LATE DISCOVERIES. 559 



rounded by a reef of rocks and several small islands, all of which are 

 no more than eight leagues in compass. To these islands, and those 

 of Marua, which lie about fourteen miles to the westward of Bola- 

 bola, containing six in all, captain Cook gave the name of Society- 

 Islands. 



OHETEROA, 



THIS island is situate in the latitude of 22 degrees, 27 minutes 

 south, and in the longitude of 150 degrees, 47 minutes, west from 

 Greenwich. It is thirteen miles in circuit, and rather high than low, 

 but neither so populous nor so fertile as some of the other islands in 

 these seas. The inhabitants are lusty and well made, but are rather 

 browner than those of Otaheite. The principal weapons are long 

 lances made of etoa wood, which is very hard, and some of them are 

 nearly twenty feet long. 



THE NAVIGATORS' ISLANDS. 



THESE islands, which were discovered by M. de Bougainville, 

 and explored by the unfortunate De la Perouse in 1787, are ten in 

 number, and called by the natives Opoun, Leone, Fanfoue, Maouna, 

 Oyolava, Calinasse, Pola, Shika, Ossamo, and Ouera. Opoun, the 

 most southerly as well as the most easterly of these islands, lies in 

 14 degrees, 7 minutes south latitude, and 169 degrees, 7 minutes, 

 west longitude. At Maouna, M. de la Perouse, commander of the 

 French ships the Boussole and Astrolabe, met with his first fatal ac- 

 cident; M. de Langle, captain of the Astrolabe, and eleven officers 

 and sailors, being massacred by the natives. Oyolava is separated 

 from Maouna by a channel about nine leagues wide, and is at least 

 equal to Otaheite in extent, fertility, and population. The island of 

 Pola is somewhat smaller than that of Oyolava, but equally beauti- 

 ful. The eastern islands, Opoun, Leone, and Fanfoue, are small, 

 especially the last two, which arc about five miles in circumference; 

 but Maouna, Oyolava, and Pola, may be numbered amongst the 

 largest and most beautiful islands of the South Sea. They combine 

 the advantages of a soil fruitful without culture, and a climate that 

 renders clothing unnecessary. They produce in abundance the 

 bread-fruit, cocoa-nut, the banana, the guava, and the orange. The 

 inhabitants are a strong and handsome race of men. Their usual 

 height is five feet ten or eleven inches, and six feet; but their stature 

 is less astonishing than the colossal proportions of the different parts 

 of their bodies. The men have the body painted or tattooed, so that 

 any one would suppose them clothed, though they go almost naked. 

 They have only a girdle of sea-weeds, encircling their loins, which 

 cornea down to their knees, and gives them the appearance of the 

 r gods of mythology. Their hair is very long, and they often 



