their mantles, as inviting familiarity.  It is very singular of these islanders, that the Dutch saw no appearance whatever of arms among them; but, when attacked, they fled for refuge to their idols, numbers of which were erected all along the coast.  These idols were all of stone, representing the figures of men with great ears, their heads covered by the representations of crowns; and all so nicely proportioned, and so highly finished, that the Dutch were much amazed.  Many of the inhabitants seemed to be more frequent and more zealous worshippers of these images than the rest, which induced the Dutch to believe that these were priests; and that the more especially, as their heads were close shaven, on which they wore caps of black and white feathers,[7] and they had large white balls hanging at their ears.

[Footnote 5:  Tatooed in all probability, a practice so common through the inhabitants of Polynesia, which will be minutely described in an after division of this collection.  It may suffice to say at present, that this decoration is formed by pricking the skin with sharp instruments till it just bleeds, and afterwards rubbing some coloured powders into the punctures, which leave indelible stains.—­E.]

[Footnote 6:  It is left ambiguous whether these straw hats and mantles were worn by both sexes, or confined exclusively to the women.—­E.]

[Footnote 7:  A dissertation is here omitted on a fancied migration of storks annually from Europe to this island and others in the South-sea, as high as lat. 40 deg. and 50 deg.  S. merely because the Dutch thought the feathers in these caps resembled those of storks.—­E.]

No appearance of government or subordination was observed among these islanders, and consequently no prince or chief having dominion over the rest.  The old people wore bonnets made of feathers resembling the down of ostriches, and had sticks in their hands.  In some of the houses, the father of the family was observed to have rule over all its inhabitants, and was obeyed with the greatest readiness.  In the opinion of the Dutch author of this voyage, this island might be settled to great advantage, as the air is very wholesome and the soil rich; being proper for producing corn in the low lands, and its higher grounds might be converted into vineyards.  On the evening, after returning on board, Roggewein proposed to land again next morning with a force sufficient to make a strict survey of the whole island:  But during the night there arose so strong a west wind as drove them from their anchors, and they were forced to put to sea, to avoid being shipwrecked.  After this misfortune, they cruized for some time in the same latitude, seeking in vain for the land discovered by Davis, on which Roggewein determined to bear away for the Bad Sea of Schouten, keeping always a west course, in hopes of discovering some new land.  In this coarse, they soon found themselves in the height of the island discovered by Schonten in 1615, to which he gave the name of Bad-water, because all its waters were brackish; but, by changing their course, they ran 300 leagues out of their way, and at least 150 leagues farther than Schonten.