1 



43^ 



REMARKS 



O N 



THE 



MANNERS 17 to one in this ille. 



could not have taken pi 



Th 



■i o 



flrange proportion of men to women 



T 



g 



before 



our 



ival the 



fo 



r in 



par 



a few years the number of men would by death come to a 



or nearly fo, with that of the women. I fuppofe therefore, that 



as this ille has the jftrongefc marks of having been once fubjecl to 



■ 



earthquake, it is 

 highly probably that in a gre::t re volution, of this kind, the 



a violent change from a fubterraneous fire and 



nume- 



nhabitants of the ifle were deftroyed. Nor 



this 



circum- 



ftance very improbable, for Capt. D 



the 



year 



687 



£d 



a 



violent fhock of an earthquake in this ocean, and not very far from 



In Otaheitee earthquakes are known and are thought 



this ifland. 



to b 



und 



th 



regu 



d condud: of Maoow 



a peculiar 



divinity : but this is rendered more probable from the pradice of 

 the inhabitants of Ealler-ifland, who to this very day, frequently 

 form their habitations under ground, and fupport t\iQ whole fabric 

 by walls of lofe flones. Now if the difafter befel the nation in the 

 day time, it is probable that a great 



many men being 



of door 



upon fome bufinefs, might be preferved, whereas the 



women 



keeping more at hom.e 



were involved in inflantaneous 



tumbling of the wretched hab 



by 



d no more than a few 



only that happened to be out of doors were fpared, to become the 



mothers of a future and unh 



appy generation. 



Thefe women we 



found iliil living in thefe huts, 'and they were moft probably 



I 



Joyed 



'n. 



