J74 A VOYAGE TO 



^>777- a few differences which fhould be mentioned; as this may 



December. •' 



lead to an inquiry about more material ones hereafter, if 

 fuch there be, of which we are now ignorant. 



With regard to the little ifland Mataia, or Ofnaburgh 

 Illand, which lies twenty leagues Eaft of Otaheite, and be- 

 longs to a Chief of that place, who gets from thence a kind 

 of tribute ; a different dialect from that of Otaheite is 

 there fpoken. The men of Mataia alfo wear their hair 

 very long ; and, when they fight, cover their arms with a 

 fubftance which is befet with fharks teeth, and their bodies 

 with a fort of fliagreen, being flcin of fiflies. At the fame 

 time, they are ornamented with poliffied pearl fliells, which 

 make a prodigious glittering in the fun ; and they have a 

 very large one, that covers them before, like a fliield or 

 breaft-platc. 



The language of Otaheite has many words, and even 

 phrafes, quite unhke thofe of the iflands to the Weftward of 

 it, which all agree; and it is remarkable for producing great 

 quantities of that delicious fruit we called apples, which 

 arc found in none of the others, except Eimeo. It has alfo 

 the advantage of producing an odoriferous wood, called 

 eahoi, which is highly valued at the other ifles where there 

 is none ; nor even in the South Eafi: peninfula, or Tiaraboo, 

 though joining it. Huahcine and Eimeo, again, are re- 

 markable for producing greater quantities of yams than 

 the other iflands. And at Mourooa, there is a particular 

 bird, found upon the hills, much elleemed for its white 

 feathers ; at which place there is alfo faid to be fomc of the 

 apples, though it be the mofl remote of the Society Iflands 

 from Otaheite and Eimeo, where tlicy are produced. 



Though the religion of all the illands be the fame, each 

 of them has its particular, or tutelar God ; whofc names, 



2 according 



