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1769.

April.

immediately conducted him back to the tent. His attendants foon after brought him fome Wednef. 19. pork and bread-fruit, which he eat, dipping his

meat into falt water inftead of fauce: after his meal he retired to Mr. Banks's bed, and flept about an hour. In the afternoon, his wife Tomio brought to the tent a young man about two and twenty years of age, of a very comely ap pearance, whom they both feemed to acknowledge as their fon, though we afterwards difcovered that he was not fo. In the evening, this young man and another chief, who had alfo paid us a vifit, went away to the weftward, but Tubourai Tamaide and his wife returned to the awning in the skirts of the wood.

Our furgeon, Mr. Monkhouse, having walked out this evening, reported, that he had feen the body of the man who had been fhot at the tents, which he said was wrapped in cloth, and placed on a kind of bier, fupported by stakes, under a roof that seemed to have been fet up for the purpose: that near it were depofited fome instruments of war, and other things, which he would particularly have examined but for the ftench of the body, which was intolerable. He said, that he saw also two more sheds of the fame kind, in one of which were the bones of a human body that had lain till they were quite dry. We discovered afterwards, that this was the way in which they usually difpofed of their dead.

1769.

April.

A kind of market now began to be kept juft without the lines, and was plentifully fupplied with every thing but pork. Tubourai Tamaide Wednes 19. was our conflant gueft, imitating our manners, even to the using of a knife and fork, which he did very handily.

As my curiofity was excited by Mr. Monkhouse's account of the fituation of the man who

had been shot, I took an opportunity to go with

fome others to fee it. I found the fhed under which his body lay, clofe by the house in which he refided when he was alive, fome others being not more than ten yards diftant; it was about 15 feet long, and 11 broad, and of a proportionable height: one end was wholly open, and the other end, and the two fides, were partly enclofed with a kind of wicker work. The bier on which the corps was depofited, was a frame. of wood like that in which the fea-beds, called cotts, are placed, with a matted bottom, and fupported by four pofts, at the height of about five feet from the ground. The body was covered firft with a matt, and then with white cloth; by the fide of it lay a wooden mace, one of their weapons of war, and near the head of it, which lay next to the close end of the shed, lay two cocoa-nut fhells, fuch as are fometimes used to carry water in; at the other end a bunch of green leaves, with fome dried twigs, all tied together, were ftuck in the ground, by which

lay

April.

Wednes. 19

1769. lay a ftone about as big as a cocoa-nut: near thefe lay one of the young plantain trees, which are used for emblems of peace, and close by it a ftone axe. At the open end of the shed also. hung, in several strings, a great number of palmnuts, and without the shed, was stuck upright in the ground, the ftem of a plantain tree about five feet high, upon the top of which was placed a cocoa-nut shell full of fresh water: against the fide of one of the pofts hung a small bag, containing a few pieces of bread-fruit ready roasted, which were not all put in at the fame time, for fome of them were fresh, and others ftale. I took notice that several of the natives obferved us with a mixture of folicitude and jealousy in their countenances, and by their geftures ex-preffed uneasiness when we went near the body, standing themselves at a little distance while we were making our examination, and appearing to be pleased when we came away.

Our refidence on fhore would by no means have been disagreeable if we had not been inceffantly tormented by the flies, which, among other mischief, made it almost impoffible for Mr. Parkinson, Mr. Banks's natural history painter, to work; for they not only covered his fubject so as that no part of its furface could be feen, but even eat the colour off the paper as fast as he could lay it on. We had recourse to mufquito nets and fly-traps, which, though they made

the inconvenience tolerable, were very far from

removing it.

1769.

April.

On the 22d, Tootahah gave us a fpecimen of Saturd. 22. the mufic of this country; four perfons performed upon flutes, which had only two ftops, and therefore could not found more than four notes, by half tones: they were founded like our German flutes, except that the performer, instead of applying it to his mouth, blew into it with one noftril, while he stopped the other with his thumb: to these inftruments four other perfons fung, and kept very good time; but only one tune was played during the whole concert.

Several of the natives brought us axes, which they had received from on board the Dolphin, to grind and repair; but among others there was one which became the fubject of much speculation, as it appeared to be French: after much inquiry, we learnt that a fhip had been here be, tween our arrival and the departure of the Dolphin, which we then conjectured to have been a Spaniard, but now know to have been the Boudeufe, commanded by M. Bougainville.

CHAP.

1769.

April.

Monday 24.

CHA P. X.

An Excurfion to the Eastward, an Account of feveral Incidents that happened both on board and on fhore, and of the first Interview with Oberea, the Perfon who, when the Dolphin was here, was fuppofed to be Queen of the Island, with a Description of the Fort.

N the 24th, Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander

country ander

about three miles

along the shore to the eastward: for about two
miles it was flat and fertile; after that the hills
ftretched quite to the water's edge, and a little
farther ran out into the fea, fo that they were
obliged to climb over them. These hills, which
were barren, continued for
more, and then terminated in a large plain,
which was full of good houses, and people who
appeared to live in great affluence. In this
place there was a river, much more confiderable
than that at our fort, which iffued from a deep
and beautiful valley, and, where our travellers
croffed it, though at some distance from the fea,
was near one hundred yards wide. About a
mile beyond this river the country became again.
barren, the rocks every where projecting into

the

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