with them the sacks of greens which they had gathered. This rencounter had so great an effect on the Dutch, that when it was proposed to land again, not a man could be prevailed upon to make the dangerous attempt. They had given to this island, before this unfortunate affair, the name of the _Island of Recreation_,[3] which is in lat. 16° S. and long. 285°. It is about twelve leagues in compass, with a fertile soil, producing a great number of trees, especially cocoa nuts, palms, and iron-wood. The Dutch conceived that there might be rich mines in the heart of the country, and other valuable things, but were not allowed to search. The natives were of middle size, but robust and active, having long black shining hair, which they anoint with cocoa-nut oil, a practice very common among the Indians. They were painted all over, like the inhabitants of Easter island; the men wearing a kind of net-work round their middles, which they stick up between their legs. The women were entirely covered by a kind of mantles of their own manufacture, the stuff of which to the sight and touch resembled silk;[4] and they wear long strings of pearls about their necks and wrists. [Footnote 3: By Arrowsmith, this island is placed in lat. 16° 32' S. and long. 148° 50' W. The longitude in the text is inexplicable on any supposition.--E.] [Footnote 4: The cloth of the South-sea islands is a substance in a great measure resembling paper, composed of the inner bark of the paper mulberry, the preparation of which will be afterwards detailed in the narratives of the modern circumnavigators--E.]