bled 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 dispatched 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 chace.

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 gunwale 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

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 day-break, 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 sun-set 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

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 leagues, 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 44 leagues, in the direction of W. by S.

SECTION 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 Toubourai Tamaida, two Chiefs.3

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 ahead, in that part of

the

2 The islands mentioned in this section, with some others since discovered, constitute what has been called Dangerous Archipelago. This is the name which Bougainville gave to this cluster. E.

3 It would have been easy to have contributed largely to the information respecting Otaheite, contained in this section and several of the succeeding ones; but, on the whole, it did not seem eligible to anticipate the events and incidents which fall to be elsewhere related. Notes are therefore very sparingly given, and only for specific purposes. Some modifications also, and some omissions of the text, have been made, in order to correspond with what has been already narrated, or what will be afterwards given in a better manner.-E.

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 sun-set. 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. 1 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 sprung 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 Port-Royal Bay, called by the natives Matavai. 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 any thing 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 an half long, of an ob

long

long 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.+

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

4 "Among all the labours of life," says Mr Bryan Edwards, in his History of the West Indies, " if there is one pursuit more replete than any other with benevolence, more likely to add comforts to existing people, and even to augment their numbers by augmenting their means of subsistence, it is certainly that of spreading abroad the bounties of creation, by transplanting from one part of the globe to another such natural productions as are likely to prove beneficial to the interests of humanity. In this generous effort, Sir Joseph Banks has employed a considerable part of his time, attention, and fortune; and the success which, in many cases, has crowned his endeavours, will be felt in the enjoyments, and rewarded by the blessings of posterity." The reader will at once acknowledge the justice of this eulogium, when he is informed, that, to the beneficent president of the Royal Society, the inhabitants of the West Indies are most materially indebted for the introduction among them, of that invaluable production the bread-fruit tree here described. It was principally by his warm and unwearied exertions that this at last was accomplished in January 1793, by the arrival at St Vincent of his majesty's ship Providence, Captain Bligh, and the Assistant brig, Captain Portlocke, from the South Seas, having on board many hundreds of those trees, and a vast number of other plants, likely to augment the comforts and supply the wants of the colonies. How pleasing would be the records of discoveries, and how animating to every humane sentiment, if they presented us with no other pictures than of such like labours in the cause of our common nature !-E.