l8 8 A V O Y A G E T O 



»779- quaintcd. There arc, however, two circumftances, that 

 ■ "-[ c '_. take away much of this objection ; the firft is, that the 

 interior parts of the country are entirely uninhabited; fo 

 that, if the number of the inhabitants along the coaft be 

 known, the whole will be pretty accurately determined. 

 The other is, that there are no towns of any confider- 

 able fize, the habitations of the natives being pretty 

 equally difperfed in fmali villages round all their coafts. 

 It is on this ground that I mail venture at a rough 

 calculation of the number of perfons in this group of 

 iflands. 



The bay of Karakakooa, in Owhyhee, is three miles in 

 extent, and contains four villages of about eighty houfes 

 each ; upon an average, in all three hundred and twenty ; 

 befides a number of ftraggling houfes ; which may make 

 the whole amount to three hundred and fifty. From the 

 frequent opportunities I had of informing myfelf on this 

 head, I am convinced, that fix perfons to a houfe is a very 

 moderate allowance ; fo that, on this calculation, the coun- 

 try about the bay contains two thoufand one hundred fouls. 

 To thefe may be added fifty families, or three hundred 

 perfons, which I conceive to be nearly the number em- 

 ployed in the interior parts of the country amongft their 

 plantations; making in all two thoufand four hundred. 

 If, therefore, this number be applied to the whole extent 

 of coaft round the iftand, deducting a quarter for the unin- 

 habited parts, it will be found to contain one hundred and 

 fifty thoufand. By the fame mode of calculation, the reft 

 of the iflands will be found to contain the following num- 

 bers : 



- Owhyhee, 



