So little do we know of their religion, that I hardly dare mention it.  The buildings called Afiatoucas, before mentioned, are undoubtedly set apart for this purpose.  Some of our gentlemen were of opinion, that they were merely burying-places.  I can only say, from my own knowledge, that they are places to which particular persons directed set speeches, which I understood to be prayers, as hath been already related.  Joining my opinion with that of others, I was inclined to think that they are set apart to be both temples and burying-places, as at Otaheite, or even in Europe.  But I have no idea of the images being idols; not only from what I saw myself, but from Mr Wales’s informing me that they set one of them up, for him and others to shoot at.

One circumstance shewed that these Afiatoucas were frequently resorted to, for one purpose or other—­the areas, or open places, before them, being covered with a green sod, the grass on which was very short.  This did not appear to have been cut, or reduced by the hand of man, but to have been prevented in its growth, by being often trod, or sat upon.

It cannot be supposed that we could know much, either of their civil or religious policy, in so short a time as four or five days, especially as we understood but little of their language:  Even the two islanders we had on board could not at first understand them, and yet as we became the more acquainted with them, we found their language was nearly the same spoken at Otaheite and the Society Isles.  The difference not being greater than what we find betwixt the most northern and western parts of England, as will more fully appear by the vocabulary.[6]

[1] This subject is resumed in the account of Cook’s third voyage, to which we refer for additional information.  A few observations, however, are here given from the works already mentioned, as deserving the reader’s immediate attention.—­E.

[2] “Next to the Society Isles, for richness of productions, and beauty of appearance, we must place that group discovered by the Dutch navigator Tasman, and not unaptly to be distinguished by the name of Friendly Isles, from the peaceable kind disposition of their inhabitants.  They are raised so high above the level of the sea, that they can no longer rank with the low islands; and being destitute of mountains, they are equally distinct from the high islands.  They are extremely populous, and their uniform surface, therefore, gives the people an opportunity of carrying cultivation very far; and from one end to the other, they are intersected by paths and fences, which divide the plantations.  At first, one might be apt to think that this high cultivation would give the botanist very scanty supplies of spontaneous plants; but it is the peculiar beauty of these elegant isles to join the useful to the agreeable in nature, by which means a variety of different wild species thrive among more that are cultivated in that pleasing