[3] Much of the difference betwixt the Society and Friendly Isles, seems to depend on the greater abundance of water in the former.  This is noticed very judiciously by Mr G.F., as will be seen in a following note.  His father too was well aware of it.  “The Friendly Isles,” says he, “seem to be destitute of springs; for though on some of them, as Eaoowhe and Anamocka, there are small hills and rising grounds; they are, however, far from being so high as to attract the clouds, or to cause, from their perpetual moisture, a continual flood of spring water.  The natives have ponds, some of which are large, wherein they collect the rain water, but it is sometimes brackish from the vicinity of the sea.”  He speaks, it may be added, of a large lagoon of salt water in Anamocka, about three miles long, full of small isles, ornamented with clusters of trees, and surrounded by bushes of man- groves and hills, so as altogether to form a romantic landscape.  In his opinion, the soil is much the same in both clusters.—­E.

[4] The following remarks, collected from Mr F.’s work, may prove useful to the reader:—­“In the tropical isles they have but four species of quadrupeds, two of which are domestic; and the remaining ones are the vampyre and the common rat.  This last inhabits the Marquesas, Society Isles, Friendly Isles, and the New Hebrides.  They are in incredible numbers at the Society Isles, much scarcer at the Marquesas and Friendly Isles, and seldom seen at the New Hebrides.  The vampyre is only seen in the more western isles.  At the Friendly Isles they live gregarious by several hundreds, and some of them are seen flying about the whole day.  The Society Isles alone are fortunate enough to possess both the domestic quadrupeds, the dog and the hog.  New Zealand and the low islands must be content with dogs alone; the Marquesas, Friendly Isles, and New Hebrides, have only hogs; and Easter Island and New Caledonia are destitute of both.  There is only one tame species of birds, properly speaking, in the tropical isles of the South Sea, viz. the common cock and hen; They are numerous at Easter Island, where they are the only domestic animals; they are likewise in great plenty at the Society Isles, and Friendly Isles, at which last they are of a prodigious size:  They are also not uncommon at the Marquesas, Hebrides, and New Caledonia; but the low isles, and those of the temperate zone, are quite destitute of them.  The natives of the Friendly and Society Isles sometimes catch and tame certain sorts of parroquets and pigeons, but never have any breeds of them, so that they can scarcely be reckoned as domestic birds.  The South Sea is rich in fish, and has a great variety of species, most of which are good eating, many very delicious, and but a few capable of noxious or fatal effects.—­E.

[5] This custom is not peculiar to the