in order to steal his clothes, drove him off the chest; and for fear they should hurt his person, he fled to the adjacent hills. Mr. Falconer, who went to bring him off, found him in a most pitiable plight, and like one out of his senses. The surf was so high that they could not land, and were therefore obliged to haul the chest and its owner off by means of a rope. The reasons he gave for leaving his partner so abruptly, besides those already mentioned, were such as he might naturally have expected: Tenae, it seems, wanted to treat them with an excursion to another valley, to which Crook readily agreed, but Mr. Harris would not consent. The chief seeing this, and desirous of obliging him, not considering any favour too great, left him his wife, to be treated as if she were his own, till the chief came back again. Mr. Harris told him that he did not want the woman; however, she looked up to him as her husband, and finding herself treated with total neglect, became doubtful of his sex; and acquainted some of the other females with her suspicion, who accordingly came in the night, when he slept, and satisfied themselves concerning that point, but not in such a peaceable way but that they awoke him. Discovering so many strangers, he was greatly terrified; and, perceiving what they had been doing, was determined to leave a place where the people were so abandoned and given up to wickedness: a cause which should have excited a contrary resolution.'

These interesting islands have recently been very accurately described by a missionary, who for some time abandoned his holy office, and adopted the forbidden practices of the natives. Amongst the other narrations, that given by a Russian is the most complete.

Captain Langsdorff, who was sent into the South Seas by the emperor Alexander, in 1804, visited that group of the Marquesas, called Washington islands. When the ship approached the shore,' says he, the cries, the laughter, the romping of these mirthful people, was indescribable. They swam and played about like a troop of Tritons. The young girls and women were naked, noisy, and, according to our European ideas, immodest. They went about, with their

hands in the position of the Medicean Venus, in attitudes which presented a beautiful spectacle to the philosophic observer.' Here was found an Englishman named Roberts, and a Frenchman, a native of Bourdeaux, named Jean Baptiste Cabri. These two Europeans lived in a state of great enmity. Cabri was tatooed, and had married a daughter of one of the inferior chiefs. He appears to have been an unprincipled fellow, and did not possess such influence over the natives as the Englishman. He was however brought away by the Russians, and being an excellent swimmer, was afterwards engaged as teacher of that useful art to the corps of marine cadets at Cronstadt.

When the Duff returned to Otaheite, they found that the brethren had been kindly used, and most plentifully supplied with provisions; but they were much hurt that the queen, Iddeah, persisted in killing her new born child, in defiance of their threats and remonstrances. She is described as a bold, haughty, warlike spirit; and declared that she would observe the customs of her country without minding their displeasure. Manne Manne, after this observed, that the missionaries gave them plenty of the word of God, but not of many other things. By an accurate calculation, captain Wilson concluded that this island did not contain much above 16,000 inhabitants.

Before the Duff sailed, a seaman deserted, and was with great difficulty apprehended, and as the captain suspected that Andrew the Swede was privy to his desertion, he also was put into confinement, and to prevent mischief, it was resolved to carry him away. The ship being well supplied with a sea stock, sailed from this singular and friendly island.

But before we accompany captain Wilson from the South Seas, it may not be uninteresting to notice a few of the largest groups of islands that are scattered over this immense expanse of water, and which seem destined very shortly to become the seats of civilization, and of the Christian religion.

The Sandwich isles were first discovered by captain Cook, and here it was that his career of glory was terminated. The natives, though not so handsome as the Otaheiteans, are yet more active, bold, and warlike. They tatoo their bodies in

order to give them a terrific appearance in battle. They are mild and affectionate; but their women, as amongst all other uncivilized tribes, are kept in a degraded state of subjection. They are excellent swimmers, and even women with infants at their breasts, will swim through a surf that looks dreadful. The total population of these islands have been estimated at 400,000.

Some Englishmen who escaped from Botany bay, and others left by European vessels, have been extremely useful to these ingenious and industrious people. In 1802, the chief king, an usurper, had a house built of brick, and glazed windows. His fleet was respectable, and his subjects traded to the northwest coast of America. He was also meditating to open a trade with China. His body-guard were uniform, and were regularly disciplined!

The islands of Navigators is another important group. The women are licentious, and the men strong and ferocious. The best account of these islands have been given by La Perouse.

New Zealand was explored by captain Cook, in 1770. It consists of two islands, separated by a strait, one of which is not less than 600 miles in length by about 150 in medial breadth, and the other is little inferior in size. The climate is very agreeable, and the land uncommonly fertile. The natives,' says Mr. Savage, who visited New Zealand in 1805, at least the part of it I visited, are of a very superior order, both in point of personal appearance and intellectual endowments. The men are usually from five feet eight inches to six feet in height; well proportioned, and exhibit evident marks of great strength.

"The colour of the natives, taken as a mean, resembles that of an European gipsey; but there is considerable difference in their shades, varying between the dark chesnut and the light agreeable tinge of an English brunette. Their countenances are in general open; and though you are not alarmed by any marks of savage ferocity, you clearly discover signs of undaunted courage, and a resolution not easily shaken.—The workings of the mind are readily discernable in most instances;