the easternmost, and by far the largest, of the Sandwich islands. Its greatest length from north to south is 28½ leagues, its breadth 24, and its circumference nearly 320 English miles. It is divided into six large districts; two of which on the north-east side are separated by a mountain, that rises in three peaks, which is perpetually covered with snow, and may be seen clearly at 40 leagues distance. To the north of this mountain, the coast consists of high and steep cliffs, down which fall many beautiful cascades of water. The whole country is covered with cocoa-nut and bread-fruit-trees. The peaks of the mountain on the north-east side appear to be about half a mile in height, and entirely covered with snow. To the south of this mountain, the coast presents a prospect of the most dreary kind, the whole country appearing to have undergone a total change by means of some dreadful convulsion. The ground is everywhere covered with cinders, and intersected in many places with black streaks, which seem to mark the course of a lava that has flowed not many ages since from the mountain to the shore. The southern promontory looks like the mere dregs of a volcano. The projecting headland is composed of broken and craggy rocks, piled irregularly upon one another, and terminating in sharp points; yet, amidst these ruins, there are many pieces of rich soil, which are carefully laid out in plantations, and the neighbouring sea affords a vast variety of excellent fish: so that this quarter is much better inhabited than those which are more verdant. The fields are inclosed with stone fences, and are interspersed with groves of cocoa nut trees. We are told indeed by some of Cook's people who walked through a considerable part of it, that they did not observe a spot of ground that was susceptible of improvement left unplanted; and indeed the country, from their account, could scarcely be cultivated to greater advantage for the purposes of the natives. They were surprised at seeing several fields of hay; and upon their inquiry, to what particular use it was applied, they were informed, that it was intended to cover the grounds where the young taro grew, in order to preserve them from being scorched by the rays of the sun. They observed among the plantations a few huts scattered about, which afforded occasional shelter to the labourers; but they did not see any villages at a greater distance from the sea than four or five miles. Near one of them, which was situated about four miles from the bay, they discovered a cave, forty fathoms in length, three in breadth, and of the same height. It was open at each end; its sides were fluted as if wrought with a chisel; and the surface was glazed over, perhaps by the action of fire. There are supposed to be on this island about 150,000 inhabitants. So long as the name of Captain Cook shall OWH

be remembered, this island will not be forgotten; for he here fell a victim to a strange concatenation of events. See Cook.

We have the following account of the inhabitants of this island in Ellis's Authentic Narrative, &c.

"The men are above the middle size, stout, well made, and fleshy, but not fat. Corpulency is not altogether so great a mark of distinction in these as in the Society Isles; and tallness, for which the Otaheiteans have great partiality, is also overlooked. Their colour is in general brown olive. The women are in general masculine, though there are some delicately made, and the voice of them all is soft and feminine. The hair both of the head and beard is black; that of the head the men wear in the form of a helmet, that is, a long frizzled ridge from the forehead to the neck, the sides being much shorter. This fashion seems to prevail only among the principal people, that of the inferior sort being of an equal length in every part. Most of them were very desirous of parting with their beards, which, they said, were disagreeable and troublesome, and were fond of being shaved by our people. Some of the priests wore their beards long, and would not on any account part with them. The women wear their hair long before, but very short behind, which is not the most becoming mode; and, like those of the Friendly Isles, they have a way of rendering it of different colours, red, yellow, and brown. The features of both sexes are good, and we saw some of the females who might really be called fine women. Their teeth are even and perfectly white. In general, they seem to be very healthy, and we observed several who appeared to be of great age. As to diseases, we saw none who laboured under any during our stay except the venereal complaint; coughs and colds indeed were pretty general, and one man died. From what we could learn of his disorder from the natives, it was a violent griping or colic.

"Both men and women appeared to be of a good disposition, and behaved to each other with the tenderest regard; when they did fall out, which sometimes was the case, occasioned by the upsetting of a canoe, or some such trifling accident, they only scolded a little, and this was soon over and forgotten. We never saw them strike each other upon any occasion. They are all thieves, from the aree to the towtown, but not quite so expert at it as our Otaheite friends.

"The custom of tattooing prevails greatly among these people, but the men have a much larger share of it than the women: many (particularly some of the natives of Mow'whoe) have one half their body, from head to foot, marked in this manner, which gives them a most striking appearance. It is done with great regularity, and looks remarkably neat; some have only an arm marked in this manner, others a leg; some again have both arm and leg, and others only the hand. The women are the most part marked upon the hand, and some upon the tip of their tongue; but of these we saw but few. Both sexes have a particular mark according to the district in which they live; or it is rather the mark of the aree, or principal man, under whose jurisdiction they more immediately are. We never saw the operation of tattooing performed, nor could we procure a sight of the instruments used upon this occasion; but it is likely they are much the same as those of the Friendly and Society Isles.

"Both men and women are very cleanly in their persons; the latter wash their whole bodies in fresh water twice and sometimes three times a day; but the women of Otaheite have the advantage of them in one point of cleanliness, which is eradicating the hairs from under the arm-pits. This is a custom we observed nowhere but at the Society Isles.

"There are no people in the world who indulge themselves more in their sensual appetite than these: in fact, they carry it to a most scandalous and shameful degree, and in a manner not proper to be mentioned. The ladies are very lavish of their favours; but are far from being so mercenary as those of the Friendly or Society Isles, and some of their attachments seemed purely the effect of affection. They are initiated into this way of life at a very early period; we saw some who could not be more than ten years old.

"Their clothing consists of cloth of different kinds: that worn by the men, which is called marro, is about half a yard wide, and four yards long; that of the women, three quarters of a yard wide, and of the same length as the men's: this they call pah-o'ouwa; they both wear it round their middle, but the men pass it between their legs. This is the general dress of both sexes; but the better sort sometimes throw a large piece loosely over their shoulders. Besides the marro, they have several other kinds of cloth, which derive their names either from the different uses they are applied to, or their different texture and pattern; all, however, as far as we could learn, are made from the Chinese paper mulberry tree. The principal of these is the cappa, which is about 10 or 12 feet long, and nearly as many wide, and is thick and warm; they wrap themselves up in this when they retire to sleep. They have another kind, which is white, and much thinner; this, as has been before observed, they throw loosely over their shoulders; it is sometimes 20 or 30 yards long, and wide in proportion. The marro and pah-o'ouwa are curiously painted of various patterns, but the others are generally white, or dyed red, black, and yellow.

"The principal ornaments of the men are the feather-caps and cloaks; some of the latter reach down to their heels, and have a most magnificent appearance. They are made for the most part of red and yellow feathers, which are tied upon fine net-work. The caps are composed of the same kind of feathers, which are sometimes intermixed with black; they are secured upon a kind of balek-work, made in the form of a helmet. Both caps and cloaks are made of various patterns and sizes. The cloaks are not all composed of the same kind of feathers, but are sometimes varied with the long tail-feathers of the cock, with a border of yellow or red, and sometimes with those of the tropic bird. Both caps and cloaks, however, are only to be seen in the possession of the principal people. They have also a kind of fly-flap, made of a bunch of feathers fixed to the end of a thin piece of smooth and polished wood: they are generally made of the tail-feathers of the cock, but the better sort of people have them of the tropic birds feathers, or those belong- OWL

Owhyhee ing to a black and yellow bird called mobo'. The handle is very frequently made of one of the bones of the arm or leg of those whom they have killed in battle, curiously inlaid with tortoise-shell; these they deem very valuable, and will not part with them under a great price. This ornament is common to the superiors of both sexes.

"The women too have their share in the ornamental way: that which they value most is the oral. This is a kind of ruff or necklace, made of red, green, black, and yellow feathers, curiously put together, and in most elegant patterns, which really do honour to the fancy of the ladies, whose business it is to make them. They never think themselves dressed without one or two of these round their necks, and those who can afford it wear many. Others again are composed of small variegated shells, disposed in a very neat manner; and some consist of several rows of twisted hair, with a piece of carved wood or bone, highly polished, the bottom part forming a curve. The higher the quality of the wearer, the greater is the size of the wood or bone, and the quantity of the twisted hair. The next thing is the poo-remah or bracelet; the most valuable are made of boar's tusks fastened together side by side with a piece of string, by means of a hole drilled through the middle; the larger the tusks, the greater the value. Sometimes two shells tied round the wrists with twisted or braided hair, serve the purpose of bracelets; but even in this case they show great nicety, being particularly careful to match them as near as possible. They were prodigiously fond of those we gave them, which were only a few beads, secured by thread upon a strip of scarlet cloth, and made to button round the wrist. So much did they at first value them, that a small hatchet and one of these would purchase a hog, which without it could not have been bought for three large hatchets. The women were perpetually teasing the men to dispose of their various articles for these bracelets; at least one of them was always to make a part of the price." W. Long. 156. o. S. Lat. 19. 28.