, and trees somewhat resembling willows were
thinly spread on the mountains.--E.

[3] Mr. G.F. who shot the duck, tells us, that the natives expressed
some admiration, but not the smallest fear, at the report and effects
of the firearms.--E.

[4] "The whole plantation we saw, had a very scanty appearance, and
seemed to be insufficient to afford nourishment to the inhabitants
throughout the year. We entirely missed that variety of fruits, which
we had hitherto met with in the tropical islands, and naturally
recollected the poverty of the inhabitants of Easter Island, above
whom it appeared, that the people before us enjoyed but few
advantages. Towards the hills, of which the first risings were at the
distance of about two miles, the country looked extremely dreary; here
and there, indeed, we saw a few trees, and small uncultivated spots,
but they appeared to be lost on the great extent of barren and
unprofitable country, which resembled our moors more than any thing
else."--G.F.

[5] Mr G.F., who seems to have accompanied the watering-party, gives
the following account of the appearance of the country.--"We walked
along the beach which was sandy, and bounded by a fine wild shrubbery;
we soon came to a hut, from whence a number of plantations extended to
the back of the bank and wild wood. We rambled into the country, and
came to a canal that watered this plantation, but of which the water
was very brackish. From hence, however, we ran immediately to an
eminence near us, where the nature of the country appeared evidently
changed. The plain was covered with a thin stratum of vegetable soil,
which being very poor, was manured in the plantations with broken
shells and corals. The eminence, on the contrary, was a rocky ground,
consisting of large pieces of quartz and glimmer (_mica_). Here grew a
quantity of dry grasses, about two or three feet high, very thin in
most places; and at the distance of fifteen or twenty yards asunder,
we saw large trees black at the root, but with a bark perfectly whole
and loose, and having narrow long leaves like our willows. They were
of the sort which Linne calls _melaleuca leucadendra_, and Rumphius
_arbor alba_, who says that the natives of the Moluccas make the oil
of _cayputi_, from the leaves, which are indeed extremely fragrant and
aromatic. N