GOV. GLASS AND HIS FAMILY. Bl 



tbeii land, and their herds of sheep and cattle 

 they are able to provide abundantly for thoii 

 comfort; and further they seek not. 



In the arrangement and harmonious carrying 

 on of his government, the old man's many daugh 

 ters have doubtless been of incalculable advantag< 

 to him, in procuring him numerous obedient sons 

 in-law, who, by a law he has enforced from the 

 beginning, must never leave the island. At th< 

 time of our visit all the marriageable women wer< 

 already disposed of. The colony did not there- 

 fore stand in need of any extraneous accessions : 

 else would I have been strongly tempted to have 

 offered myself as a settler, so delightful did their 

 peaceful and independent mode of life seem to me 



The women, who are robust and fine looking, 

 use the rifle, the fish spear, and the oar, with a 

 skill equal to that of their husbands and brothers. 

 Their dwellings are comfortable cottages, mainly 

 built of stone, of which there is an abundance. 

 The village lies in a little sheltered nook in front, 

 the vast ocean, and back of it, towering abruptly 

 skyward, the immense cone which constitutes the 

 greater part of the island. To the right of the 

 village and landing is the narrow strip of land 

 which they cultivate. Their flocks and herds, not 

 numerous but thrifty, roam in summer over the 

 base of the mountain, and along the narrow belt of 

 level land which rung around the island. In win- 

 ter, 1 was told, they were obliged to keep them 

 nearer home, as in btormy weather cattle were 



