VATE. 221 



The ground was covered witli a great deal of dust, and 

 had ahnost everywhere a slaty tint ; the soil seemed to me 

 of good depth and rich. No rocks or stones were to be 

 seen anywhere except in tlie bed of the river ; about the 

 huts the ground was carefully swept, and not a particle of 

 herbage of any kind was to be seen within a certain distance 

 of them. We passed near two of the chiefs' houses, one of 

 them liaving an arched roof, in which he kept his pigs. 

 Wherever we came upon huts we found numbers of people, 

 attracted by curiosity for the most part, with whom I had 

 some barter, and from whom I obtained for a few beads 

 some fine round-shaped shells coming from the watercourses. 

 The huts in genei'al are open all round, but as the roof 

 has such a very low pitch, in order to get in beneath it I 

 was obliged to crawl on my hands and knees ; occasionally 

 we met with some standing in the midst of little inclosures 

 prettily shut in by a fence of wild sugar-cane. Around 

 the fields under cultivation the fences are sometimes nine 

 or ten feet high. We everywhere saw an endless amount 

 of dogs, and regular curs they were. From a small nest 

 tliat I found in tlie sliape of a full- blown rose, I liad proof 

 of tlie existence of a species of hoi'net in this ishuid. 



We came upon a group of a dozen men armed with 

 spears, clubs, hatchets or tomahawks with long handles, 



variety of birds and fishes, intermingled with water-shells and .sharks- 

 fins. No human bones were recognised. The origin of this curious 

 custom could not be ascertained ; but that it is still in full vigour is 

 evident fi-om the fact that a traffic in these bones is carried on, not 

 onl}' within the island but with the adjacent ones.' 



