AND

SUCCESSFUL RESULT

OF A

VOYAGE IN THE SOUTH SEAS,

PERFORMED BY ORDER OF THE

GOVERNMENT OF BRITISH INDIA,

TO ASCERTAIN

THE ACTUAL FATE

OF

LA PÉROUSE'S EXPEDITION,

INTERSPERSED WITH

ACCOUNTS OF THE RELIGICN, MANNERS; CUSTOMS,

AND CANNIBAL PRACTICES

OF THE

SOUTH SEA ISIANDIRS.

BY THE

ETSTE

CHEVALIER CAPT. P. DILLON,

Member of the Legion of Honour; of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and of the Geographical

Society of Paris :
Commander of the Hon. East-India Company's Ship Research.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

LONDON:
HURST, CHANCE, AND CO., ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD.

NARRATIVE,

&c. &c.

CHAPTER I.

.

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE FRIENDLY ISLANDERS.

· On this subject I shall avail myself of the correct and interesting sketch of the Friendly Islanders given by Mr. Máriner;-beėáuše, having arrived among them in early youth, and become perfectly acquainted with theîr language, manners, customs, and modes of thinking, he had better opportunities of observation than any one who either went before or came after him. His work, though highly valuable and interesting, is in comparatively few hands; and from personal observation, and the inquiries made of others when on the spot, I can bear testimony to its general accuracy. I begin with the

DIFFERENT GRADES OF RANK.

One and the same individual (a priest), who to-day is scarcely held in any estimation, may to