OF LA PEROUSE. 237 



fecurcd with a rope to the trunk of a tree on 

 the fide where we were ; they then proceeded 

 flowly towards the hills to the fouth-eaft, pre- 

 tending not to have obferved us. Their canoe 

 was the only one in this harbour. We made 

 ufe of it to crofs over to the other fide, where 

 we found a fmall hovel, the plantations in the 

 vicinity of which had been very recently laid 

 wafte; we fiill faw fome veftiges of Indian 

 kale and fugar-canes : the tops of all the cocoa- 

 nut trees had been cut off; probably thefe un- 

 fortunate iflanders had become vicflims to the 

 ferocity of barbarians who had ftripped them 

 in this cruel manner. 



We had not hitherto met with any tombs of 

 thefe favages, except near their huts ; but we 

 now faw one which was far diftant from any 

 habitation, on the fide of the road that we fol- 

 lowed. It difFered from the others in being 

 built of ftonc from its foundation to the mid- 

 dle of its height. 



We made a halt about the middle of the day, 

 under the fliade of feveral cafueriiide equifetifolLei 

 and of different new fpecies of cerhera^ which 

 crew on the banks of a rivulet, where we 

 quenched our thirft, and where we found fome 

 fragments of hafaltes rounded by the attrition 

 of the waters. We had juft caught two fea- 

 adders Uoliiher laticaudatusjy which we broiled 



on 



