1769. June.

was OUTOU, and who, as before has been observed, was a minor. Whappai, Oamo, and Wednef. 21. Tootahah, were brothers: Whappai was the eldest, and Oamo the second; fo that, Whappai having no child but Outou, Terridiri, the fon of his next brother Oamo, was heir to the fovereignty. It will, perhaps, seem strange that a boy fhould be fovereign during the life of his father; but, according to the custom of the country, a child fucceeds to a father's title and authority as foon as it is born: a regent is then elected, and the father of the new fovereign is generally continued in his authority, under that title, till his child is of age; but, at this time, the choice had fallen upon Tootahah, the uncle, in confequence of his having diftinguished himfelf in a war. Oamo asked many queftions concerning England and its inhabitants, by which he appeared to have great fhrewdness and understanding.

СНАР.

CHA P. XV.

An Account of the Circumnavigation of the Ifland, and various Incidents that happened during the Expedition; with a Defcription of a Burying-place and Place of Worship, called a Morai.

Ο

1769.

June.

N Monday the 26th, about three o'clock in the morning, I fet out in the pinnace, accompanied by Mr. Banks, to make the circuit Monday 26. of the island, with a view to sketch out the coaft and harbours. We took our route to the eastward, and about eight in the forenoon we went on fhore, in a district called OAHOUNUE, which is governed by АнIо, a young Chief, whom we had often seen at the tents, and who favoured us with his company to breakfast. Here also we found two other natives of our old acquaintance, TITUBOALO and HOONA, who carried us to their houses, near which we faw the body of the old woman, at whofe funeral rites Mr. Banks had affifted, and which had been removed hither from the spot where it was firft depofited, this place having descended from her by inheritance to Hoona, and it being neceffary on that ac

count

1769. June.

Monday 26.

count that it should lie here. We then proceeded on foot, the boat attending within call, to the harbour in which Mr. Bougainville lay, called OHIDEA, where the natives fhewed us the ground upon which his people pitched their tent, and the brook at which they watered, though no trace of them remained, except the holes where the poles of the tent had been fixed, and a small piece of potsheard, which Mr. Banks found in looking narrowly about the spot. We met, however, with ORETTE, a Chief who was their principal friend, and whose brother OuTORROU went away with them.

This harbour lies on the weft fide of a great bay, under shelter of a small island called BoouROU, near which is another called TAAWIRRII; the breach in the reefs is here very large, but the shelter for the fhips is not the best.

Soon after we had examined this place, we took boat, and asked Tituboalo to go with us to the other side of the bay; but he refused, and advised us not to go, for he faid the country there was inhabited by people who were not subject to Tootahaḥ, and who would kill both him and us. Upon receiving this intelligence, we did not, as may be imagined, relinquish our enterprise; but we immediately loaded our pieces with ball; this was fo well understood by Tituboalo as a precaution which rendered us formidable,

formidable, that he now confented to be of our party.

Having rowed till it was dark, we reached a low neck of land, or ifthmus, at the bottom of the bay, that divides the island into two peninfulas, each of which is a district or government wholly independent of the other. From PortRoyal, where the fhip was at anchor, the coast trends E. by S. and E. S. E. ten miles, then S. by E. and S. eleven miles to the ifthmus. In the first direction, the fhore is in general open to the fea; but in the last it is covered by reefs of rocks, which form feveral good harbours, with safe anchorage, in 16, 18, 20, and 24 fathom of water, with other conveniences. As we had not yet got into our enemy's country, we determined to fleep on fhore: we landed, and though we found but few houses, we saw several double canoes, whofe owners were well known to us, and who provided us with supper and lodging; of which Mr. Banks was indebted for his share to Ooratooa, the lady who had paid him her compliments in fo fingular a manner at the fort.

1769.

June,

Monday 26,

In the morning, we looked about the country, Tuesday ay. and found it to be a marshy flat, about two miles over, across which the natives haul their canoes to the corresponding bay on the other fide. We then prepared to continue our route for what Tituboalo called the other kingdom;

he

1769. June.

he said that the name of it was TIARRABOU, or OTAHEITE ETE; and that of the Chief who goTuesday 27. verned it, WAHEATUA: upon this occafion also,

we learnt that the name of the peninsula where we had taken our station was OPOUREONU, or OTAHEITE NUE. Our new affociate feemed to be now in better spirits than he had been the day before; the people in Tiarrabou would not kill us, he faid, but he affured us that we should be able to procure no victuals among them; and indeed we had feen no bread-fruit fince we fet out.

After rowing a few miles, we landed in a diftrict, which was the dominion of a Chief called MARAITATA, the burying-place of men, whofe father's name was PAHAIREDO, the ftealer of boats. Though these names feemed to favour the account that had been given by Tituboalo, we foon found that it was not true. Both the father and the fon received us with the greatest civility, gave us provifions, and, after fome delay, fold us a very large hog for a hatchet. A crowd foon gathered round us, but we saw only two people that we knew; neither did we obferve a fingle bead or ornament among them that had come from our fhip, though we saw feveral things which had been brought from Europe. In one of the houses lay two twelvepound fhot, one of which was marked with the broad arrow of England, though the people faid

they