74 ELLICE'S AND KINGSMILL GROUP. 



to put the fullest confidence and reliance in the treatment they were 

 to receive, although, according to Wood, they had seen but one vessel 

 during his residence on the island, and consequently it could not be 

 from the habit of intercourse, but must have been a natural feeling. 

 There was no begging, no attempt to steal, as among all the other 

 natives of the group; but Wood gives them credit for the latter pro- 

 pensity among themselves on shore. 



Their canoes are larger and better built than those of the southern 

 islands, and made of different wood; and they are better supplied with 

 masts and paddles, but still of nearly the same shape : the side of the 

 canoe opposite to the out-rigger, was much less curved than the other, 

 resembling more the " flying proa" of the Ladrone Islands. 



Polygamy is common among them ; and Wood stated that some of 

 the principal chiefs and landholders have from twenty to fifty wives: 

 the king even exceeded this number ; while the poorer class and slaves 

 are doomed to perpetual celibacy. The consequences of this state of 

 society may readily be imagined to produce illicit intercourse among 

 the lower classes. 



The women are well treated ; never offered for traffic, but on the 

 contrary, are held sacred ; and in order to restrain any unlawful in- 

 dulgence on the part of his wives, his majesty has at times had some 

 of them sewed up in mats ! Wood represented the women as out- 

 numbering the men, and said they were very handsome. There are 

 five towns on the island, which, according to the authority of Wood, 

 contain about five thousand inhabitants. 



The king, whose name was Tekere, came off* to the ship. He was 

 a fine-looking man ; but his corpulency was great, and appeared to 

 trouble him not a little : it was utterly impossible for him to get up 

 the side of the ship, and he therefore contented himself with being 

 paddled round it. His father, the former king, Jakintebuat, came 

 on board, with several of his sons, all of whom had a strong family 

 likeness. He appeared about sixty years old; and although a little 

 bald, he had no other appearance of age, either in his looks or the 

 firmness of his step. 



When the vessels had made sail, in order to leave the island, and 

 it was supposed that all the natives had left the ship, one was found 

 hanging to the man-ropes near the water. Wood, on questioning the 

 native, found that he was a petty chief, who wished to accompany the 

 ship, and had taken this means of doing it, hoping not to be perceived 

 until he was out of sight of his island. He said he was too poor a 

 chief to have any wives, and therefore wished to leave his island, and 

 be landed on some other, where he could obtain some. Captain Hud- 



