CHAPTER XXIL 



INTRODUCED ANIMALS AND PLANTS OF THE 

 ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC. 



From the rapid changes taking place at these islands, through 

 comnaercial intercourse, it is daily becoming more diflficult to distin- 

 guish the plants which were aboriginally introduced. And observa- 

 tions, therefore, which at the present day seem trivial, may prove of 

 'importance hereafter. 



Notwithstanding many doubtful points, that remain to be settled 

 through the etymology of the native names, it is sufficiently clear: 

 That in the aboriginal condition of the islands of the Pacific, the 

 foreign animals and plants, were invariably derived from the West. 



a. Animals and Plants of Aboriginal Introduction. 



Three of our own familiar domestic animals, were known through- 

 out Tropical Polynesia prior to the visits of Europeans; and they will 

 be first enumerated : 



Th.i^' pig, thriving amid the rank vegetation of the rocky groups; 



The dog, frequent; though the rearing on vegetable food, of a parti- 

 cular breed for culinary purposes, seems peculiar to the Hawaiian 

 Islands ; 



And the domestic fowl, likewise abundant in the rocky groups. — 

 The above three animals, are absent from the more secluded coral 

 islands; but they are known at the extensive Tarawan or Kingsmill 

 Group, where they are regarded in a somewhat peculiar light. 

 According to Mr. Rich, the Tarawan Islanders, " have dogs ; but 

 will not eat fowls, which they keep in cages for fighting; neither 

 will they raise pigs, on account of the dirt; and they killed the 

 goats landed from a whale ship." 



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