Botel Tobago is an island in the South Seas which has lately been
visited by a party of United States naval officers. They were
surveying a rock east of the South Cape of Formosa, and called at this
island. They found a curious race of Malay stock. These aborigines did
not know what money was good for. Nor had they ever used tobacco or
rum. They gave the officers goats and pigs for tin pots and brass
buttons, and hung around the vessel all day in their canoes waiting
for a chance to dive for something which might be thrown overboard.
They wore clouts only, ate taro and yams, and had axes, spears, and
knives made of common iron. Their canoes were made without nails, and
were ornamented with geometrical lines. They wore the beards of goats
and small shells as ornaments.
Such is the account of these strange people given by Dr. Siegfried, in
a letter read at the last meeting of the Philadelphia Academy of
Natural Sciences.
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