jiar. *he Society Iflands ;■ and the vicinity of the volcano at Am-»
brrym gave us great room to fuppofe that Mallicollo is no
ftranger to the procefles carried on in thefe natural laboratories.
Its vegetable produdtions feem to be luxuriant and
in great variety, and the ufeful plants not lefs numerous
than in the iflands we had before vifited. Coco, nuts, breadfruit,
bananas, fugar-canes, yams, eddoes; turmerick, and
oranges were feen on the ifland, and enumerated by the
natives. Hogs and common poultry are their domeftic animals
; to which we have added dogs, by felling them a pair
of puppies brought from the Society Iflands. They re*
ceived them with ftrong figns of extreme fatisfaclion ;: but
as they called them hogs, (brooas,) we were convinced that
they were entirely new to them. We did not find any other
quadruped during our fhort flay, nor is it probable that,
on an ifland fo far remote from continents, there fhould be
any wild animals of that clafs. In the courfe of one day,
and confined to a barren beach, it is not likely that we could
form a more adequate idea of the animals than of the vegetables
of this country. We faw enough, however, to be
convinced, that the woods are inhabited by many fpecies of
birds, among which there are doubtlefs fome which have
- as yet efcaped the attention of naturalifts.
The productions of Mallicollo are, however, lefs remarkable
and ftriking at firft fight than the race of its inhabitants.
To judge of their numbers from the croud we faw
at
a t Port Sandwich, I fhould conclude, that they are far from
inconfiderable ; but confidering the great fize of the ifland,
I cannot fuppofe it to be very populous. Fifty thoufand is,
I think, the greateft number we can admit; and thefe are
not confined to the fkirts of the hills, as at Taheitee, but
difperfed over the whole extent of more than fix hundred
fquare miles. We ought to figure their country to our-
felves as one extenfive foreft: they have only begun to clear
and plant a few infulated fpots, which are loft in it, like fmall
iflands in the vaft Pacific Ocean. Perhaps if we could ever
penetrate through the darknefs which involves the hiftory
.of this nation, we might find that they have arrived in the
South Sea much later than the natives of the Friendly and
Society Iflands. So much at leaft is certain, that they appear
to be of a race totally diftinft from thefe. Their form,
their language, and their manners ftrongly and completely
.mark the difference. The natives on fome parts of New
Guinea and Papua feem to correfpond in many particulars
with what we have obferved among the Mallicollefe. The
black colour and woolly hair in particular are charadteriftics
common to both nations. If the influence of climate be
admitted, which is fo flrongly defended by count Buffon,
it offers another proof that Mallicollo has been but lately
peopled *, fince the interval of time has not been fufficient
to work a change in the colour and hair of the inhabitants.
*774- July.
* The reader will perceive that we only ufe this ejcpreffion comparatively.
G g 2 But