The bleeding having ceased, she looked up with a smile, and collecting the pieces of cloth which she had used to stanch the blood, threw them into the sea; then plunging into the river, and washing her whole body, she returned to the tents with the same gaiety and cheerfulness as if nothing had happened.

The same thing occurred in the case of a chief, who had given great offence to Mr.Banks, when he and all his followers were overwhelmed with grief and dejection; but one of his women, having struck a shark's tooth into her head several times, till it was covered with blood, the scene was immediately changed, and laughing and good humour took place.

Wallis witnessed the same kind of conduct.

This, therefore, and the tears, are probably considered a sort of expiation or doing penance for a fault.
But the sorrows of these simple and artless people are transient.

Cook justly observes, that what they feel they have never been taught either to disguise or suppress; and having no habits of thinking, which perpetually recall the past and anticipate the future, they are affected by all the changes of the passing hour, and reflect the colour of the time, however frequently it may vary.