129 



the centipedes, which are considered by us as poisonous, 

 they appear to be nowise afraid, and small children will 

 amuse themselves with them on chips and sticks, but I 

 never saw any of them handle them. 



Cockroaches and flies were very numerous, and the lat- 

 ter very troublesome, as well also as a small kind of gnat, 

 the bite of which often becomes much inflamed, and very 

 sore and painful. They insinuate themselves under the 

 wristbands, inside the collar, behind the ears, under the 

 trowsers, &c. and the pain of their sting can be compared 

 only to splinters on fire thrust into the flesh. But what 

 seems very extraordinary, after being a few weeks on the 

 island, they are no longer troublesome. With the cock- 

 roaches we were soon infested on board the ship. They 

 were taken on board in the sails, the wood, and in the 

 seamen's clothing ; for every night when they came on 

 shore on liberty, their blankets, and frequently their 

 mattresses, were brought with them, which were gene- 

 rally well stocked by those animals on their return on 

 board. 



We found here the common dunghill fowl, in small num- 

 bers, which appear to be esteemed only for the plumage 

 of the cocks. Three or four were brought to me as pre- 

 sents by the chiefs of the tribes, but the tail feathers of 

 all had been previously plucked out. Hens, we saw none — - 

 either in our valley or that of the Happahs ; and although 

 several cocks were seen in the valley of the Typees, no 

 hens were among them. This scarcity of hens seems 

 somewhat unaccountable, and had I not seen some cocks 

 very young, I should be induced to believe, they were 

 brought for traffic from some of the other islands. But it 

 can hardly be supposed that any of those islanders are such 

 adepts in trade as to prevent (with views to their own 

 gain) the breed from getting to Nooaheevah. It seems 

 probable that where there are cocks there are also hens. 

 The hens are, perhaps, disregarded, and permitted to run 

 wild, or are killed and eaten, while the cocks only are pre- 

 served for the beauty of the plumage. 



The island affords a variety of birds, four of which only 

 I had an opportunity of examining. A dove, which is very 

 abundant, with beautiful green piumage like a parrot. A 

 blue kind of paroquet. A bird resembhng a lark, and a 



VOL. II, 17 



