongst the
civilized and enlightened nations of the world, may well be considered
as denoting a character deeply stained with moral turpitude, with
avarice unrestrained by the known rules of right, and with profligacy
producing extreme indigence, and neglecting the means of relieving it.
But at the Friendly and other islands which we visited, the thefts, so
frequently committed by the natives, of what we had brought
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