OF LA PEROUSE. lOI 



pears that they alfo had an eye to their own 

 perfonal interefu; for they never forgot to de- 

 mand a reconipcnfc for their information. 



For fome time we followed the ftiirts of the 

 fliore, where we faw a parent number of bread- 

 fruit trees in full vigour, although their roots 

 were often waflied by brackilli water. Pre- 

 fently the fea> fuelled by the flood, obliged us 

 to penetrate into the interior of the ifland, where 

 we traverfed thick woods_, under the fliade of 

 ivhich grew the iacca pinnalifiday the Jaccharum 

 Jpontaneum^ the mufccnda frondofdy the ahrus pre- 

 catoriii^, the pepper-tree, which the inhabitants 

 chew to make kava, &c. We then walked 

 over grounds, fome of which were employed 

 in the culture of fweet potatoes, others in that 

 of the fpecies of yam called diofcorca alaUi: 

 we fiiw, in another place, fon'.e young plants of 

 -jacoita, (pandaniis odoralijfinns,) the l-.-avcs of 

 which ferve for making \\\M<,. \ arther on, we 

 found fields of the p.-per-nMiIberry tree, culti- 

 vated on accou'n oti's b.iri:, of which the na- 

 tives mani'.fa^ture ch.rh to ^ c.ir. 'T\\^t b"hif:us 

 !/::!' r^ij was growi/^ : j ontar^.oa. }" ^"^^ the 

 borders of theic dii-crent ^ uirt-\rion>, anu o-'tc 

 dole to rhc A :i : i^:^ i.;aik ti"r-".i::-^s th^ ;T; yjfc) 

 \\\ih :hc u^iiL^-i'Kii ]oi Ai.'k';:;^ ch-i-i. b-^ tar Icfs 

 haiAlloi'ic 'hAn il. l Oi li^ .^apcr-r^uH'. jrr}'. 

 Some natives, who tMlloucd wj, >'j:y clnieh', 

 11 ; aiTc'^icd 



