OCEANIC MIGRATIONS. 161 



the opportunity of our confusion to run away with a cutlass and some 

 other articles belonging to the men. These thefts, committed in the 

 most barefaced and audacious style, gave evidence of what might be 

 anticipated from them if unrestrained by fear. 



" In pulling off, we had an opportunity of observing the large piers 

 or moles of coral stone, eight or ten feet high, and from twenty to 

 thirty long, extending out into the shallow water on the reef. Almost 

 the whole of the islet was walled up in this manner, but for what 

 object we could not form a satisfactory opinion." 



VA1TUPU, OR THE DEPEYSTER ISLANDS. 



" March 14, 1841. A little before noon, land was announced, and 

 by two o'clock we were close to an extensive ring of low wooded 

 islets, situated on a coral reef surrounding a lagoon, about twenty-five 

 miles in circuit. When we arrived within a league of the largest 

 islet, two canoes were perceived paddling towards us. Our anticipa- 

 tions were highly excited, for we expected here to make our first 

 acquaintance with the peculiar race which inhabits the Caroline 

 Islands, and which was to be the subject of our examination during 

 the rest of this cruise. 



" Only one of the canoes came to the ship. It was about twenty 

 feet long, made of a single log hollowed out, but the sides were raised 

 by two narrow planks fastened on to the keel with lashings of sinnet. 

 The outrigger and paddles did not differ materially from those we 

 had seen in other islands. There were five men in the canoe, and 

 they came alongside with a confidence which showed that they were 

 acquainted with ships. They refused, however, to come on board, 

 but held up cocoa-nuts, mats, rolls of sinnet, and other articles, 

 making signs of a wish to trade. On our asking them, in Samoan, 

 the name of their island, though with little expectation of being un- 

 derstood, they replied immediately Funafuti. Farther questioning 

 soon made it evident that they spoke a Polynesian dialect, and George, 

 our Samoan native (who had become accustomed to the slight change 

 of idiom at Fakaafo), easily conversed with them. 



" In person these natives were inferior to those of Samoa. They 

 were of middle size, with skins of as deep a brown as those of the 

 Hawaiians. The features were also more like those of the latter 

 people than any other, but they had all a greater luxuriance of beard 

 than we have seen elsewhere, except at the Feejee Islands. Their 



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