126 OTAHITE TO OHETEROA CHAP. V1 
themselves against such weapons as their own by mats 
folded and laid upon their breasts under their clothes. 
Of the few things we saw among the people, every one 
was ornamented in a manner infinitely superior to anything 
we had hitherto seen. Their cloth was of a better colour, 
as well as nicely painted; their clubs were better cut and 
polished ; the canoe which we saw, though very small and 
narrow, was nevertheless very highly carved and ornamented. 
One thing particularly in her seemed to be calculated rather 
as an ornament for something that was never intended to 
go into the water, and that was two lines of small white 
feathers placed on the outside of the canoe, and which were, 
when we saw them, thoroughly wet with the water. 
We have now seen seventeen islands in these seas, 
and have landed on five of the most important; of these 
the language, manners, and customs agreed most exactly. 
I should therefore be tempted to conclude that those 
islands which we have not seen do not differ materially at 
least from the others. The account I shall give of them is 
taken chiefly from Otahite, where I was well acquainted with 
their policy, as I found them to be a people so free from 
deceit that I trusted myself among them almost as freely 
as I could do in my own country, sleeping continually in 
their houses in the woods without so much as a single 
companion. Whether or not J am right in judging their 
manners and customs to be general among these seas, any 
one who gives himself the trouble of reading this journal 
through can judge as well as I myself. 
