Joseph Banks - Endeavour Journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 - No. 0436
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[Page 436]
Manners & Customs of S. Sea Islanders
they excell, Red & Yellow the first of these is most beautifull I might almost venture to say a more delicate colour than any we have in Europe aproaching however nearest to Scarlet the second is a good bright colour but of no particular excellence They also upon some occasions dye brown & black but so seldom that I had not an opportunity during my stay to see the methods or learn the materials which they make use of I shall therefore say no more of these Colours than that they were so indifferent in their qualities that they did not much raise my curiosity to enquire concerning them
To begin then with the red in favour of which I shall premise that I beleive no Voyager has past these seas but he has said something in praise of this colour the brightness & elegance of which is so great that it cannot avoid being taken notice of by the slightest observer. This colour is made by the admixture of the Juices of two vegetables neither of which in their seperate state have the least tendency to the colour of Red nor have any Parts of them that I have at least been able to observe any circumstance relating to them from whence any