Page:An account of a voyage to establish a colony at Port Philip in Bass's Strait.djvu/48

( 23 ) denote the death of any member of the family, by some symbol affixed to the house of the deceased; at Teneriffe, a branch of the palm-tree is placed over the door or window for this purpose.

The manners of the inhabitants in general are those of the mother-country; a few families, of which the Lieutenant Governor's is the chief, adopt the French customs in dress and society; and the vivacity and liberal manners of the latter, afford a striking contrast to the austere gravity, and prudish reserve, of the former. The return of peace has not yet brought back to the island the English, who were driven from it by the war; and the necessary business of any British vessels that touch here, is at present transacted by Mr. Armstrong, a native of the island. In