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cellent Water which come from the adjacent hills. It is upon this low Land that the greatest part of the inhabitants live, not in Towns or Vilages, but dispersed everywhere round the whole Island; the Tops of most of the ridges and mountains are Barren and, as it were, burnt up with the sun, yet many parts of some of them are not without their produce, and many of the Valleys are fertile and inhabited. [Produce of Tahiti.] OF THE PRODUCE. The produce of this Island is Bread Fruit, Cocoa Nuts, Bonanoes, Plantains, a fruit like an Apple, sweet Potatoes, Yams, a Fruit known by the name of Eag Melloa, and reck'ned most delicious; Sugar Cane which the inhabitants eat raw; a root of the Salop kind, called by the inhabitants Pea; the root also of a plant called Ether; and a fruit in a pod like a Kidney bean, which when roasted eats like a Chestnut, and is called Ahee; the fruit of a Tree which they call Wharra, something like a Pine Apple; the fruit of a Tree called by them Nano; the roots of a Fern and the roots of a plant called Thive. All these Articles the Earth almost Spontaniously produces, or, at least, they are raised with very little Labour. In the Article of food these people may almost be said to be exempt from the Curse of our Forefathers, scarcely can it be said that they Earn their bread with the sweat of their brow; benevolent Nature hath not only Supply'd them with necessarys, but with abundance of Superfluities. The Sea coast supplies them with vast Variety of most Excellent fish, but these they get not without some Trouble and Perseverance. Fish seems to be one of their greatest Luxuries, and they Eat it either raw or Dressed and seem to relish it one way as well as the other. Not only fish but almost everything that comes out of the Sea is Eat and Esteem'd by these People; Shell Fish, Lobsters, Crabs, and even sea insects, and what is commonly called blubbers of many kinds, conduce to their support. For tame Animals they have Hogs, Fowls, and Dogs, the latter of which we learned to Eat from them, and few were there of us but what allow'd that a South Sea dog was next to an English Lamb. One thing in their favour is that they live intirely upon Vegetables; probably our Dogs would not Eat half so well. Little can be said in favour of their Fowles, but their pork is most Excellent, they have no beasts of Prey of any Sort, and Wild Fowls are scarce and confin'd to a few Species. When any of the Chiefs ki
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