and that we are losers by the perfection of our nature, the increase of our knowledge and the enlarge. ment of our views.

Canoes were continually coming in during all this forenoon, and the tents at the fort were crowded with people of both sexes from differents parts of the island. I was myself busy on board the ship, but Mr. Mollineux, our master, who was one of those that made the last voyage in the Dolphin, went on shore. As soon as he entered Mr. Banks's tent he fixed his eyes upon one of the women, who was sitting there with great composure among the rest, and immediately declared her to be the person who at that time was supposed to be queen of the island; she also, at the same time, acknowledging him to be one of the stran gers whom she had seen before. The attention of all present was now diverted from every other object, and wholly engaged in considering a person who had made so distinguished a figure in the accounts that had been given of this island by its first discoverers; and we soon learnt that her name was Oberea. She seemed to be about forty years of age, and was not only tall, but of a large make; her skin was white, and there was an un. common intelligence and sensibility in her eyes: she appeared to have been handsome when she was young, but at this time little more than memorials of her beauty were left.

As soon as her quality was known, an offer was made to conduct her to the ship. Of this she readily accepted, and came on board with two men and several women, who seemed to be all of her family; I receiv ed her with such marks of distinction as I thought would gratify her most, and was not sparing of my presents, among which this august personage seem. ed particularly delighted with a child's doll. After some time spent on board, I attended her back to the shore; and as soon as we landed, she presented me with a nog, and several bunches of plantains, which she caused to be carried from her canoes up to the fort

in a kind of procession, of which she and myself brought up the rear. In our way to the fort we met Tootahah, who, though not king, appeared to be at this time in vested with the sovereign authority: he seemed not to be well pleased with the distinction that was shewed to the lady, and became so jealous when she produced her doll, that to propitiate him it was thought proper to compliment him with another. At this time he

thought fit to prefer a doll to a hatchet; but this preference arose only from a childish jealousy, which could not be soothed but by a gift of exactly the same kind with that which had been presented to Oberea; for dolls in a very short time were universally considered as trifles of no value.

The men who had visited us from time to time had, without scruple, eaten of our provisions; but the women had never yet been prevailed upon to taste a morsel. To-day, however, they refused the most pressing solicitations to dine with the gentlemen, they afterwards retired to the servants' apartment, and cat of plantains very heartily; a mystery of female economy here, which none of us could explain.

On the 29th, not very early in the forenoon, Mr. Banks went to pay his court to Oberea; and was told that she was still asleep under the awning of her canoe : thither therefore he went, intending to call her up, a liberty which he thought he might take, without any danger of giving offence: but, upon looking into her chamber, to his great astonishment, he found her in bed with a handsome young fellow about five and twenty, whose name was Obadée: he retreated with some haste and confusion,but was soon made to understand, that such amours gave no occasion to scandal, and that Obadée was universally known to have been selected by her as the object of her private favours. The lady being too polite to suffer Mr. Banks to wait long in her antichamber, dressed herself with more than usual expedition, and as a token of special grace, clothed him in a suit of fine cloth and proceeded with

him to the tents. In the evening, Mr. Banks paid a visit to Tabourai Tamaide, as he had often done before, by candle light, and was equally grieved and surprized to find him and his family in a melancholy mood, and most of them in tears; he endeavoured in vain to discover the cause, and therefore his stay among them was but short. When he reported this circumstance to the officers at the fort, they recol. lected that Owhaw had foreto'd, that in four days we should fire our great guns; and as this was the eve of the third day, the situation in which Tubourai Tamaide and his family had been found, alarmed them. The sentries therefore were doubled at the fort, and the gentlemen slept under arms; at two in the morning, Mr. Banks himself went round the point, but found every thing so quiet, that he gave up all suspicions of mischief intended by the natives as groundless. We had however another source of security; our little fortification 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 highwater mark; on the cast 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 five and forty men with small arms, including the officers, and the gentlemen who resided on shore ; and our sentries were as well relieved as in the best regulated frontier in Europe.

We continued our vigilance the next day, though ws had no particular reason to think it necessary; but about ten o'clock in the morning, Tomio came run. · ning to the tents, with a mixture of grief and fear in Ber 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 hisIndian 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 vomiting, 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 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. Steveus, 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 nuch we excelled in making tools after their own fashion this I had not yet produced, at it never happened to come into my mind. But on the first 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 if 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.

CHAP. 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