which have already, on various occasions, been given of the persons, dress, and characters of the male inhabitants of this island.  The reader will have inferred, that they are generally a harmless and inoffensive race of savages:  it may be added, that they are probably the most dirty people existing under the face of the sun; for, with the exception of occasional immersions in the sea, when occupied in the affairs of business, we have never known them to wash themselves.  The only systematic method they appear to adopt of cleansing, as well as of dress, is to give themselves a new coating of clay and palm-oil, whenever the previous one happens to be injured.  Some few individuals, indeed, appear to renew this covering as a matter of fashion; particularly one dandy chief, who frequently changed the colour of his skin, and, in consequence, became familiarly known to us by the name of Chameleon; and what is singular, this man, like our European dandies, was in the habit of scenting himself.

The transition from the male to the female sex, through the intermediate species of Macaroni, is easy, if not natural; and I shall indulge my own particular feelings and partialities in entering upon that part of my observations which relates more exclusively to the fairer and softer portion of this aboriginal people.  The infinite modifications of person, mind, and manners, exhibited by the sex in the different grades of society throughout the world, whether formed by the influences of climate, government, or education, present a most interesting subject to the speculative observer of human nature:  and to one who, from early life, both by profession and inclination, a traveller, has wandered under every temperature of our eastern hemisphere, who has studied and admired the sex under every variety of character, no wonder that the contemplation of woman, as nature left her, inartificial, unsophisticated, simple, barbarous, and unadorned, should seem fraught with peculiar interest.  Are there any who imagine that my loss of eye-sight must necessarily deny me the enjoyment of such contemplations?  How much more do I pity the mental darkness which could give rise to such an error, than they can pity my personal calamity!  The feelings and sympathies which pervade my breast, when in the presence of an amiable and interesting female, are such as never could have been suggested by viewing a mere surface of coloured clay, however shaped into beauty, or however animated by feeling and expression.  The intelligence still allowed me by a beneficent Providence, is amply sufficient to apprise me of the existence of the more real—­the diviner beauties of the soul; and herein are enjoyments in which I am proud to indulge.  A soft and sweet voice, for instance, affords me a two-fold gratification;—­it is a vehicle of delight, as operating on the appropriate nerves, and, at the same time, it suggests ideas of visible beauty, which, I admit, may, by force