theft by a sentry when he was upon duty, and of a thing that had been committed to his trust; they declared it a disgrace to associate with him; and the serjeant, in particular, said that, if the person from whom the skin had been stolen would not complain, he would complain himself; for that his honour would suffer if the offender was not punished. From the scoffs and reproaches of these men of honour, the poor young fellow retired to his hammock in an agony of confusion and shame. The serjeant soon after went to him, and ordered him to follow him to the deck: he obeyed without reply; but it being in the dusk of the evening, he slipped from the serjeant and went forward: he was seen by some of the people, who thought he was gone to the head; but a search being made for him afterwards, it was found that he had thrown himself overboard; and I was then first made acquainted with the theft and its circumstances. The loss of this man was the more regretted as he was remarkably quiet and industrious, and as the very action that put an end to his life was a proof of an ingenuous mind; for to such only disgrace is insupportable.

On Tuesday the 4th of April, about ten o'clock in the morning, Mr. Banks' servant, Peter Briscoe, discovered land, bearing south, at the distance of about three or four leagues. I immediately hauled up for it, and found it to be an island of an oval form, with a lagoon in the middle, which occupied much the larger part of it; the border of land which circumscribes the lagoon is in many places very low and narrow, particularly on the south side, where it consists principally of a beach or reef of rocks. It has the same appearance also in three places on the north side; so that the firm land being disjoined, the whole looks like many islands covered with wood. On the west end of the island is a large tree, or clump of trees, that in appearance resembles a tower; and about the middle are two cocoanut trees, which rise above all the rest, and, as we came near to the island, appeared like a flag. We approached it on the north side, and though we came within a mile, we found no bottom with 130 fathom of line, nor did there appear to be any anchorage about it. The whole is covered with trees of different verdure, but we could distinguish none, even with our glasses, except cocoa-nuts and palm-nuts. We saw several of the natives upon the shore, and counted four-and-twenty. They appeared to be tall, and to have heads remarkably large; perhaps they had something wound round them which we could not distinguish; they were of a copper colour, and had long black hair. Eleven of them walked along the beach abreast of the ship, with poles or pikes in their hands which reached twice as high as themselves. While they walked on the beach they seemed to be naked; but soon after they retired, which they did as soon as the ship had passed the island, they covered themselves with something that made them appear of a light colour. Their habitations were under some clumps of palm-nut-trees, which at a distance appeared like high ground; and to us, who for a long time had seen nothing but water and sky, except the dreary hills of Terra del Fuego, these groves seemed a terrestrial paradise. To this spot, which lies in latitude 18° 47" S., and longitude 139° 28′ W., we gave the name of LAGOON ISLAND. The variation of the needle here is 2o 54' E.

D

About one o'clock we made sail to the westward, and about half an hour after three we saw land again to the N.W. We got up with it at sunset, and it proved to be a low woody island, of a circular form, and not much above a mile in compass. We discovered no inhabitants, nor could we distinguish any cocoa-nut-trees, though we were within half a mile of the shore. The land, however, was covered with verdure of many hues. It lies in latitude 18° 35′ S., and longitude 139° 48′ W., and is distant from Lagoon Island, in the direction of N. 62 W., about seven leagues. We called it TRRUMB-CAP. I discovered, by the appearance of the shore, that at this place it was low water; and I had observed at Lagoon Island that it was either high water, or that the sea neither ebbed nor flowed. I infer, therefore, that a S. by E. or S. moon makes high water.

We went on with a fine trade-wind and pleasant weather, and on the 5th, about three in the afternoon, we discovered land to the westward. It proved to be a low island of much greater extent than either of those that we had seen before, being about ten or twelve leagues in compass. Several of us remained at the mast-head the whole evening, admiring its extraordinary figure: it was shaped exactly like a bow, the arc and cord of which were land, and the space between them water: the cord was a flat beach, without any signs of vegetation, having nothing upon it but heaps of sea-weed, which lay in different ridges, as higher or lower tides had left them. It appeared to be about three or four leagues long, and not more than two hundred yards wide; but as a horizontal plane is always seen in perspective, and greatly foreshortened, it is certainly much wider than it appeared: the horns, or extremities of the bow, were two large tufts of cocoa-nut-trees; and much the greater part of the arc was covered with trees of different height, figure, and hue; in some parts, however, it was naked and low, like the cord. Some of us thought they discovered openings through the cord, into the pool or lake that was included between that and the bow; but whether there were or were not such openings is uncertain. We sailed abreast of the low beach or bow-string, within less than a league of the shore, till sunset, and we then judged ourselves to be about halfway between the two horns. Here we brought to, and sounded, but found no bottom with one hundred and thirty fathom; and, as it is dark almost instantly after sunset in these latitudes, we suddenly lost sight of the land, and making sail again, before the line was well hauled in, we steered by the sound of the breakers, which were distinctly heard till we got clear of the coast. We knew this island to be inhabited, by smoke which we saw in different parts of it, and we gave it the name of Bow ISLAND. Mr. Gore, my second lieutenant, said, after we had sailed by the island, that he had seen several of the natives, under the first clump of trees, from the deck; that he had distinguished their houses, and seen several canoes hauled up under the shade; but in this he was more fortunate than any other person on board. The east end of this island, which, from its figure, we called the Bow, lies in latitude 18° 23′ S., and longitude 141* 12 W.; we observed the variation of the compass to be 5° 38′ E.

On the next day, Thursday the 6th, about noon, we saw land again to the westward, and came up with it about three. It appeared to be two islands, or rather groups of islands, extending from N.W. by N. to S. E. by S. about nine leagues. Of these, the two largest were separated from each other by a channel of about half-a-mile broad, and were severally surrounded by smaller islands, to which they were joined by reefs that lay under water. These islands were long narrow strips of land, ranging in all directions, some of them ten miles or upwards in length, but none more than a quarter of a mile broad, and upon all of them there were trees of various kinds, particularly the cocoa-nut. The south-easternmost of them lies in the latitude of 18° 12′ S., and longitude 142° 42′ W., and at the distance of twenty-five leagues in the direction of W. N. from the west end of Bow Island. We ranged along the S.W. side of this island, and hauled into a bay which lies to the N.W. of the southernmost point of the group, where there was a smooth sea, and the appearance of anchorage, without much surf on the shore. We sounded, but we found no bottom with one hundred fathom, at the distance of no more than three quarters of a mile from the beach; and I did not think it prudent to go nearer.

While this was doing, several of the inhabitants assembled upon the shore, and some came out in their canoes as far as the reefs, but would not pass them. When we saw this,

we ranged, with an easy sail, along the shore; but just as we were passing the end of the island, six men, who had for some time kept abreast of the ship, suddenly launched two canoes with great quickness and dexterity, and three of them getting into each, they put off, as we imagined, with a design to come on board us; the ship was therefore brought to, but they, like their fellows, stopped at the reef. We did not, however, immediately make sail, as we observed two messengers despatched to them from the other canoes, which were of a much larger size. We perceived that these messengers made great expedition, wading and swimming along the reef; at length they met, and the men on board the canoes making no dispositions to pass the reef, after having received the message, we judged that they had resolved to come no farther. After waiting, therefore, some little time longer, we stood off; but when we were got about two or three miles from the shore, we perceived some of the natives following us in a canoe with a sail. We did not, however, think it worth while to wait for her, and though she had passed the reef, she soon after gave over the chase.

According to the best judgment that we could form of the people when we were nearest the shore, they were about our size, and well made. They were of a brown complexion, and appeared to be naked; their hair, which was black, was confined by a fillet that went round the head, and stuck out behind like a bush. The greater part of them carried in their hands two weapons; one of them was a slender pole, from ten to fourteen feet long, on one end of which was a small knob, not unlike the point of a spear; the other was about four feet long, and shaped like a paddle, and possibly might be so, for some of their canoes were very small those which we saw them launch seemed not intended to carry more than the three men that got into them: we saw others that had on board six or seven men, and one of them hoisted a sail which did not seem to reach more than six feet above the gun-wale of the boat, and which, upon the falling of a slight shower, was taken down and converted into an awning or tilt. The canoe which followed us to sea hoisted a sail not unlike an English lug-sail, and almost as lofty as an English boat of the same size would have carried.

The people, who kept abreast of the ship on the beach, made many signals; but whether they were intended to frighten us away, or invite us on shore, it is not easy to determine : we returned them by waving our hats and shouting, and they replied by shouting again. We did not put their disposition to the test, by attempting to land; because, as the island was inconsiderable, and as we wanted nothing that it could afford, we thought it imprudent as well as cruel to risk a contest, in which the natives must have suffered by our superiority, merely to gratify an idle curiosity; especially as we expected soon to fall in with the island where we had been directed to make our astronomical observation, the inhabitants of which would probably admit us without opposition, as they were already acquainted with our strength, and might also procure us a ready and peaceable reception among the neighbouring people, if we should desire it. To these islands we gave the name of THE GROUPS.

On the 7th, about half an hour after six in the morning, being just at daybreak, we discovered another island to the northward, which we judged to be about four miles in circumference. The land lay very low, and there was a piece of water in the middle of it;

there seemed to be some wood upon it, and it looked green and pleasant; but we saw neither cocoa-trees nor inhabitants: it abounded, however, with birds, and we therefore gave it the name of BIRD ISLAND. It lies in latitude 17° 48′ S., and longitude 143° 35′ W., at the distance of ten leagues, in the direction W. N. from the west end of the Groups. The variation here was 6° 32′ E.

On the 8th, about two o'clock in the afternoon, we saw land to the northward, and about sunset came abreast of it, at about the distance of two leagues. It appeared to be a double range of low woody islands joined together by reefs, so as to form one island, in the form of an ellipsis or oval, with a lake in the middle of it. The small islands and reefs that circumscribe the lake have the appearance of a chain, and we therefore gave it the name of CHAIN ISLAND. Its length seemed to be about five leagues, in the direction of N.W. and S.E., and its breadth about five miles. The trees upon it appeared to be large, and we saw smoke rising in different parts of it from among them: a certain sign that it was inhabited. The middle of it lies in latitude 17° 23' S., and longitude 145° 54' W., and is distant from Bird Island forty-five leages, in the direction of W. by N. The variation here was, by several azimuths, found to be 4° 54' E.

On the 10th, having had a tempestuous night with thunder and rain, the weather was hazy till about nine o'clock in the morning, when it cleared up, and we saw the island to which Captain Wallis, who first discovered it, gave the name of Osnaburgh Island, called by the natives Maitea, bearing N.W. by W., distant about five leagues. It is a high round island, not above a league in circuit; in some parts it is covered with trees, and in others a naked rock. In this direction it looked like a high-crowned hat; but when it bears north, the top of it has more the appearance of the roof of a house. We made its latitude to be 17° 48′ S., its longitude 148° 10' W., and its distance from Chain Island, forty-four leagues, in the direction of W. by S.

CHAPTER VIII.-THE ARRIVAL OF THE ENDEAVOUR AT OTAHEITE, CALLED BY CAPTAIN WALLIS KING GEORGE THE THIRD'S ISLAND.-RULES ESTABLISHED FOR TRAFFIC WITH THE NATIVES, AND AN ACCOUNT OF SEVERAL INCIDENTS WHICH HAPPENED IN A VISIT TO TOOTAHAH AND TUBOURAI TAMAIDA, TWO CHIEFS.

ABOUT one o'clock, on Monday the 10th of April, some of the people who were looking out for the island to which we were bound, said they saw land a-head, in that part of the horizon where it was expected to appear; but it was so faint that whether there was land in sight or not remained a matter of dispute till sunset. The next morning, however, at six o'clock, we were convinced that those who said they had discovered land were not mistaken; it appeared to be very high and mountainous, extending from W. by S. S. to W. by N. N., and we knew it to be the same that Captain Wallis had called King George the Third's Island. We were delayed in our approach to it by light airs and calms, so that in the morning of the 12th we were but little nearer than we had been the

night before; but about seven a breeze sprang up, and before eleven several canoes were seen making towards the ship: there were but few of them, however, that would come near; and the people in those that did could not be persuaded to come on board. In every canoe there were young plantains, and branches of a tree which the Indians call E'Midho: these, as we afterwards learnt, were brought as tokens of peace and amity; and the people in one of the canoes handed them up the ship's side, making signals at the same time with great earnestness, which we did not immediately understand; at length we guessed that they wished these symbols should be placed in some conspicuous part of the ship; we, therefore, immediately stuck them among the rigging, at which they expressed the greatest satisfaction. We then purchased their cargoes, consisting of cocoa-nuts and various kinds of fruit, which, after our long voyage, were very acceptable.

We stood on with an easy sail all night, with soundings from twenty-two fathom to twelve, and about seven o'clock in the morning we came to an anchor in thirteen fathom, in Portroyal Bay, called by the natives Matarai. We were immediately surrounded by the natives in their canoes, who gave us cocoa-nuts, fruit resembling apples, bread-fruit, and some small fishes, in exchange for beads and other trifles. They had with them a pig, which they would not part with for anything but a hatchet, and therefore we refused to purchase it; because if we gave them a hatchet for a pig now, we knew they would never afterwards sell one for less, and we could not afford to buy as many as it was probable we should want at that price. The bread-fruit grows on a tree that is about the size of a middling oak: its leaves are frequently a foot and a half long, of an oblong shape, deeply sinuated like those of the fig-tree, which they resemble in consistence and colour, and in the exuding of a white milky juice upon being broken. The fruit is about the size and shape of a child's head, and the surface is reticulated, not much unlike a truffle: it is covered with a thin skin, and has a core about as big as the handle of a small knife: the eatable part lies between the skin and the core: it is as white as snow, and somewhat of the consistence of new bread: it must be roasted before it is eaten, being first divided into three or four parts: its taste is insipid, with a slight sweetness, somewhat resembling that of the crumb of wheaten bread mixed with a Jerusalem artichoke.

BREAD FRUIT.

Among others who came off to the ship was an elderly man, whose name, as we learnt afterwards, was OWHAW, and who was immediately known to Mr. Gore, and several others who had been here with Captain Wallis. As I was informed that he had been very useful to them, I took him on board the ship with some others, and was particularly attentive to gratify him, as I hoped he might also be useful to us.

As our stay here was not likely to be very short, and as it was necessary that the merchandise which we had brought for traffic with the natives should not diminish in its value, which it would certainly have done if every person had been left at liberty to give what he pleased for such things as he should purchase; at the same time, that confusion and quarrels must necessarily have arisen from there being no standard at market, I drew up the following rules, and ordered that they should be punctually observed:

Rules to be observed by every Person in or belonging to his Majesty's Bark the Endeavour, for the better establishing a regular and uniform Trade for Provision, &c. with the Inhabitants of George's Island.

"I. To endeavour, by every fair means, to cultivate a friendship with the natives; and to treat them with all imaginable humanity.