THEPACIFICOCEAN. ^y^ 



Feejee people to keep it up, in ihe midfl of plenty? This 1777- 

 practice is detefted, very much, by thofe of Tongataboo, 

 who cultivate the friendfhip of their favage neighbours of 

 Feejee, apparently out of fear ; though they fometimes ven- 

 ture to flcirtniili with them, on their own ground; and 

 carry ofF red feathers, as their booty, which are in great 

 plenty there, and, as has been frequently mentioned, are 

 in great eftimation amongil our Friendly IHanders. When 

 the two iflands are at pe ice, the intercourfe between them 

 fecms to be pretty frequent ; though they have, doubtlefs, 

 been but lately known to each other ; or we may fuppofe, 

 that Tongataboo, and its adjoining iflands, would have been 

 fupplied, before this, with a breed of dogs, which abound 

 at Feejee, and had not been introduced at Tongataboo, fo 

 late as 1773, when I firft vifited it. The natives of Feejee, 

 whom we met with here, were of a colour that was a full 

 fliade darker, than that of the inhabitants of the "Friendly 

 Iflands in general. One of them had his left ear flit, and 

 the lobe was fo diftended, that it almofl: reached his 

 llioulder ; which Angularity I had met with at other iflands 

 of the South Sea, during my fecond voyage. It appeared 

 to me, that the Feejee men, whom we now faw, were much 

 rerpecT;ed here ; not only, perhaps, from the power, and 

 cruel manner of their nation's going to war, but, alfo, from 

 their ingenuity. For they feem to excel the inhabitants of 

 Tongataboo in that refpecl, if we might judge from feve- 

 ral fpecimens of their flcill in workmanfliip, which we faw; 

 fuch as clubs and fpears, which were carved in a very 

 mafterly manner; cloth beautifully chequered; variegated 

 mats ; earthen pots ; and fome other articles ; all which 

 had a call of fuperiority in the execution. 



T have 



