inhabitants of the Friendly Isles.  See Recherches Philosophiques sur les Americains, tom. ii. p. 253, &c.  Of this custom, and of many of the topics mentioned in this Section, besides others of equal interest, the reader will be supplied with very ample accounts when he comes to the relation of the 3d voyage.—­E.

[6] It appeared upon the whole, that the customs and language of these islanders have a great affinity with those of the Otaheitans, and it would not therefore be very singular to find a coincidence even in their amusements.  The greatest differences between these two tribes, who must have originated from the same stock, seem to be owing to the different nature of these islands.  The Society Isles are well furnished with wood, and the tops of these mountains are still covered with inexhaustible forests.  At the Friendly Isles this article is much scarcer, the surface (at least of those which we have seen) being almost entirely laid out in plantations.  The natural consequence is, that the houses are lofty and of immense extent in the first group of islands, but much smaller and less convenient in the last.  In one the canoes are numerous, I may almost say innumerable, and many of a vast size; and, in the other, very few in number, and much smaller.  The mountains of the Society Isles continually attract the vapours from the atmosphere, and many rivulets descend from the broken rocks into the plain, where they wind their serpentine course, and glide smoothly to the sea.  The inhabitants of those islands take advantage of this gift of bountiful nature, and not only drink of the salutary element, but likewise bathe so frequently in it, that no impurity can long adhere to their skin.  It is very different with a people who are absolutely denied this blessing, and who must either content themselves with putrid stagnant rain water in a few dirty pools, or go entirely without it.  They are obliged to have recourse to expedients in order to preserve a certain degree of cleanliness, which may preclude various distempers.  They, therefore, cut off their hair, and shave or clip their beards, which doubtless makes them look more unlike the Otaheitans than they would otherwise do.  Still these precautions are not sufficient, especially as they have no fluid for drinking in any quantity.  The body is therefore very subject to leprous complaints, which are perhaps irritated by the use of the pepper-root water or awa.  Hence also that burning or blistering on the cheekbones, which we observed to be so general among this tribe, that hardly an individual was free from it, and which can only be used as a remedy against some disorders.  The soil of the Society Isles in the plains and vallies is rich, and the rivulets which intersect it supply abundance of moisture.  All sorts of vegetables, therefore, thrive with great luxuriance upon it, and require little attendance or cultivation.  This profusion is become the source of that great luxury among the chiefs,