We Purchased Several Beautiful
Parroquets, Pigeons, And Doves, Which They Brought To Us Perfectly
Tame; And Our Young Borabora Man, Mahine (Or Odeedee), Traded With
Great Eagerness For Ornaments Made Of Bright Red Feathers, Which He
Assured Us Had An Extraordinary Value At Otaheite And The Society
Islands.
Here they were commonly pasted to aprons used in their
dances, and made of the fibres of cocoa-nuts,
Or fixed upon bananoe
leaves, forming rhomboidal frontlets or diadems; and with a degree of
extacy, which gave the greatest weight to his assertion, he shewed us
that a little piece of feather-work, as broad as two or three fingers,
would purchase the largest hog in his island." - G.F.
[2] "We left the beach after the first acquaintance with the natives,
and ascended a few feet into a wild forest consisting of tall trees,
intermixed with shrubberies. This wood, though narrow, being in many
places not above one hundred yards wide, was continued along the shore
of Van Diemen's road, being more or less open in various parts. Beyond
it the whole island was perfectly level. We walked across a piece of
uncultivated land, about five hundred yards wide, which adjoined to
the wood. Part of it appeared to have been planted with yams, but the
rest was full of grass, and had a little swamp in the middle, where
the purple water-hen, or poula sultane, resided in great numbers. As
soon as we left this, we entered into a lane about six feet wide,
between two fences of reed, which inclosed extensive plantations on
each side.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 345 of 885
Words from 93149 to 93415
of 239428
