[1] “The land, when discovered, appeared to be very high, and its distance from us was about eight leagues, being seen through a haze, which made it appear farther off than it really was.  M. de Bougainville takes notice of meeting with a part of the sea which was entirely smooth, and where several pieces of wood and fruits floated past his ship.  This was nearly to the N.W. of the land which we now discovered, and which, as an able and intelligent navigator, he had conjectured to be in that direction.”—­G.F.

[2] A very striking proof of this is mentioned by Mr G.F.  These people, he says, laid some of their canoes on both sides of the channel, in a place where it was narrow, and then beckoned to the boats to keep in the middle between them.  According to this gentleman, the face of the country had a barren appearance, and was covered with a sort of whitish grass, and trees somewhat resembling willows were thinly spread on the mountains.—­E.

    [3] Mr. G.F. who shot the duck, tells us, that the natives expressed
    some admiration, but not the smallest fear, at the report and effects
    of the firearms.—­E.

[4] “The whole plantation we saw, had a very scanty appearance, and seemed to be insufficient to afford nourishment to the inhabitants throughout the year.  We entirely missed that variety of fruits, which we had hitherto met with in the tropical islands, and naturally recollected the poverty of the inhabitants of Easter Island, above whom it appeared, that the people before us enjoyed but few advantages.  Towards the hills, of which the first risings were at the distance of about two miles, the country looked extremely dreary; here and there, indeed, we saw a few trees, and small uncultivated spots, but they appeared to be lost on the great extent of barren and unprofitable country, which resembled our moors more than any thing else.”—­G.F.

[5] Mr G.F., who seems to have accompanied the watering-party, gives the following account of the appearance of the country.—­“We walked along the beach which was sandy, and bounded by a fine wild shrubbery; we soon came to a hut, from whence a number of plantations extended to the back of the bank and wild wood.  We rambled into the country, and came to a canal that watered this plantation, but of which the water was very brackish.  From hence, however, we ran immediately to an eminence near us, where the nature of the country appeared evidently changed.  The plain was covered with a thin stratum of vegetable soil, which being very poor, was manured in the plantations with broken shells and corals.  The eminence, on the contrary, was a rocky ground, consisting of large pieces of quartz and glimmer (mica).  Here grew a quantity of dry grasses, about two or three feet high, very thin in most places; and at the distance of fifteen or twenty yards asunder, we saw large trees black at the root, but with