ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, ETC. 289 



feet from the ground, with no bedding except a small mat, and 

 his long white hair drooping over a square wooden block, which 

 was his only pillow. Attached to the rude ceiling, were several 

 baskets of fruit, oranges, bananas, &c., suspended by cords over 

 the old creature's head, and within reach of his hand. I dis- 

 persed the swine which were wallowing beneath him on the floor, 

 and spoke to the old man. But he heeded me not. His dull 

 eyes seemed fixed upon the fruit baskets over his head, and soon 

 the low and melancholy song was renewed, in a voice palsied 

 and broken from extreme age. 



It is an immemorial custom of the Tahitians, so to dispose of 

 their old and infirm people. When a man becomes too feeble, 

 from age, to walk, and provide for his own necessities, he is laid 

 out in this way, and furnished daily with a fresh supply of fruit, 

 and a calabash of water, to sustain his flickering life, until the 

 hand of death relieves his relatives from further care. 



May 2d. — We are now quite ready for sea, and are only 

 waiting a breeze to go out. I am as anxious as the rest to re- 

 embark, for I have completed my ornithological collections, 

 having prepared about a hundred and ten birds, most of them, I 

 think, peculiar to this island. 



The common dunghill fowl is found wild in the forests here. 

 Some of the residents think that it is a jungle fowl, peculiar to 

 the country, but, upon examination, I have not been able to per- 

 ceive any material difference between it and the domesticated 

 bird, and therefore incline to the belief that it is the common 

 species returned to its original habits. In my excursions, I have 

 killed about a dozen of them. Their plumage is generally more 

 rich and brilliant than that of the domesticated bird, and there is 

 not so much variety in the color of different individuals. Their 

 flesh is exquisite. They are very shy, running away with sin- 

 gular rapidity, and concealing themselves on the approach of the 



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