OF LA PEROUSE. 343 



fpot : all the anfwer he made was, that the fea- 

 iide fupplied him with food. 



The nipa palm grew in the middle of thefc 

 marfhes : its leaflets are very much ufed for co- 

 vering houfes. 



The fportfmen were already arrived at our 

 rendezvous. We were all extremely thirity, and 

 hoped to procure fome cocoa-nuts with as much 

 facility as on our arrival in the morning at the 

 fame place; but the proprietor of the garden was 

 abfent, and there was no perfon in the houfe 

 but his wife. In vain did we entreat her to fell 

 us fome cocoa-nuts, offering to make one of our 

 guides climb up the neighbouring trees to gather 

 them ; fhe told us the was not at liberty to fell 

 us any ; befides, none of our guides would ven- 

 ture to afcend thefe trees in the abfence of the 

 mafler of the houfe, and had he not arrived we 

 fhould have got no cocoa-nuts ; for he had placed 

 at the foot of the trees a matai, for which our 

 guides fhe wed as much refpect as for the other 

 which I before mentioned : like the former, it 

 was in the fhape of a tried covered by a roof, about 

 two thirds of a meter high, thatched with leaves 

 of the nipa palm : this fhed was fupported by 

 four bamboo potts a demi-meter diftant from 

 each other. 



From the middle of the roof was fufpended a 



ilalk of bamboo, about two decimeters long, 



2 4 fattened 



