148 AVOYAGETO 



^'"77. obliged, from the change of fcafons, to ufc difTercnt forts 



Decemb«r. o ' O 



*— N at different times. 



Their common diet is made up of, at Icafl, nine-tenths 

 of vegetable food ; and, I beheve, more particulaily, the 

 yr.ahee, or fermented bread-fruir, which enters almoll every 

 meal, has a remarkable cfTcft upon them, preventing a cof- 

 tive habit, and producing a very fenfible coolnefs about 

 them, which could not be perceived in us who fed on ani- 

 mal food. And it is, perhaps, owing to this temperate 

 courfe of life that they have fo few difeafes among them. 



They only reckon five or fix, Avhich might be called 

 chronic, or national diforders ; amongfl; whicli are the 

 dropfy, and ihc/efai, or indolent fv/ellings before mentioned, 

 as frequent at Tongataboo. But this was before. the arrival 

 of the Europeans ; for we have added to this fiiort cata- 

 logue, a difeafe which abundantly fupplies the place of 

 all the others; and is now almoll univerfal. For this 

 they feem to have no effccTiual remedy. The priefls, indeed, 

 fometimes give them a medley of fmiples ; but they own 

 that it never cures them. And yet, they allow, that, in a 

 few cafes, nature, without the ailiftance of a phyfician, ex- 

 terminates the poifon of this fatal difeafe, and a perfedt 

 recovery is produced. They fay, that, if a man is infcdled 

 with it, he will often communicate it to others in the fame 

 houfe, by feeding out of the fame utcnfils, or handling 

 them ; and that, in this cafe, they fretjuently die, while 

 he recovers ; though we fee no reafon why this fliould- 

 happen. 



Their behaviour, on all occafions, feems to indicate a 

 great opennefs and generofity oF difpofition. Omai, in- 

 deed, who, as their countryman, fhould be fuppofcd rather 



willing 



