OP LA PEROUSE. 387 



well preferred ; one of the bed was the young 

 nut of the fruit of the fago-palm. This chief, 

 who is called the Chinefe Captain, pointed out 

 to us, with an air of fatistaclion, his coats of 

 arms variegated with a great number of colours; 

 they were fcattered with profufion in the apart- 

 ment where he received us ; and his bed was 

 furrounded with them on all fides. 



His houfe, like that of the other Chinefe, 

 bore no refcmbl.mce to the habitations of the 

 natives of the ifland. The Chinefe build much 

 more fubfrantially ; their houfes are conft moled 

 like thofe of the Europeans, with the exception 

 of forne little difference in the manner in which 

 they are laid out. The body of the building is 

 of wood ; the mud walls arc- covered with a very 

 thick roughcafl, which is laid o-. r with fevcral 

 coats of lime. 



The frequency of earthquakes and hurricanes 

 has occafioncd a preference to be given to 

 wooden houfes. There are feared v any but 

 the public buildings that are conftrucitd with 

 ftone. It almoft always happens that, in thefe 

 tempeiluous moments, the inhabitants are 

 obliged to quit their dwellings, and retreat to 

 little huts very flightly built, where they are in 

 much greater fafety than in their houfes, which 

 the winds and the earthquakes fometimes over- 

 throw. 



c c 2 "W e 



