appellation) the superiority is on the side of the Otaheitans; yet the
_piraguas_ of the West Indians were fully sufficient for the navigation
they were employed in, and indeed were by no means contemptible
sea-boats."--"On the other hand, our islanders far surpassed the people
of Otaheite, in the elegance and variety of their domestic utensils and
furniture; their earthen-ware, curiously woven beds, and implements of
husbandry." For the particulars of the comparison here entered into, the
reader who is interested will have recourse to the work itself, in
which, besides, he will find several circumstances related of another
people, the Charaibes, which much resemble what he has now read in the
account of the Otaheitans. This note is already too large to admit of
their being specified in any satisfactory manner, and it was thought
improper to be continually calling off the attention of the reader,
from the text, to smaller notes at the individual instances.--E.]

SECTION XIX.

_Of the Division of Time in Otaheile; Numeration, Computation of
Distance, Language, Diseases, Disposal of the Dead, Religion, War,
Weapons, and Government; with some general Observations for the Use of
future Navigators_.

We were not able to acquire a perfect idea of their method of dividing
time; but observed, that in speaking of it, either past or to come, they
never used any term but _Malama_, which signifies Moon. Of these moons
they count thirteen, and then begin again; which is a demonstration that
they have a notion of the solar year: But how they compute their months,
so that thirteen of them shall be commensurate with the year, we could
not discover; for they say that each month has twenty-nine days,
including one in which the moon is not visible. They have names for them
separately, and have frequently told us the fruits that would be in
season, and the weather that would prevail, in each of them; and they
have indeed a name for them collectively, though they use it only when
they speak of the mysteries of their religion.

Every day is subdivided into twelve parts, each of two hours, of which
six belong to the day, and six to the night. At these divisions they
guess pretty nearly by the height of the sun while he is above the
horizon; but there are few of them that can guess at them, when he is
below it, by the stars.[23]

[Footnote 23: It is distinctly proved by President Goguet, that the
course of the moon, and her various ap