d to belong to the same
race. It would be interesting to know the cause of this striking
difference.

In less than an hour we had obtained upwards of sixty large pigs, and a
superfluity of fowls, vegetables, and fruits of various kinds, covering
our whole deck, all of which cost us only some pieces of old iron, some
strings of glass beads, and about a dozen nails. The blue beads seemed
to be in highest estimation. A great fat pig was thought sufficiently
paid for by two strings of them; and when they became scarce with us,
the savages were glad to give two pigs for one such necklace.

Some of the fruits and roots they brought were unknown to us; and their
great size proved the strength of the soil. The bananas were of seven or
eight species, of which I had hitherto seen but three in the most
fruitful countries. Some of them were extremely large, and of a most
excellent flavour. One of the fruits resembled an egg in size and
figure; its colour was a bright crimson; and on the following day when
we celebrated the Easter festival after the Russian fashion, they
supplied to us the place of the Easter eggs.

I must yet mention two more articles of our marketing--namely, tame
pigeons and parrots. The former are widely different from those of
Europe both in shape and in the splendour of their plumage; their claws
are also differently formed. The parrots are not larger than a sparrow,
of a lively green and red, with red tails more than four times the
length of their whole bodies. All these birds, of which great numbers
were brought to us, were so tame, that they would sit quietly on the
hand of their master, and receive their food from his mouth; the
inclination for taming them, and the method of treatment, is favourable
evidence of the mildness which characterises this people.

How many other unknown plants and animals may exist among these islands,
where Nature is so profuse! and how much is it to be regretted that no
secure anchorage can be found, which would enable an European expedition
to effect a landing with proper precautions. Some idea may be formed of
the dense population of the Flat Island, from the fact that, small as is
its extent, above sixty canoes, each containing seven or eight men, came
to us from it in less than an hour; and had we stayed longer, the
canoes must have amounted to some hundreds, as the whole sea between us
and the island was rapidly covering with increasing numbers.

Our market became sti