ize
as Great Britain. It is a cold, foggy country, and subject to sudden
storms of snow and sleet, which the natives call '_poorgas_,' and
when overtaken by one they do not attempt to travel through it, but
suffer the snow to bury them and their dogs, and as soon as it is
over, they extricate themselves as well as they can. The natives
comprising the two tribes of the Kamtschatdales and Koriaks differ
principally in their mode of life. They are all of low stature, and
not remarkable for their beauty. They are shy, averse to strangers,
but honest, and extremely hospitable. They dwell in fixed
habitations, although hunters and fishers; but their dwellings are
low, comfortless, and filthy, sunk in the ground in the winter
months, and raised on posts during summer to facilitate the curing
of fish, which are hung up on lines to dry. In travelling, they use
dogs harnessed to a sledge instead of horses."

DORA. "We are now to leave the coasts, and sail about in search of
the islands in the Pacific Ocean; and, as we happen to be above the
equator, we can more conveniently see those of the North Pacific. We
have each selected our favorite isles for description, and Charles
is at the head of the catalogue."

MRS. WILTON. "To make our remarks better understood, we will, like
scientific geographers, class all these islands under the head of
Polynesia, for the term is applied to the numerous groups, both
above and below the equator, in the Pacific Ocean. The equator
forming a dividing line between North and South Polynesia. Sir
Francis Drake was the first English captain to whom appertained the
honor of sailing on the Pacific Ocean.

"'The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free;
He was the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.'"[16]

[Footnote 16: Coleridge]

CHARLES. "The Sandwich Islands appear to me one of the most
interesting groups, although the most isolated of all in North
Polynesia. They are ten in number,--eight inhabited,--and were named
by their discoverer, Captain Cook, in honor of the Earl of Sandwich,
a minister who had warmly promoted his labors. The island of Owyhee,
or more properly Hawaii, is the largest, being 415 miles in
circumference. It obtained a celebrity, as the scene of Captain
Cook's death, who was killed by the natives on the 14th of February,
1779. A celebrity of a different kind now awaits it, as the focus of
civilization in Polynesia. The inhabitants