These
Ridges Are Sometimes The Divisions To The Horizontal Plantations; And When
This Method Is Used, Which Is For The
Most part observed where a pathway,
or something of that sort, is requisite, not an inch of ground is lost.
Perhaps there may be some difference in the roots, which may make these two
methods of raising them necessary. Some are better tasted than others, and
they are not all of a colour; but be this as it may, they are very
wholesome food, and the tops make good greens, and are eaten as such by the
natives. On these plantations men, women, and children were employed.
In the afternoon I went on shore, and, on a large tree, which stood close
to the shore, near the watering-place, had an inscription cut, setting
forth the ship's name, date, &c. as a testimony of our being the first
discoverers of this country, as I had done at all others, at which we had
touched, where this ceremony was necessary. This being done, we took leave
of our friends, and returned on board; when I ordered all the boats to be
hoisted in, in order to be ready to put to sea in the morning.
[1] "The land, when discovered, appeared to be very high, and its
distance from us was about eight leagues, being seen through a haze,
which made it appear farther off than it really was. M. de
Bougainville takes notice of meeting with a part of the sea which was
entirely smooth, and where several pieces of wood and fruits floated
past his ship. This was nearly to the N.W. of the land which we now
discovered, and which, as an able and intelligent navigator, he had
conjectured to be in that direction." - G.F.
[2] A very striking proof of this is mentioned by Mr G.F. These
people, he says, laid some of their canoes on both sides of the
channel, in a place where it was narrow, and then beckoned to the
boats to keep in the middle between them. According to this gentleman,
the face of the country had a barren appearance, and was covered with
a sort of whitish grass, and trees somewhat resembling willows were
thinly spread on the mountains. - E.
[3] Mr. G.F. who shot the duck, tells us, that the natives expressed
some admiration, but not the smallest fear, at the report and effects
of the firearms. - E.
[4] "The whole plantation we saw, had a very scanty appearance, and
seemed to be insufficient to afford nourishment to the inhabitants
throughout the year. We entirely missed that variety of fruits, which
we had hitherto met with in the tropical islands, and naturally
recollected the poverty of the inhabitants of Easter Island, above
whom it appeared, that the people before us enjoyed but few
advantages. Towards the hills, of which the first risings were at the
distance of about two miles, the country looked extremely dreary; here
and there, indeed, we saw a few trees, and small uncultivated spots,
but they appeared to be lost on the great extent of barren and
unprofitable country, which resembled our moors more than any thing
else." - G.F.
[5] Mr G.F., who seems to have accompanied the watering-party, gives
the following account of the appearance of the country. - "We walked
along the beach which was sandy, and bounded by a fine wild shrubbery;
we soon came to a hut, from whence a number of plantations extended to
the back of the bank and wild wood. We rambled into the country, and
came to a canal that watered this plantation, but of which the water
was very brackish. From hence, however, we ran immediately to an
eminence near us, where the nature of the country appeared evidently
changed. The plain was covered with a thin stratum of vegetable soil,
which being very poor, was manured in the plantations with broken
shells and corals. The eminence, on the contrary, was a rocky ground,
consisting of large pieces of quartz and glimmer (mica). Here grew a
quantity of dry grasses, about two or three feet high, very thin in
most places; and at the distance of fifteen or twenty yards asunder,
we saw large trees black at the root, but with a bark perfectly whole
and loose, and having narrow long leaves like our willows. They were
of the sort which Linne calls melaleuca leucadendra, and Rumphius
arbor alba, who says that the natives of the Moluccas make the oil
of cayputi, from the leaves, which are indeed extremely fragrant and
aromatic. Not the least shrub was to be seen on this eminence, and the
trees did not intercept the distant prospect. We discerned from hence
a line of tufted trees and shrubberies, which extended from the sea-
side towards the mountains, and immediately concluded that they stood
on the banks of a rivulet. The banks of this were lined with
mangroves, beyond which a few other sorts of plants and trees occupied
a space of fifteen or twenty feet, which had a layer of vegetable
mould, charged with nutritive moisture, and covered with a green bed
of grasses, where the eye gladly reposed itself after viewing a
painted prospect. The border of shrubberies and wild-trees which lined
the sea-shore, was the most advantageous to us as naturalists; here we
met with some unknown plants, and saw a great variety of birds of
different classes, which were for the greatest part entirely new. But
the character of the inhabitants, and their friendly inoffensive
behaviour towards us, gave us greater pleasure than all the rest. We
found their number very inconsiderable, and their habitations very
thinly scattered. They commonly had built two or three houses near
each other, under a group of very lofty fig-trees, of which the
branches were so closely entwined, that the sky was scarcely visible
through the foliage, and the huts were involved in a perpetual cool
shade.
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