CHAPTER XIV. 



(1.) The Feejee Group. Geographical Description. — (2.) Principal Harbors 

 and Towns. — (3.) Geology. Climate. Productions. — (4.) Zoology. — (5.) 

 Personal Appearance of the Natives. Traits and Characteristics. — (6.) Pop- 

 ulation. Government. — (7.) Dress. Customs and Superstitions. — (8.) Mode 

 of Building Houses and Constructing Canoes. — (9.) Commercial Importance. 

 — (10.) Movements of the Exploring Squadron. Murder of Lieutenant Un- 

 derwood and Midshipman Henry, and Chastisement of the Natives. 



(1.) But very few years have elapsed since any consider- 

 able amount of information has been obtained in resrard to 

 the Feejee Group. Tales of the covetousness, treachery, and 

 barbarity of the inhabitants, were often heard. Occasionally 

 it was said that an European or American vessel had been 

 cast ashore, or had touched at the islands to obtain water or 

 supplies, and that it had been attacked and plundered, and 

 its crew murdered and their bodies devoured at the horrid 

 cannibal repasts of the natives. In consequence of these 

 stories, which were rife in the Pacific, whalers and traders 

 were careful how they ventured thither ; and those who were 

 compelled to do so for the purpose of procuring the provisions 

 with which the islands were bountifully stocked, wary and 

 cautious as they might be, rarely escaped without the loss of 

 one or more articles of property, or some member of the crew. 

 Hidden coral reefs, too, were known to abound in the vicin- 

 ity of the group, upon which vessels were frequently wrecked, 

 and the dangers of the navigation, therefore, also deterred 

 strangers from venturing too far where the sailing was so 

 intricate.* 



* Between the years 1828 and 1840, eight vessels, five of which were Ameri- 

 can, were lost in the Feejee Group, and twelve vessels ran ashore, within the 

 same period, and were more or less damaged. 



