OF LA PEROUSE. 285 



hanging, had the awkwardncfs to wound the na- 

 tive that was decorated with this appendage. 



An order which the Admiral had juit given 

 had prodigioufly deadened the traffic ; and yet 

 thefe natives had ftill a great many things of 

 which they wifhed to difpofe. One of the chiefs 

 amufed us exceedingly with his calebafh filled 

 with lime, all the properties of which he feemed 

 to point out to us with no fmall degree of oltcn- 

 tation, expecting, no doubt, to turn it to a better 

 account. It would have been no eafy matter to 

 imitate, with more addrefs than he did, the ges- 

 tures of our mod attractive venders of Specifics. 



We did not lee in the pofTeffion of thefe 

 iflanders any effects which had belonged to Eu- 

 ropeans. As our people had almoft done pur- 

 chafing, they quitted us to go towards the Efpe- 

 rance, carrying with them the remainder of their 

 commodities. 



Their canoes, which are made of the trunk of 

 a tree hollowed out, and its fides raifed with 

 planks, are not more than two thirds of a meter 

 in their extreme breadth, by ten meters in length : 

 planks placed acrofs internally, Support their fides, 

 and form So many partitions, at the bottom of 

 which the paddlcrs fit, near the extremities of the 

 canoe. 



Thefe canoes have an outrigger about four me- 

 ters long, and which extends laterally nearly the 



Same 



