iTJus't. Lome words of the Malay; but in general they are wholly
unlike each other, and related to no other tongue that I
know of. There is a ftrong kind of afpiration, and a guttural
found, in many words at Tanna, which are, however,
very fonorous and full of vowels, and therefore eafily pronounced.
The fmall fize of the iflands in the South Sea, and the
want of wild quadrupeds on them, have totally prevented
their firll fettlers from living by the chace, the ufual occupation
of favages. This confined fpace likewife did not
allow them to breed numerous herds of domellic animals,
and obliged them to have recourfe to the cultivation of the
foil for their immediate fubfiftence, efpecially when they
could not fupport themfelves by fifhing. It has been the
falutary confequence of this early application to rural oeco-
nomy, to facilitate civilization. All the nations of tropical
iflands in the South Sea have fixed habitations, and it is only
the degree of elegance and convenience which diftihguilhes
their different progrefs in culture. The people of Tanna
do not appear, according to this ftandard, to be far advanced
; their houfes are mere Iheds, which barely cover
them from the inclemency of the weather. Drefs, another
diftinguifhing character of civilization, is as yet entirely
unknown to them; and in the place of cleanlinefs, which
every where renders mankind agreeable to each other, we
obferved divers forts of paint and greafe. They feem however
ever to be in great forwardnefs towards receiving a greater
polilh. Their food is much varied by the arts of cookery
which the women put in practice; they roaft or broil the
yams and bananas} they Hew the green leaves of a kind
o f fig, and of the okra (Ubijius efculentus), they bake puddings
made of a pafte of bananas and eddoes, containing a
mixture of coco-nut kernel and leaves, and they likewife
eat feveral forts of ripe fruits, without any preparation.
Their poultry and hogs doubtlefs fupply them at times
with animal food ; and from time to time they catch fifh
and birds, which very probably are reckoned dainties. If
the tafte for a variety of food becomes more general and
violent, agriculture, arts, and manufactures will be carried
on with greater fpirir, as far as they are fubfervient to the
pleafure of the palate, and one refinement ftill mull give
birth to another. The heavielt talk becomes light and
amufing, as foon as it is undertaken from our own inclination,
and for the gratification of our fenfes. The domellic
life of the people o f Tanna Is not wholly deftitute of amufe-
ments ; they are at prefent indeed of a more ferious turn
than the civilized nations of the Friendly and Society Iflands,
and the more favage inhabitants of Mallicollo: but, on the
other hand, their mufic is in greater, perfection than any in
the South Sea; and it cannot be difputed that a predilection
for harmonious founds implies great fenfibility, and mult
prepare the way for civilization. Agreeably to their pre-
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