Curious Martial Customs. — Ethnological Speculations. 577 



formidable auxiliaries are rarely called into play in any of 

 their wars, the fatal effect of fire-arms having contributed not 

 a little to the promotion of harmony and peace between the 

 various tribes ! Their warriors are selected from among the 

 most powerful men of the tribe, and as a rule they behave 

 with much consideration to the women and children, whom 

 they almost always spare. When either party sues for peace, 

 a neutral party is sent to the monarch of the opposite tribe 

 with a few Kawa roots. If these are accepted, the struggle is 

 considered over, and a succession of friendly visits are there- 

 upon exchanged between the chiefs of the two tribes, which 

 are usually followed up by festivities and much consumption 

 of Kawa. 



As to the narratives of most earlier travellers that the 

 island is inhabited by two entirely distinct races, the one 

 yellow the other black, we could neither see nor hear of any- 

 thing which would confirm such a statement. It seemed 

 more probable that the diversity of skin and hair among the 

 various tribes was exclusively caused by a variety of crosses, 

 which are still frequent, and in former times must have been 

 still more prevalent. The present population consists of 

 whites, negroes, and yellow-coloured aborigines, who, as 

 speaking a dialect allied to that of Polynesia, seem to belong 

 to the Malay-Pol}mesian stirps. The present white settlers are 

 English and North Americans ; formerly they were chiefly 

 Spanish and Portuguese who traded with the natives. Negro 



slaves and free blacks have also occasionally visited the island, 

 \0L n. 2 p 



