OF LA PEROUSE. 13^ 



and accompanied him to the middle of a great 

 concourfe of iflanders, over whom Onidlai pre- 

 fided : this chief invited us to fit down on his 

 left, after having ordered the natives to range 

 themfelves in a circle round him. We refled 

 ourfelves a moment on foir.e mats fpread on the 

 ground, under the maue of leverrd trees of r^r- 

 bera manghas and oi kernandia ovigcra, the fruit 

 of which thefe people ufe as an ornament. 

 Shortly after, we went to vilit a very lofty ihed, 

 that ferved to flielter a war canoe five and 

 tv.enty meters long, the infide of which was 

 frrengthened by fome very flout knees placed at 

 about the diftance of a meter from each other. 

 FeenoUy after having made us admire the con- 

 ftruclion of this double canoe, told us that he 

 had taken it in a battle which he had fought 

 with the inhabitants of F'idgi. 



In advancing to the weftward, we went over 

 a vafl enclofure formed by palifadcs, the flakes 

 of which, placed obliquely, were pretty clofe 

 to each other, and in the middle of w hich grew 

 the bread-fruit tree, the plantain-tree, the fan 

 palm, coryth.i umhraculifcva, &c. Farther on, 

 we found, within a fence not near fo extenfive, 

 a fmall hut, of a conical form, in which we 

 learnt were depofited the remains of a chief 

 lately dead ; an J we v. ere alfo informed that it 

 was forbidden to enter it. 



K 4 We 



