36 PALLISER ISLANDERS. 



Some other small vessels, belonging to this 

 island, were absent on distant voyages a 

 schooner was on the stocks a fine brig had 

 been recently added, by purchase, to the mer- 

 chant-navy of the foreign residents and, upon 

 the whole, the commercial state of Tahiti of- 

 fered a fair prospect of improvement. 



A party of natives of the Palliser Islands * 

 had lately arrived here in three large sailing 

 canoes, bearing a customary present, or tribute, 

 of pearls, mats, and cinnet, for the queen of 

 Tahiti. They resided in temporary huts erected 

 upon the beach at Papeete, where their canoes 

 were drawn up, and presented an interesting 

 gipsy-like group of men, women, and children. 

 In personal appearance they resemble the Tahi- 

 tians ; though their complexion is some shades 

 darker, and their features harsher and less 

 agreeable. Their canoes are superior in size 

 and construction to those in general use amongst 

 the Society Islands, and the paddle with which 

 they are steered has the part corresponding to 

 the blade shaped as a vertical crescent, or tail- 

 fin of a fish ; from which last, it is more than 

 probable the idea of its form was originally 

 derived. 



* Situated to the eastward of Tahiti, and now included 

 amongst the Paumotu, or Pearl Islands. 



