as a very fmall one; whereas Vavaoo, according to the*-
united teftimony of all our friends at Tongataboo, exceeds*
the fize of their own ifland, and has high mountains. I'
fhould certainly have vifited i t ; and have accompanied Fee-
nou from Hapaee, if he had not then difcouraged me, by
reprefendng it to be very inconfiderable, and without any
harbour. But Poulaho, the king, afterward aflured me, that
it was a large ifland; and that it not only produced every
thing in common with Tongataboo, but had the peculiar
advantage of poflTeffing feveral flreams of frefli water, with
as good a harbour as that which we found at his' capital
ifland. He offered to attend me, if I would vifit i t ; addine,
that, if I did not find every thing agreeing with his repre-
fentation, I might kill him. I had not th'e leaft doubt
of the truth of his intelligence; and was fatisfied that
Feenou, from fome interefted view, attempted to de-r
ceive me.
Hamoa, which is alfo under the dominion of Tongataboo^
lies two days fail North Weft from Vavaoo. It was de-
fcribed to me, as the largeft of all their iflands ; as affording
harbours and good water ; and as producing, in abundance;
every article of refrefhment found at the places we vifited'.,
Poulaho, himfelf, frequently refides there.- It fhould feem,,
that the people of this ifland are in high eftimation at Tongataboo
; for we were told, that fome of the fongs and:
dances, with which we were entertained, had been copied
from theirs ; and we faw fome houfes, faid to be built after
their fafhion. Mr. Anderfon, always inquifitive about fuch
by Captain Cook, is, probably,- Mr. Dalrymple’s, in his Collection- of Voyages',,
where Tafman’s track is marked accurately | and feveral very fmall fpots of land are
laid down in the fituatian here mentionedmatters
»
matters, learnt the three following words of the dialect of
Hamoa* ; '
, Tamolao*, a chief man.
Tamaety.y-'Si chief-woman.
• &o!le>. a common man..
Feejee,
« In two or three preceding notes,. èxtrads have been made from the Lettres Edir*
jjantes Curieufes, as marking a ftrong refemblance between fome of the cuftoms of
the inhabitants o f the Caroline Iflands, and thofe which Captain Cook defcribes as
prevailing at an immenfe.diftance,- in the iflands which he vifited in the^ South Pacifié'
Océàn. Poffibly, however, the prefumption, arifing from this refemblance^ that all
‘ thefe/iflands were peopled by the fame nation,, or tribe,, may be refilled, under the
plaufible pretence, thafr-cuftoms very fimiiar prevail amongft very^ diftant people, without
inferring any other common fource, befides the general* principles' of human na-*-
ture,.the fame in all ages, and every part of the globe. The reader, perhaps, will
not think this pretence applicable to the matter before us, if he attends to the following
very obvious diftihclibn : Thofe cuftoms which have their foundation in wants
that are common to the whole human fpecies, and which are'confined to the contrivance
of means to relieve thofe wants,, may well be fuppofed to bear a ftrong refem-
‘blance, without warranting the conclufiony that they who ufe thefn have copied each
other, or have derived them from one common fource ; human fagacity being the fame
every where, and the means dd'apted to the relief of any particular natural want, vefpe--
oially in countries fimilarly uncultivated, being but few. Thus the moft diftant -
tribes, as widely feparated as Terra del- Fuego is from the iflands. Eaft of Kamt-
fchatka, may, both of them, produce their fire, by rubbing two flicks upon each other;
without giving us the leaft foundation for fuppofing, that either of them imitated the
other, or derived the invention from a fource of inftru&ion common to both. But
this feems not to be the cafe, with regard to thofe cuftoms to which no general
principle of human nature has given birth, and which have their eftabliihment folely
from the endlefs varieties of local whim, dnd national fafhion. O f this latter kind,,
thofe cuftoms obvioufly. are, that belong both to the North, and to the South
Pacific Iflands, from which, we would infer, that they were originally one nation §
and the men of Mangeea, and the men of the New Philippines, who pay their re-
fpe&s to a perfon whom they mean to honour, by rubbing his hand over their faces,
bid fair to have learnt their mode of falutation in the famé fchool. But- i f this obfer-
yation fhould not have removed the doubts of the fceptical refiner, probably he will
hardly venture to perfift in denying the identity of race, contended for in the prefent
inftance, when he fhall obferve, that, to the proof drawn.- from affinity of cuftoms, .
we have it in our power to add that moft unexceptionable, one, drawn from affinity of
language. Tamoloa, we now know, is the word ufed at Hamoa, one of the Friendly
Iflands, to fignify a Chief ; and whoever looks into the Lettrés EdifianteS'& Curieufesy
111 fee, that this is the very name by which the inhabitants of the Caroline Iflandsdiftinguiftt