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Besides these Amusements they have several others and are very fond of Cock fighting which is Mostly their Morning diversion — they never trim the Cocks nor use any Spurs, but their natural ones; while the Cocks are fighting the Owners are praying for the Success of their Cocks an[d] as soon as they appear fatigued by the Heat they part them till they are recovered and then put them together again. They never fight for any wager but Merely for sport, and somtimes 200 Cocks are brought to the Pit, one Part of the District fighting their Cocks against the Other and a Feast is provided by the party who sent the Challenge let whoever win or loose — In the evenings they Play the Flute and sing till bed time — somtimes they accompany their Music with drums — their Flutes are made of Bamboo having only three holes. Consequently [they] have but few Notes, which however they Vary and tune to each other and their sound is soft and Not inharmonious, they blow the instrument with one Nostril, stopping the other with one thumb, and with the second finger of the same hand stop the second hole, the third being near the lower end is stopd or Opened by the fore finger of the Other hand.
Their Drums are Hollow Cellinderical peices of Wood Covered with a Sharks Skin on which they beat with their fingers and they are loud and Clear, they generally have two for base and Tennor, the one about 4 feet high and 10 or 12 inches over and the other of the same diameter but only. 18 or 20 inches high — They have also large Base Drums in their Morais which with Conch Shells are used by the Priests on Solem religious Ceremonies. These Drums are constantly beating when any thing ails the Chief. When the Westerly Winds prevail they have a heavy surf Constantly running to a prodigious height on the Shore & this Affords excellent diversion and the part they Choose for their Sport is where the Surf breaks with Most Violence — when they go to this diversion they get peices of Board of any length with which they swim out to the back of the surf, when they Watch the rise of a surf somtimes a Mile from the shore & laying their Breast on the board, keep themselves poised on the Surf so as to come in on the top of it, with amazing rapidity watching the time that it breaks, when they turn with great Activity and diving under the surge swim out again towing their plank with them — at this diversion both Sexes are Excellent, and some are so expert us to stand on their board till the Surf breaks — the Children also take their sport
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Indigenous Histories |  |
© Derived from the 1935 Print Edition edited by Owen Rutter, page 226, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-morrison-101.html