These huts are built at a considerable distance from each other; to that the island looks like one continued village, and abounds with cocoa*, bread-fruit, and apple-trees; the fruit of which drops, as it were, into their mouths; and may be the cause that they are an indolent people: Were they inclined to industry provisions might be found in greater plenty amongst them; and, by proper cultivation, the fruits of the island would not only be increased, but their quality might be improved. They seem, however, as contented with what is spontaneously produced, as if they had attained to the ne plus ultra, and are therefore happier than Europeans in general are, whose desires are unbounded. When the men are at work, they wear only a piece of cloth round their middle, which they call maro: at other times they wear garments which they call purawei, and teepoota about their bodies, with a kind of turban on their heads; and, in walking, they carry a long white stick in one of their hands, with the smallest end uppermost.

* I saw some stalks of cocoa-nuts which were as heavy as I could lift which surprised me the more as the stalks were very tender.

Voyaging Accounts