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As to their hair, it is curly and crisp, and somewhat woolly. The few women who were seen, and who appeared to be ugly, wore a kind of petticoat, made either of palm leaves, or a plant similar in its nature; but the men, like those of Mallicollo, were almost entirely naked.
The distance from the south end of Mallicollo to the N.W. end of Sandwich Island, is twenty-two leagues in the direction of S.S.E. 1/2 E. In the same direction lie Erromango, Tanna, and Annatom. The first is eighteen leagues from Sandwich Island, and is twenty-four or twenty-five leagues in circuit.
It was at first thought by our navigators, that the inhabitants of Tanna were a race between the natives of the Friendly Islands and those of Mallicollo; but by a short acquaintance with them they were convinced, that they had little or no affinity to either, excepting in their hair. Some few men, women, and children, were seen, whose hair resembled that of the English.
The people seemed not unacquainted with the nature of poison, for when they brought us water on shore, they first tasted it, and then gave us to understand we might with safety drink it. This harbour, which is situated on the N.E. side of Mallicollo, not far from the S.E. end, in latitude 16° 25' 20" S., longitude 167° 57' 23" E., I named Port Sandwich.
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