es; however,
thanks to the kindness of the padres, we contrived to make ourselves
very comfortable. There are four villages in the island, San Raphael,
Santa Maria, Santa Lucia, and Santa Rosa; each consisting of about forty
houses, containing about 300 people; so that the population may be
taken, at a rough guess, at about 1200. The natives profess the Roman
Catholic religion, and appear to be very sincere in their devotion.
Divine service is performed morning and evening, at which time the boys
and girls of the village walk to the church in two lines, chanting a
hymn to the Virgin Mary. Each line is headed by the youngest of either
sex, bearing a cross. The boys wore nothing but the middle cloth, and
the girls were almost as scantily clothed; the only garment being a
skirt or petticoat, not larger than a moderate sized
pocket-handkerchief. During two days our friends, the padres, were fully
occupied with the important ceremonies of marriage and baptism. Many of
the parties joined in matrimony were mere children. They all had, on
this important occasion, some addition to their general costume. The
bridegroom, for instance, wore a shirt; some of them had actually a pair
of trousers. The bride had an additional and large petticoat, and an
embroidered handkerchief. They were not at all bashful--there was no
blushing--no tears, and, on the contrary, marriage appeared to be
considered as an excellent joke, and the laughing and flirtation were
carried on to the church door. The padres appeared to be almost
worshipped by the poor natives, who, on their arrival and departure,
respectfully saluted their hands. But their great affection was shown in
a more satisfactory and substantial manner, by the continual supply of
goats, pigs, fowls, vegetables, and fruit, which were liberally supplied
during our stay. I forgot to say that the marriage certificates were of
a very primitive kind; they consisted of a laurel leaf, in which were
rudely inscribed the names of the bride and bridegroom. At length,
having finished our survey, we bid farewell to our hospitable
entertainers, and on the 27th made sail for St. Domingo.

We remained two days at St. Domingo, and then weighed and steered to the
northward. On the 3d of June we landed on the island of Samazana, near
the south point of Formosa. The inhabitants of Samazana are Chinese,
although they pay no tribute to the emperor. This island was first
inhabited, about twenty years since, by a