not translucent, nor transparent, or not admitting a free passage to the rays of light.

OPARO or OPARO, the name given by Captain Vancouver to a small island which he discovered in latitude 27° 36' south, and in longitude 215° 49' east from Greenwich. It was estimated at about 6½ miles in length, and no other land was in sight. Its principal character is a cluster of high craggy mountains, forming, in several places, most romantic pinnacles, with perpendicular cliffs nearly from their summits to the sea; the vacancies between the mountains would more properly be termed chasms than valleys. The tops of six of the highest hills bore the appearance of fortified places, resembling redoubts; having a fort of blockhouses, in the shape of an English glass-house, in the centre of each, with rows of palliades a considerable way down the sides of the hills, nearly at equal distances. These overhanging, seemed intended for advanced works, and apparently capable of defending the citadel by a few against a numerous host of assailants. On all of them people were noticed as if on duty, constantly moving about. What we considered (says the author) as block-houses, from their great similarity in appearance to that fort of building, were sufficiently large to lodge a considerable number of persons, and were the only habitations we saw. Yet, from the number of canoes that in so short a time assembled round the English ship, it is natural to conclude, that the inhabitants are very frequently afloat; and to infer, that the shores, and not those fortified hills which appeared to be in the centre of the island, would be preferred for their general residence.

Whether the fortified places here described were intended for defences of the islanders against each other, or against attacks from some more powerful neighbours, could only be conjectured; but the latter idea seems the most probable. From the language of the people, and their resemblance to the Friendly islanders, Captain Vancouver considers them all as having sprung from the same original stock. The people of Oparo, however, are distinguished by two circumstances, certainly in their favour. Not one of them was tattooed; and though they appeared not to have ever seen a European before, they all seemed perfectly well acquainted with the uses to which they could apply iron, and preferred articles of it to looking glasses, beads, and other trinkets, with which savages are usually delighted. Though there appeared to be anchoring ground near the north west end of the island, circumstances rendered it inconvenient for Captain Vancouver to land on it; so that we are yet in a great measure strangers to the dispositions of the people, though they appeared to be hospitable.