102 FROM RADACK TO 



their destination ; for they were the general orna- 

 ment of the young girls. Old and young now 

 strove to present us with cocoa-nuts for refresh- 

 ment; but the treasurer took it upon himself to 

 entertain the company. He had a great deal to 

 relate of all he had seen on board the ElUp Oa, 

 (large boat,) and what an humense quantity of 

 Moll! Mull! there was there. At length he pro- 

 duced the presents which Labadeny had re- 

 ceived, to excite his auditors to greater astonish- 

 ment. The friendly, sensible behaviour of the 

 islanders, made their society very agreeable, par- 

 ticularly as, relying on their numerous popula- 

 tion, they are more courageous than the inha- 

 bitants of Otdia. Their curiosity was as lively 

 as there, and I willingly fulfilled all their wishes 

 to examine every thing, except undressing my- 

 self to please their curiosity. We now made an 

 excursion into the interior of the island, which 

 is, at the utmost, a mile in length, and a quarter 

 of a mile in breadth. Considering its small ex- 

 tent, it is very populous ; to judge from the num- 

 ber of large huts, from fifteen to twenty families, 

 and that is almost as much ^s the whole group 

 of Otdia contains. Cultivation has so far arrived 

 to a high degree, as only useful trees, such as 

 cocoas, pandanus, and bread-fruit are suffered here ; 

 every possessor has surrounded his small grove with 

 a cord from one tree to another, probably not to 

 encroach on a stranger's property. This precau-- 



