[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 disorder, which is so much admired in the gardens of this kingdom."--F. [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.