FERTILITY AND CAPABILITIES. 25 
their houses. This kind of ochre is seldom found 
in the lofty mountains composed of basalt, or 
cellular volcanic stone, but generally covers the 
lower hills that rise between the interior mountains 
and the shore. It is not peculiar to any single 
island, and in some places it appears several feet in 
thickness. Besides the soil on the sides of the 
mountains and the bottom of the valleys, around 
each of the islands there are level borders of varied 
breadth, sometimes three or four miles wide. This, 
to the inhabitants, is the most valuable portion of 
land; here their gardens are enclosed, and hence 
their chief subsistence and greatest luxuries are 
derived. The soil here is a rich alluvial deposit, 
with a considerable admixture of vegetable mould. 
It is remarkably prolific; the only manure ever 
used is decayed leaves, and these are employed 
more to loosen than enrich the soil. Near the 
base of the mountains, though stony, it is fertile ; 
but nearer to the sea, where a considerable portion 
of sand is incorporated, it is less fruitful. In many 
places the sea has thrown up an embankment 
along the shore, considerably higher than the 
intervening space between the shore and the 
mountains; extensive swamps are thus formed. 
Though the effluvia arising from these marshy 
places must be highly prejudicial to health, they 
are generally prized by the natives, and, though 
not drained, enclosed for the culture of the 
different kinds of arum which constitute so great 
a portion of the food of the people, when the 
bread-fruit is out of season. The soil of the South 
Sea Islands is not only rich, but extensive, and 
capable, if cultivated, of supporting a population 
nearly ten times as large as that which it now 
sustains. 
