It Is Very Populous, The Inhabitants Having Many Cities And Towns Of Different Extent And Grandeur[4].

The country is fertile and well watered, and everywhere diversified with mountains, vallies, rivers, bays, and ports. The natives have no general name for the island, and are entirely ignorant of those of Madagascar and St Lawrence, which are given to it by strangers.

The general population of the island consists of a nation called _Buques_, who have no religion and consequently no priests or places of worship, yet all their youth are circumcised at six or seven years old, any one performing the operation. The natives are not all of one colour; some being quite black with crisp or curled hair like negroes; others not quite so black with lank hair; others again resembling mulatoes; while some that live in the interior are almost white, yet have hair of both kinds. They are of large stature, strong and well made, of clear judgment, and apt to learn. Every man has as many wives as he pleases or can maintain, turning them off at pleasure, when they are sure to find other husbands, all of whom buy their wives from their fathers, by way of repaying the expence of their maintenance before marriage. Their funeral obsequies consist chiefly in feasting the guests; and their mourning in laying aside all appearance of joy, and cutting off their hair or daubing their faces and bodies with clay. Their government is monarchical, their kings or chiefs being called _Andias_, _Anrias_, and _Dias_, all independent of each other and almost continually engaged in war, more for the purpose of plunder than slaughter or conquest.

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