302 VOYAGE IN SEARCH 



fome fowls and fome hogs, great numbers of 

 which they told us were to be found in the woods, 

 fome {haddocks, cocoa-nuts, papaws, pump- 

 kins of different fpecies, rice, quadrifid purs- 

 lain (portulaca qHadrifida)^ fugar-canes, yams, 

 fweet potatoes, plantains, lemons, pimento, 

 cars of maize (till green, which they had 

 broiled, and young Ihoots of the papaw-tree. 

 They affured us, that the young fhoots and the 

 fruits of this tree, before their maturity, were 

 very agreeable to eat when they were dreffed. 

 They alfo brought us fago, which they had made 

 into flattifh cakes, a decimeter in breadth 

 by two in length ; thefe they ate without any 

 other preparation. Seme of them alfo offered 

 us fago under the form of a fourilh pafte, which 

 they had caufed to ferment. 



Mofl: of the ifianders have the body entirely 

 naked, with the exception of the genitals, 

 which they cover with a coarfe cloth that ap- 

 peared to be made of the bark of a fig-tree. 

 The heat of the climate does not allow them to 

 feel the want of clothing. Their chiefs alone 

 are dreffed in a very wide pair of pantaloons 

 and a banyan of cloth, which they purchafe of 

 the Chinefe, who come from time to time, as 

 they told us, and anchor in the place where we 

 were. Some were ornamented with fiiver 

 bracelets, which they had alfo procured front 



the 



