40 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CH.AP. We noticed three boats hauled up on the shore to the northward of 
the landing-place, resembling the drawing in Perouse’s Voyage, but 
Nov. the natives did not attempt to launch them. 
lS2o. ^ 
Koggewem and Perouse were of opinion that these people lived 
together in communities, a whole village inhabiting one extensive 
hut, and that property was in common. The former idea was probably 
suggested by the very capacious dwellings which are scattered over the 
island; and the conjecture may be correct, though it is certain that 
there are a far greater number of small huts, sufficient to contain one 
family only ; but with regard to the supposition that property is com- 
mon, it seems very doubtful whether the land would be so carefully 
divided by rows of stones if that were the case. Some circumstances 
which occurred at the landing-place, during our visit, certainly favoured 
the presumption of its being so. One of the natives offered an image 
for sale, and being disappointed in the price he exj)ected, refused to 
part with it ; but a bystander, less scrupulous, snatched it from him 
without ceremony, and parted with it for the original offer without a 
word of remonstrance from his countryman. Others again threw their 
property into the boats, without demanding any immediate return ; 
taking for granted, it may be presumed, that they would reap their 
reward when a distribution of the property obtained should take place. 
But this state of society is so unnatural that, however appearances may 
sanction the belief, I am disposed to doubt it. One strong fact in sup- 
port of my opinion was the unceremonious manner in which the ap- 
parent proprietor of a piece of ground planted with potatoes drove 
away the mob, who, with very little consideration for the owner, were 
taking the crop out of the earth to barter with our party. 
The Island, though situated nearer the Continent of America than 
any other of the Archipelago to which it belongs, has been less fre- 
quently visited ; and unfortunately for its inhabitants, some of those 
visits have rather tended to retard than to advance its prosperity, or 
improve its moral condition ; and they afford a striking example of the ' 
necessity of an extensive intercourse with mankind, before a limited 
community can emerge from barbarism to a state of civilization. One 
consolation for this privation is their exemption from those complaints 
