lic rejoicing, or feftivity, they would dance the greatest part of the night. "They had no method, that was obferved, of meafuring time but by the height of the fun. Their feafons were divided into the wet and dry, as in other tropical countries. They had fome knowledge of the ftars, having names for feveral of them, which they pointed out to our people.

"Every part of the Pelew islands, that the English vifited, appeared populous, though to what extent of po

pulation they could never afcertain; but probable conjecture might be formed, from Abba Thulle and his allies having fent out, in the laft expedition against Pelew, near four thousand men; nor had our people reafon to fuppofe but that there were many more left behind equally fit for fervice; even had the oocafion required it, perhaps their number of canoes might not have been adequate to carry to battle near their ftrength.

Nderstanding that you would be glad of any authentic in formation refpecting the native Irifh; and, having heen highly entertained with fome curious anecdotes concerning the inhabitants of the islands called the Roffes, on the coaft of Donegal; as a proof of my regard for you, I here prefent you with fome particulars which I have collected, partly from the perfonal converfation, and partly from the literary correfpondence of my worthy friend Mr. N-, of the county of Donegal.

"In the years 1753 and 1754, his brother, then an eminent attorney, prevailed on my friend to accompany a perfon employed to tranfact fome law bufinefs at the Roffes; the people there being then deemed favage and unamenable to law: and, aecordingly, when they understood the purpose of the vifit, they affem

bled with determination to oppofe it accomplishment; and the expedition might have proved both fruitlefs and fatal, if Mr. N had not been mafter at once, both of their language and of his own temper; but by his prudence and good humour, he tempered their paffion; while, by reafoning with them in Irifh, he convinced their underftanding. From their fubfequent demeanour, it appeared, however, the fire which had heated their first indignation, had been kindled by generous principles, natural to the human heart the love of liberty, averfion to change, and attachment to a former landlord.

"During his refidence among them, Mr. N had ample opportunities of obfervation, which he was prompted to attend to, no lefs by neceffity, than by curiofity: on their firft appearance, their drefs at

tracted

tracted his notice; the demands of nature forced him to observe their food, and his being accustomed to elegant accommodation at home, could not fail of exciting aftonishment at their want of even decency in their manner of fleeping.

"Notwithstanding their high latitude and bleak fituation, none of them had more than two garments, and those of flannel of their own manufacture; the men, a waistcoat and breeches, the women a gown and petticoat: but there was no linen in common ufe among them; neither did Mr. N fee above three or four women who wore fhifts, fhoes, or stockings; nor a fingle man with any more than a waistcoat and breeches on him.

"Notwithstanding their feeming neglect of their perfons, thofe iflanders were not without a fpice of vanity; for they had invented dyeftuffs to diverfify the colours of their cloaths; and their dying materials were (all of them) the produce of their own foil: the principal these three; a kind of mud, called Mireblack, made a very deep and durable black; a kind of ftuff called Carker, fcraped off the rocks, made a very fine red; and a kind of plant almost the same and of the same effect as madder. The men's cloaths were of divers colours; but the women's drefs was regularly uniform, black gowns with red petticoats: but there was diftinction obferved in the head-drefs of the females. The maidens wore the front part of their hair neatly platted about the face; the reft hanging down long behind, in feparate locks, platted with hair lace, and adorned at the ends with worsted taffels of divers colours: but the matrons did not plat their hair, only tying it with a small string, below which they let it play loofe upon their backs.

"Their usual fummer diet confifted of milk, curds, and butter, with most excellent fish of several kinds; in winter they lived on potatoes, fifh, rabbits, and butter; fome of them, but very few, had a little bread, made of barley or oatmeal: but, though some used salt to fave their provifion of fish, they had none with their ordinary victuals; the want of which, with the scarcity of bread, at first made their food fo uncomfortable to Mr. N that he rode several miles into the neighbouring country, and could hardly find a fmall fupply for money. In one of the largest islands, called Oiey, they used to kill great numbers of feals, the flesh of which they falted for winter: and were so fond of it as to prefer it to any other kind of meat. When reconciled to Mr. N—-, and pleased with his affability, they became very friendly and kind; and there was every week a fheep bought for him, which coft but fix or feven fhillings, weighing from nine to eleven pounds the quarter, as good mutton as ever he ate; which, with rabbits, lobfters, crabs, fcollops, and oyfters in abundance, made every meal a feat.

"Their houses were but mere huts, confifting chiefly of one room, with the fire in the middle of it: but what furprised Mr. N most, was the extraordinary mode of accommodation for the night's repofe. All the family lay together in one bed; and, if any vifitors came in the evening, they too flept with them; for they fet no bounds to their hofpitality. To provide lodging for the whole company, the youngest men were fent out for heath or bent bufhes: which they spread across the floor, to a length fufficient for the number prefent, and in breadth about fix feet: over

this

this litter, the miftrefs of the houfe laid part of a long plaid or blanket, on which the others, having ftripped off their cloaths, lay down as faft as they could; men and women together all naked: then the miftrefs having drawn the reft of the blanket over them, lay down laft herself, naked alfo. This they call a thorough-bed, and Mr. N was perhaps the only perfon, who had ever before worn, a fhirt in it. Yet this hofpitable people, fo friendly and generous to thofe they knew, appeared at first to strangers to be wild and fierce; but, after a little acquaintance, proved gentle and humane, especially to those they were in awe of; for, in all their fimplicity, there was a strong mixture of cunning.

"They had very little induftry among them; for, fo well contented were they with the gifts of Providence, wherewith those iflands are plentifully furrounded, they had no notion of any other neceffaries of life than what they already were ufed to; and had scarce a wifh beyond the fupply of the prefent moment; that being anfwered, their only care was to provide for their landlord; and to purchase fpirits and tobacco, their only luxury, of which they were all, both men and women, exceffively fond. In fummer, therefore, the men gathered the wreck of fea-weeds, and burnt it to make kelp; of which the landlord, or his agent, got as much as was rated equivalent to the rent; and, if any remained, it was hartered for what they moft wanted or moft defired: the reft of the year, the general and principal employment of the men was fishing, except what was necessary for their potatoes and clothing, or the repairs of their huts and boats. Their boats,

called curraghs, were oval baskets, covered with feal-fkins; and, in fuch weak and tottering veffels, they ventured fo far out as was neceffary, to get fifh enough for their families: but their fhell-fish they got in the following manner: the men went to the rocks with a hook tied to the end of a ftrong rod; and with that they pulled from under the rocks, as many crabs and lobsters as they wanted; the lobfters commonly weighing from five to twelve pounds each: for fcollops and oysters, when the tide was out, the young women waded into the fea where they knew the beds of fuch fifh lay; fome of them naked; others having stripped off their petticoats, went in with their gowns tucked up about their waift; and, by armfulls, brought to fhore whatever number of fcollops and oyfters they thought requifite; the fcollops weighing from two to four pounds each.

"When the weather was favourable, the women frequently affembled in fome neighbouring field, convenient to their huts; where they amufed themselves with knitting and finging in the fun. The oldeft, forming a circular group, fat working in the middle; round them, the reft, in circles, according to their years; the younger furrounding thofe of greater age, and finging alternate, and fometimes in chorus, while the elder continued knitting. Their fongs, called SpeicSeoachs, were recitals of exploits atchieved by the giants, and warriors, and hunters of old. Here it obviously occurs as a matter of reafonable enquiry, what became of all the ftockings made by fo many fo often engaged in knitting, though none of them would (themselves) deign to wear any fuch thing; but, having no better authority to ground

opi

"Their funeral proceffions were no lefs worthy of notice than their other customs. Wrapped in a coarfe woollen cloth, by them called Ebed, the corfe was put into a curragh, with the feet and legs hanging over the ftern; and (with it) a man with a paddle, to conduct the whole train to the ifle of Aran, where their burial ground was: this curragh was followed by that, which carried the priest; next him went the relations of the deceased, in the order of their proximity in kindred; and then as many as had curraghs; and of thefe, Mr. N faw fixty or eighty in a train.

"When Mr. N. returned to Dublin, it was neceffary to bring fome of the men with him from the Roffes; and he found it very difficult to get them dreffed fit to appear in the courts. Yet thefe fame ifland

ers, fo irreconcileable then to the modes of their civilized countrymen, in lefs than forty years became quite another kind of people, totally altered in their carriage and conduct, their habiliments and habitations, their occupations and manner of living; for, when Mr. N paid them a vifit, in 1787, he found them fo much improved by their intercourse with others, that he scarce knew fome of his old acquaintance; and was no lefs pleafed than furprifed at feeing fpruce young lads fashionably dreffed on Sundays, in fattin waistcoats and breeches, with white filk stockings, filver buckles, and ruffled fhirts.

In converfation with an elderly gentleman, who had above forty years ago made the tour of North Britain, when I communicated what I had learned concerning the Roffes; he affured me, that my defcription of these iflanders is an exact picture of what he had feen in the Scotch Highlands and the Orkney Islands.

CLASSICAL

Ν

dern historians, we meet with one remarkable circumftance in which they differ. The ancient hiftorians are dramatic, the modern narrative. The ancients exhibit eminent perfons delivering long fpeeches, adorned, as the occafion may require, with all the graces and force of eloquence. This is feldom done by the moderns. If it is ever neceflary to give an account of what may have been delivered on an intetefting fubject by an eminent fpeaker, they tell us, excepting in fuch works as may be accounted tranflations, or in fuch hiftories, as those of Buchannan and Guicciardini, written manifeftly after the models of antiquity, that he made use of such or fuch arguments; and, adhering strictly to the narrative form, they never venture on the bold er task of difplaying him in his own perfon delivering a long oration.

"I. It is probable, however, that the earliest ancient hiftorians were fot induced to a practice fo peculiar to themselves by critical confidera tions. They adopted it without any reafoning about its advantages. They could ftate no comparison between it and any other form of hif1788.

other, and were led to it, both in its beginnings and continuation, by the particular fituation and circumftances in which they were placed. This may be illuftrated by a few remarks. The earliest hiftorians were mere narrators of facts. They were not very anxious either about inveftigating caufes or tracing effects. If they were defirous of inftructing their readers or hearers, (for the earliest hiftories were often recited to a numerous audience), they were no lefs defirous of amufing them. In fuch compofitions, therefore, they were led to imitate conversation. Their hiftories were, in truth, no other than oral narratives and fto. ries committed to writing. But, in converfation, the narrator of an interefting story becomes animated in his narrative; and if, like the ancient Greeks, he poffefs fenfibility, the spirit exhibited in his ftory will be proportioned to the vivacity of his feelings. Lively feelings, how. over, lead perfons, in relating or defcribing the actions or conduct of others, to become diamatic; that is, to tell us the very words or fay. ings of the perfon they defcribe; and not only fo, but to recite therri

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