CALEDONIA. 



Taws ilTticd a torrent, wljicli appeared at a confidersWe dif- 

 taii'^c white with its foaniiiip; waters ; and trcts arc found 

 growing in the bottoms of tlie ravines with which the hills 

 are furrowed. Thefe torrents are mimeroiis, and, in fome 

 places, form fine calcades ; and they ferve alfo to fertilize 

 the plains and valleys that arc ir.terfpcrlcd among the barren 

 mountains, and which exhibit traces of culture and popula- 

 tion. The foil of the plains is a fandy black mould : the 

 fides of the hills are yellow clay with mica ; and the higher 

 pares confill of quartz and mica, tinged red, or orange, with 

 iron. Garnets are alfo found in petro-hlex, and in feveral 

 places white tianfparent quartz,' with layers of gold, co- 

 loured mica, blended with Icrpentine, hornblende, talc, and 

 garnets. New Caledonia differs from all the other iflands yet 

 difcovered in the Soutli Sea, by being entirely dellitute of 

 volcanic productions. Every part of the coait fcems to be 

 inhabited ; and the plantations in the plains are cultivated 

 with much liibour. On the fides of the mountains fmall 

 walls are raifed above one another to prevent the rolling 

 down of the ground which was cultivated. But as the 

 country is for the moft part rocicy and barren, the inhabit- 

 ants chiclly fubfift on roots and filh. Some of them eat the 

 earth called lleatite, which they probably make choice of to 

 allay their liunger, becaufe it is foft and crumbles, and is eafy 

 of digellion. They alfo boil, and eat a fpecies of fpiders, 

 which are found in the woods. Like many other favages, 

 they feed on the fledi of thtfir enemies, which they previ- 

 oufly broil on a fire of charcoal. This horrible prattice of 

 eating human flelh is confirmed by feveral fads recited by 

 CEntrecafteau.x ; notwithftanding the favourable accounts 

 given of thefe iilanders by captain Cook and Dr. Forller. 

 They preferred water to wine or brandy; and in drinking it, 

 inclined their heads at about two feet dittance above the fur- 

 face of the water, and then threw it up againll their faces 

 with iheir hands, opening their mouths very wide, and catch- 

 ing as much as they could.. 



The bread-fruit and cocoa-nut are fcarce, and obtained 

 with difficultv ; although in fome of the interior vallies 

 there are confidcrable plantations of thefe, as wtU as of bana- 

 nas, Caribbte cabbages (arum efculentum), yams, fugar- 

 canes, S:c. but the ifland funiillics feveral new plants, birds, 

 and tithes. The natives feem to be altogether unacquainted 

 with goats, hogs, dogs, or cats, as they had not any name 

 by which to dillinguifh them. The inhabitants a^e Rout 

 and tall, fome of them meafuring fix feet four inches, and 

 generally well proportioned ; thtir features mild ; their hair 

 black and woolly ; but many, who feemed to be dellrous of 

 having the appearance of long hair, faftencd to their own 

 locks two or three triffes, made with the leaves, of fome 

 plants of the grafs kind, and covered with the hair of the 

 Vampyre bat, which hung down to the middle of their 

 backs. Some of them cropped their hair ftiort, and ufcd a 

 kind of comb, formed of a number of llicks of hard wood, 

 generally about 20, which ihey fallencd together at one 

 end, and parallel to, and nearly one tenth of an inch from 

 one another ; and thefe combs they always wore in their 

 hair, on one fide of the head ; on their heads they wore a 

 kind of concave, cylindrical black cap, made of llrong pa- 

 per, which they feemed to conlider as an ornahient, and 

 which, it was fuppofed,. was worn only by the chiefs and 

 warriors. The cullom of pulling out their beards by the 

 root is very general, although fome of them let their beards 

 grow. Their Ikin is nearly of as deep a black as that of 

 the inhabitants of Diemeu's Cape, whom they very much 

 refemble in the call of their countenance. Thefe iilanders 

 are wholly naked, except that they wo e round the middle 

 pieces of coarfe ftuff, made of bark, or large leaves of trees. 



In fome c.ifts, pieces of this kind of cloth were fartoncd by 

 a (Iring rnind the neck, and to this llring were liung Imall 

 round beads of a pale green (lone. 'I'hiy were not dellitute 

 ot coarfe garments made of matting, but ihev never fccmcd 

 to ufe them except in thiir canoes, ar'd when unemployed. 



The women in this ifland fetmcd to be in a fiibordinate 

 and fcrvile Hate, and employed themfclves in v.-rious kinds 

 of labour. Their colour is generally a dark th-fnut, or a 

 mahogany brown ; their llature is middle-li/.ed, rather taU, 

 and their whole fonii llout and clumfy. They had no other 

 garment befides a kind of fringe, made of the filaments of 

 the bark of trees, which ferved them as a girdle and paflVd 

 feveral times round the waift. Their character of cliallity 

 is fuperior to that of the females in the other ides of the 

 Pacific : nor did any inllance occur of their permitting any 

 indecent familiarity witli an European during capt. Cook's 

 !lay at the illand. But the account of their cliallity given by 

 D'Entrecalleauxisnot fomuch to their irputalion. The lower 

 lobe of the ears, both of malts and females, perforated with 

 a very large hole, hung down to their fliouldcis ; and into 

 thefe holes fome introduced leaves of trees, others a piece of 

 wood, in order to llrctch them bigger. Several had this lobe 

 jagged ; probably from having been torn either in battle, or 

 in running through the woods. Thtir general ornaments 

 are earrings of tortoifc-fhcUs, necklaces, or amulets, made 

 both of fliells and Hones, and feme of twilUd threads, fuf- 

 pcnded from which they ufually carried at the end of a ilrirg 

 a fmall piece of human bone, or hard (lone, indilTerently 

 carved ; and bracelets made of large (hells, which they wear 

 above the elbows. By the account of C';ok and Fovtlcr, the 

 Caledonians are reprtfeiitcd as different from the other natives 

 of the South Sea illands, with regard to their honefty and 

 the inoffenlivencfs of their difpoiition and manners. This 

 account is not confirmed by D'Entrecalltanx. He faT3>. 

 that whilft they allied for (luffs and iron in exchange for their 

 cffefts, they foon gave evidence of their being audacious 

 thieves; and he mentions feveral indances of the fcrociouf- 

 nefs of their difpcfitions, fuch as their feeding on the flefli of 

 children, &c. Of their being cannibals thtre is no doubt ; 

 and they are furnilhed with an indrumcnt, made of (lone, 

 with (harp edges, for cutting up the limbs of their enemies, 

 which they divide among them after a battle. Their houfts 

 or huts are circular, formed in the fiiape of bee-hives, about 

 If toife in height, and as-imich in breadth, clofe and fmokv, 

 as there is no paffage for the fmoke but through the door. 

 Some of thefe huts are fcattcred at the didance of thtce or 

 four hundred paces from each other, and overlhadowid by 

 a few cocoa-trees. Some of them are fiirround,d by pali- 

 fadts I i yard high, and 3 ! feet from the borders of the hut, 

 with a narrow walk before the door. The door, about a 

 yard high and half a yard wide, is foinctimes clofed by a 

 piece of the limb of a cocoa tree, tlie leafy branches of 

 which are interlaced. Of thefe doors fome I. ad two. polls, 

 at the upper extremity of which a man's luad was rudely 

 carved. The lower part of thefe huts is crtded perpendi- 

 cularly to the height of a yard, and then tapered off in a 

 pretty regular cone, and terminated by the upper end of a 

 pod, fixed in the centre of the floor. The frame of the hut 

 confiils of poles, bearing againd the upper end of the pod, 

 which rifes from the midiiie of the floor, and is near three 

 inches in diameter at the bottom. A few pieces of \\ood 

 bent to an arch, render thefe little habitations fufljciently 

 llrong. They arc covered with draw to the thicknefs of 

 two or three inches ; and the door, on which the natives are 

 pcrfedly (hcltered from the weather, is f, read with mats. 

 Within the hut on one fide is a board, fallcucd with cordo In 

 an horizontal.polltion, about a yard from ihc ground, an 

 4 wliicli . 



