The Natives
Of The Friendly And Society Isles Sometimes Catch And Tame Certain
Sorts Of Parroquets And Pigeons, But Never Have Any Breeds Of Them, So
That They Can Scarcely Be Reckoned As Domestic Birds.
The South Sea is
rich in fish, and has a great variety of species, most of which are
good eating, many very delicious, and but a few capable of noxious or
fatal effects.
- E.
[5] This custom is not peculiar to the inhabitants of the Friendly
Isles. See Recherches Philosophiques sur les Americains, tom. ii. p.
253, &c. Of this custom, and of many of the topics mentioned in this
Section, besides others of equal interest, the reader will be supplied
with very ample accounts when he comes to the relation of the 3d
voyage. - E.
[6] It appeared upon the whole, that the customs and language of these
islanders have a great affinity with those of the Otaheitans, and it
would not therefore be very singular to find a coincidence even in
their amusements. The greatest differences between these two tribes,
who must have originated from the same stock, seem to be owing to the
different nature of these islands. The Society Isles are well
furnished with wood, and the tops of these mountains are still covered
with inexhaustible forests. At the Friendly Isles this article is much
scarcer, the surface (at least of those which we have seen) being
almost entirely laid out in plantations. The natural consequence is,
that the houses are lofty and of immense extent in the first group of
islands, but much smaller and less convenient in the last.
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