ar-canes, and a great quantity of _pisans_, which are a sort of
figs as large as gourds covered by a green rind, the pulp of which is
as sweet as honey. The leaves of the tree on which these figs grow
are six or eight feet long and three broad, and there are sometimes an
hundred of these _pisans_ on one bough. The Dutch saw no quadrupeds of
any kind, yet supposed there might be cattle and other beasts in the
interior, as on shewing some hogs to the islanders, they expressed by
signs that they had seen such animals before. They used pots to dress
their meat in; and it appeared that every family or tribe among
them dwelt in a separate village. The huts or cabins composing these
villages were from forty to sixty feet long, by six or eight feet
broad, made of upright poles, having the interstices filled up with
loam or fat earth, and covered at top with palm leaves. They drew most
of their subsistence from the earth by cultivation, the land being
portioned out into small plantations very neatly divided and staked
out. While the Dutch were there, almost all the fruits and roots were
in full maturity, and the island seemed to abound in good things. In
their houses there were not many moveables, and those they had were
of no value, except some red and white quilts or cloths, which served
them in the day for mantles, and at night for coverlets. The stuff of
which these were composed felt as soft as silk, and was probably of
their own manufacture.

The natives of this island were in general a brisk, slender, active,
well-made people, very swift of foot, and seemed of sweet tempers, and
modest dispositions, but timorous and faint-hearted; for whenever they
brought fowls or other provisions to the Dutch, they threw themselves
on their knees, and immediately on delivering their presents retired
in all haste. They were mostly as brown-complexioned as Spaniards,
some among them being almost black, while others were white, and
others again had their skins entirely red, as if sun-burnt. Their ears
hung down to their shoulders, and some had large white bales hanging
to them, which they seemed to consider as a great ornament. Their
bodies were painted all over with the figures of birds and other
animals, on some much better executed than on others.[5] All their
women had artificial bloom on their cheeks, but of a much deeper
crimson than is known in Europe, and the Dutch could not discover what
this colour was composed of. They wore litt