Little girls of seven or eight years old have their lovers of twelve or fourteen, and their parents are quite proud of the fact.

The more lovers a girl has the more she is respected.

As long as she is not married she leads a most dissolute life, and it is said that not all the married women make the most faithful wives possible.
I had frequent opportunities of seeing the national dances, which are the most unbecoming I ever beheld, although every painter would envy me my good fortune.

Let the reader picture to himself a grove of splendid palms, and other gigantic trees of the torrid zone, with a number of open huts, and a crowd of good-humoured islanders assembled beneath, to greet, in their fashion, the lovely evening, which is fast approaching.

Before one of the huts a circle is formed, and in the centre sit two herculean and half-naked natives, beating time most vigorously on small drums.