l shade darker than that of the
inhabitants of the Friendly Islands in general. One of them had his left
ear slit, and the lobe was so distended, that it almost reached his
shoulder, which singularity I had met with at other islands of the South
Sea, during my second voyage. It appeared to me that the Feejee men whom
we now saw were much respected here, not only perhaps from the power and
cruel manner of their nation's going to war, but also from their
ingenuity. For they seem to excel the inhabitants of Tongataboo in that
respect, if we might judge from several specimens of their skill in
workmanship which we saw, such as clubs and spears, which were carved in
a very masterly manner, cloth beautifully chequered, variegated mats,
earthen pots, and some other articles, all which had a cast of
superiority in the execution.

I have mentioned that Feejee lies three days sail from Tongataboo,
because these people have no other method of measuring the distance from
island to island, but by expressing the time required to make the voyage
in one of their canoes. In order to ascertain this with some precision,
or at least to form some judgment how far these canoes can sail in a
moderate gale in any given time, I went on board one of them, when under
sail, and, by several trials with the log, found that she went seven
knots, or miles, in an hour, close hauled, in a gentle gale. From this I
judge, that they will sail, on a medium, With such breezes as generally
blow in their sea, about seven or eight miles in an hour. But the
length of each day is not to be reckoned at twenty-four hours. For when
they speak of one day's sail, they mean no more than from the morning to
the evening of the same day, that is, ten or twelve hours at most. And
two days sail with them signifies from the morning of the first day to
the evening of the second, and so for any other number of days. In these
navigations, the sun is their guide by day, and the stars by night. When
these are obscured, they have recourse to the points from whence the
winds and the waves came upon the vessel. If during the obscuration,
both the wind and the waves should shift, (which, within the limits of
the trade-wind seldom happens at any other time,) they are then
bewildered, frequently miss their intended port, and are never heard of
more. The history of Omai's countrymen, who were driven, to Wateeoo,
leads us to infer, that those not heard of are not always lost.

Of all th