THE DOMESTIC FOWL, 43 



likewise in great plenty in the Society Isles and Friendly Isles, 

 at which last they are of a prodigious sise ; they are also not 

 uncommon at the Marquesas, Hebrides, and New Caledonia ; 

 but the low isles, and those of the temperate sone, are quite 

 destitute of them." Jfr. /taster'* Jo*r*<*l of Ofpfctm CooKs 

 Second Voyage. The pigs hav been affirmed to differ specifi- 

 cally from the European breeds; less has been said about 

 the Poultry. It appears that there are different varieties in 

 the different islands, some of very large sise. Our great com- 

 mercial and political intercourse with the East makes that the 

 quarter from whence our importations of Fowls are mostly 

 drawn, either as curious specimens, or for the sake of im- 

 proving our stock ; but it would certainly be interesting, and 

 might prove useftil, could we obtain a few new sorte, such as 

 the Friendly Island breed, from the less frequented spots in 

 the South Seas Our Colonists and Missionaries in the Sand- 

 wich Islands and Tahiti might surely send us a few Cocks and 

 Hens in return for the many substantial benefits they have 

 derived from the mother country, Mr. Williams's theory, 

 which he supports by full details and arguments, is that Poty> 

 Bttia was originally colonised and occupied by emigrants from 

 the Malay peninsula and Sumatra, He says, "to QOittiftced 

 am I of the practicability of paribnning a voyage from Sumatra 

 to Tahiti in one of the large native canoes, that, if an object 

 of sufficient magnitude could be accomplished by it, I should 

 feel no hesitation in undertaking the task*" MimoiMvg jEW- 

 taproot, p. 610. He also oilers a probable hypothesis for the 

 existence - ; i not races of Men in ihe South Sea Islands, 



both derived from the great Asiatic Islands. If his views arc 

 conv v* trot alight clue to the introduction of Fowls 



into the isolated recesses of the Pacific Ocean, which oaty 

 makes u x -. to get a sight of some genuine 



* Poultry, for the sake of comparfo% them with tfct 

 East Indian breeds. If they be found to rattftU* tta* fttattty. 



