it is reduced to the consistence of a soft paste, and is then put into a vessel somewhat like a butcher's tray, and either made up alone or mixed with banana or _mahi_ sauce, according to the taste of the master, by pouring water upon it by degrees and squeezing it often through the hand. Under this operation it acquires the consistence of a thick custard, and, a large coconut shell full of it being set before him, he sips it as we should do a jelly if we had no spoon to take it from the glass. The meal is then finished by again washing his hands and his mouth, after which the coconut shells are cleaned, and everything that is left is replaced in the basket." The Tahitian dances were often of an elaborate character; but some of them of an immodest nature. The people were very fond of music, and had a great sense of rhythm. Their musical instruments were chiefly drums and flutes. The Tahiti drum was made of a hollow block of wood, solid at one end and covered at the other with sharks' skin. This was beaten by the hand and not with a stick. The flutes upon which the people played had only two stops, and therefore could not sound more than four notes by half-tones. They were not applied to the mouth, but were blown into from one nostril whilst the other was stopped with the performer's thumb. Nevertheless, to the music of these instruments four people would sing in concert, keeping very good time. They also had an expedient for bringing flutes that were played together into unison by rolling a leaf over the end of the shortest, like a sliding tube, moved up or down till they were certain that the playing was in tune, a fact of which they judged with much nicety of ear. They were very fond of singing couplets, especially after dark, to amuse themselves before going to sleep. Their language was a melodious Polynesian dialect, but, being deficient in several consonants, the native rendering of the names of officers and men of the _Endeavour_ was quaintly imperfect. Cook was called Toot. The sailing-master, Mr. Molineux, had a name which they did not attempt to pronounce, so in preference they called him Boba, from his Christian name, Bob (Robert). Gore was turned into Toarro; Solander became Torano; Banks, Tapane; and Petersgill, Petrodero. The Tahitian houses of the better sort were usually built, on a raised clay platform, of bamboo poles and palm thatch or matting. The furniture inside was very simple--little else than mats on the floor. No pottery was required, coconut shells and calabashes taking its place. The houses, when necessary, were lit up at night-time by the kernels of an oily nut, which they stuck on a wooden skewer one over the other. These candles burnt a considerable time, and gave a very tolerable light.