les Americains, tom. ii. p.
253, &c. Of this custom, and of many of the topics mentioned in this
Section, besides others of equal interest, the reader will be supplied
with very ample accounts when he comes to the relation of the 3d
voyage.--E.

[6] It appeared upon the whole, that the customs and language of these
islanders have a great affinity with those of the Otaheitans, and it
would not therefore be very singular to find a coincidence even in
their amusements. The greatest differences between these two tribes,
who must have originated from the same stock, seem to be owing to the
different nature of these islands. The Society Isles are well
furnished with wood, and the tops of these mountains are still covered
with inexhaustible forests. At the Friendly Isles this article is much
scarcer, the surface (at least of those which we have seen) being
almost entirely laid out in plantations. The natural consequence is,
that the houses are lofty and of immense extent in the first group of
islands, but much smaller and less convenient in the last. In one the
canoes are numerous, I may almost say innumerable, and many of a vast
size; and, in the other, very few in number, and much smaller. The
mountains of the Society Isles continually attract the vapours from
the atmosphere, and many rivulets descend from the broken rocks into
the plain, where they wind their serpentine course, and glide smoothly
to the sea. The inhabitants of those islands take advantage of this
gift of bountiful nature, and not only drink of the salutary element,
but likewise bathe so frequently in it, that no impurity can long
adhere to their skin. It is very different with a people who are
absolutely denied this blessing, and who must either content
themselves with putrid stagnant rain water in a few dirty pools, or go
entirely without it. They are obliged to have recourse to expedients
in order to preserve a certain degree of cleanliness, which may
preclude various distempers. They, therefore, cut off their hair, and
shave or clip their beards, which doubtless makes them look more
unlike the Otaheitans than they would otherwise do. Still these
precautions are not sufficient, especially as they have no fluid for
drinking in any quantity. The body is therefore very subject to
leprous complaints, which are perhaps irr