PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 251 



The discoveries of Mr. Turnbull are so loosely c ^l' 

 related in his entertaining Voyage, that their situa- ^— - y— i 

 tion cannot be entertained ; and unless some better 18 e 2 6. 

 clue to them is given, they will always be liable to 

 be claimed by subsequent navigators. 



Of the thirty-two islands which have thus been 

 visited in succession, only twelve are inhabited, 

 including Pitcairn Island, and the amount of the 

 population altogether cannot possibly exceed three 

 thousand one hundred souls ; of which one thousand 

 belong to the Gambier groupe, and twelve hundred 

 and sixty to Easter Island, leaving eight hundred 

 and forty persons only to occupy the other thirty 

 islands. 



All the natives apparently profess the same reli- 

 gion ; all speak the same language, and are in all 

 essential points the same people. There is a great 

 diversity of features and complexion between those 

 inhabiting the volcanic islands and the natives of 

 the coral formations, the former being a taller and 

 fairer race. This change may be attributed to a 

 difference of food, habits, and comfort ; the one 

 having to seek a daily subsistence upon the reefs, 

 exposed to a burning sun and to the painful glare 

 of a white coral beach, while the other enjoys plen- 

 tifully the spontaneous produce of the earth, reposes 

 beneath the genial shade of palm or bread-fruit 

 groves, and passes a life of comparative ease and 

 luxury. 



It has hitherto been a matter of conjecture how 

 these islands, so remote from both great continents, 

 have received their aborigines. The intimate con- 

 nexion between the language, worship, manners, 

 customs, and traditions of the people who dwell 

 upon them, and those of the Malays and other in- 



