was now complete. The north and south sides consisted of a bank of earth four feet and a half high on the inside, and a ditch without ten feet broad and six deep; on the west side, facing the bay, there was a bank of earth four feet high, and pallisadoes upon that, but no ditch, the works here being at high-water mark; on the east side, upon the bank of the river, was placed a double row of water casks, filled with water; and as this was the weakest side, the two four-pounders were planted there, and six swivel guns were mounted so as to command the only two avenues from the woods. Our garrison consisted of about fiveand-forty men with small arms, including the officers, and the gentlemen who resided on shore; and our centries were as well relieved as on the best regulated frontier in Europe. We continued our vigilance the next day, though we had no particular reason to think it necessary; but about ten o'clock in the morning, Tomio came running to the tents, with a mixture of grief and fear in her countenance, and taking Mr Banks, to whom they applied in every emergency and distress, by the arm, intimated that Tubourai Tamaide was dying, in consequence of something which our people had given him to eat, and that he must instantly go with her to his house. Mr Banks set out without delay, and found his Indian friend leaning his head against a post, in an attitude of the utmost languor and despondency; the people about him intimated that he had been vomitting, and brought out a leaf folded up with great care, which they said contained some of the poison, by the deleterious effects of which he was now dying. Mr Banks hastily opened the leaf, and upon examining its contents found them to be no other than a chew of tobacco, which the chief had begged of some of our people, and which they had indiscreetly given him: He had observed that they kept it long in the mouth, and being desirous of doing the same, he had chewed it to powder, and swallowed the spittle. During the examination of the leaf and its contents, he looked up at Mr Banks with the most piteous aspect, and intimated that he had but a very short time to live. Mr Banks, however, being now master of his disease, directed him to drink plentifully of cocoa-nut milk, which in a short time put an end to his sickness and apprehensions, and he spent the day at the fort with that uncommon flow of cheerfulness and good-humour, which is always produced by a

sudden

sudden and unexpected relief from pain either of body or mind.

Captain Wallis having brought home one of the adzes, which these people, having no metal of any kind, make of stone, Mr Stevens, the secretary to the Admiralty, procured one to be made of iron in imitation of it, which I brought out with me, to shew how much we excelled in making tools after their own fashion: This I had not yet produced, as it never happened to come into my mind. But on the 1st of May, Tootahah coming on board about ten o'clock in the forenoon, expressed a great curiosity to see the contents of every chest and drawer that was in my cabin; as I always made a point of gratifying him, I opened them immediately, and having taken a fancy to many things that he saw, and collected them together, he at last happened to cast his eye upon this adze; he instantly snatched it up with the greatest eagerness, and putting away every thing which he had before selected, he asked me whether I would let him have that: I readily consented; and, as if he was afraid I should repent, he carried it off immediately in a transport of joy, without making any other request, which, whatever had been our liberality, was seldom the

case.

About noon, a chief, who had dined with me a few days before, accompanied by some of his women, came on board alone: I had observed that he was fed by his women, but I made no doubt, that upon occasion he would condescend to feed himself: In this, however, I found myself mistaken. When my noble guest was seated, and the dinner upon the table, I helped him to some victuals: As I observed that he did not immediately begin his meal, I pressed him to eat: But he still continued to sit motionless like a statue, without attempting to put a single morsel into his mouth, and would certainly have gone without his dinner, if one of the servants had not fed him.

SECTION

3 The great people of Otaheite, whether men or women, seem to think that the labour of eating is sufficient employment, without the additional task of feeding, which in all probability they find can be done more expeditiously by proxy. Nor is such a consideration entirely unworthy of nobility, where the power of consuming food is so exorbitant as among those islanders. It might be convenient, one should think, for any man of rank who was capable of swallowing enormous quantities of food every hour or two, to have an attendant properly instructed in the art of stowing the

SECTION XI.

The Observatory set up; the Quadrant stolen, and Consequences of the Theft: A Visit to Tootahah: Description of a Wrestling-match: European Seeds sown: Names given to our People by the Indians.

In the afternoon of Monday the 1st of May, we set up the observatory, and took the astronomical quadrant, with some other instruments, on shore, for the first time.

The next morning, about nine o'clock, I went on shore with Mr Green to fix the quadrant in a situation for use, when, to our inexpressible surprise and concern, it was not to be found. It had been deposited in the tent which was reserved for my use, where, as I passed the night on board, nobody slept: It had never been taken out of the packing-case; which was eighteen inches square, and the whole was of considerable weight; a centinel had been posted the whole night within five yards of the tent door, and none of

the

belly-timber, as honest Sancho, of eating notoriety, calls it. "Tinah," says Captain Bligh, in the account of his voyage to this island, &c. " was fed by one of his attendants, who sat by him for that purpose, this being a particular custom among some of the superior chiefs; and I must do him the justice to say, he kept his attendant constantly employed: There was indeed little reason to complain of want of appetite in any of my guests. As the women are not allowed to eat in presence of the men, Iddeah dined with some of her companions about an hour afterwards, in private, except her husband, Tinab, favoured them with his company, and seemed to have entirely forgotten that he had dined already." The capa bilities of Tinah's stomach, it seems, were of very common acquirement at Otaheite. "They have not always regular meals," says the account of the Mis. Voy., "but usually eat as soon as they rise at day-break. Some are very voracious, especially the chiefs. Pomarae hath eaten a couple of fowls and two pounds at least of pork, besides other things, at a meal with us on board." Some persons may imagine this impossible; but the fact is, the stomach, like every other member, acquires strength by exercise, and can, by due care, if there be no disease, be made to digest quantities of food as great as its distended limits are capable of receiving. There cannot be a more erroneous, or a more pernicious opinion, than what is commonly en tertained, that the keenness of the appetite, and the energy of the digestion, are never above what the necessities of the system require. They are often enormously greater, and sometimes actually constitute most troublesome and highly formidable symptoms in certain diseases.-E.

the other instruments were missing. We at first suspected that it might have been stolen by some of our own people, who seeing a deal box, and not knowing the contents, might think it contained nails, or some other subjects of traffic with the natives. A large reward was therefore offered to any one who could find it, as, without this, we could not perform the service for which our voyage was principally undertaken. Our search in the mean time was not confined to the fort and places adjacent, but as the case might possibly have been carried back to the ship, if any of our own people had been the thieves, the most diligent search was made for it on board: All the parties however returned without any news of the quadrant. Mr Banks, therefore, who upon such occasions declined neither labour nor risk, and who had more influence over the Indians than any of us, determined to go in search of it into the woods; he hoped, that if it had been stolen by the natives, he should find it whereever they had opened the box, as they would immediately discover that to them it would be wholly useless; or, if in this expectation he should be disappointed, that he might recover it by the ascendancy he had acquired over the chiefs. He set out, accompanied by a midshipman and * Mr Green, and as he was crossing the river he was met by Tubourai Tamaide, who immediately made the figure of a triangle with three bits of straw upon his hand. By this Mr. Banks knew that the Indians were the thieves; and that, although they had opened the case, they were not disposed to part with the contents. No time was therefore to be lost, and Mr Banks made Tubourai Tamaide understand, that he must instantly go with him to the place whither the quadrant had been carried; he consented, and they set out together to the eastward, the chief enquiring at every house which they passed after the thief by name: people readily told him which way he was gone, and how long it was since he had been there: The hope which this gave them that they should overtake him, supported them under their fatigue, and they pressed forward, sometimes walking, sometimes running, though the weather was intolerably hot; when they had climbed a hill at the distance of about four miles, their conductor shewed them a point full three miles farther, and gave them to understand that they were not to expect the instrument till they had got thither. Here they paused; they had no arms, except a

The

pair of pistols, which Mr Banks always carried in his pocket; they were going to a place that was at least seven miles distant from the fort, where the Indians might be less submissive than at home, and to take from them what they had ventured their lives to get; and what, notwithstanding our conjectures, they appeared desirous to keep: These were discouraging circumstances, and their situation would become more critical at every step. They determined, how- ever, not to relinquish their enterprise, nor to pursue it without taking the best measures for their security that were in their power. It was therefore determined, that Mr Banks and Mr Green should go on, and that the midship-man should return to me, and desire that 1 would send a party of men after them, acquainting me at the same time, that it was impossible they should return till it was dark. Upon receiving this message I set out, with such a party as I thought sufficient for the occasion; leaving orders, both at the ship and at the fort, that no canoe should be suffered to go out of the bay, but that none of the natives should be seized or detained.

In the mean time, Mr Banks and Mr Green pursued their journey, under the auspices of Tubourai Tamaide, and in the very spot which he had specified, they met one of his. own people, with part of the quadrant in his hand. At this most welcome sight they stopped; and a great number of Indians immediately came up, some of whom pressing rather rudely upon them, Mr Banks thought it necessary to shew one of his pistols, the sight of which reduced them instantly to order: As the crowd that gathered round them was every moment increasing, he marked out a circle in the grass, and they ranged themselves on the outside of it, to the number of several hundreds, with great quietness and decorum. Into the middle of this circle, the box, which was now arrived, was ordered to be brought, with several reading glasses, and other small matters, which in their hurry they had put into a pistol-case, that Mr Banks knew to be his property, it having been some time before stolen from the tents, with a horse-pistol in it, which he immediately demanded, and which was all restored. 837 998

Mr Green was impatient to see whether all that had been taken away was returned, and upon examining the box found the stand, and a few small things of less consequence Wanting; several persons were sent in search of these, and

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