the party. Very early on Friday morning, I sent Mr. Hicks, with Mr. Clerk, and Mr. Petersgil!, the master's mate, and Mr. Saunders one of the midshipmen, in the pinnace to the eastward, with orders to fix on some convenient spot, at a distance from our principal observatory, where they also might employ the instruments with which they had been furnished for the same purpose. The long-boat not having been got ready till Thursday in the afternoon, though all possible expedition was used to fit her out; the people on board, after having rowed most part of the night, brought her to a grappling just under the land of Imao. Soon after day-break, they saw an Indian canoe, which they hailed, and the people on board shewed them an inlet through the reef into which they pulled and soon fixed upon a coral rock, which rose out of the water about one hundred and fifty yards from the shore as a proper situation for their observatory; it was about eighty yards long and twenty broad, and in the middle of it was a bed of white sand, large enough for the tents to stand upon. Mr. Gore and his assistants immediately began to set them up, and make other necessary preparations for the important business of the next day. While this was doing, Mr. Banks with the Indians of Otaheite, and the people whom they had met in the canoe, went ashore upon the main island, to buy provisions; of which he procured a sufficient supply before night. When he returned to the rock, he found the ob servatory in order; and the telescopes all fixed and tried. The evening was very fine, yet their solicitude did not permit them to take much rest in the night: one or other of them was up every half hour, who satisfied the impatience of the rest by reporting the changes of the sky; now encouraging their hope by telling them that it was clear, and now alarming their fears by au account that it was hazy. At day-break they got up, and had the satisfac tion to see the sun-rise without a cloud. Mr. Banks then wishing the observers, Mr. Gore and Mr. Monkhouse, success, repaired again to the island, where he might examine its produce, and get a fresh supply of provisions: he began by trading with the natives, for which purpose he took his station under a tree, and to keep them from pressing upon him in a crowd, he drew a circle round him, which he suffered none of them to enter. About eight o'clock, he saw two canoes coming towards the place, and was given to understand by the people about him, that they belonged to Tarrao, the king of the island, who was coming to make him a visit. As soon as the canoes came near the shore the people made a lane from the beach to the trad ing place, and his majesty landed with his sister, whose name was Nuna; as they advanced towards the tree where Mr. Banks stood, he went out to meet them, and with great formality introduced them into the circle from which the other natives had been excluded. As it is the custom of these people to sit during all their conferences, Mr. Banks unwrapped a kind of turban of Indian cloth, which he wore upon his head instead of a hat, and spreading it upon the ground, they all sat down upon it together. The royal present was then brought, which consisted of a hog and a dog, some bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts and other articles of the like kind. Mr. Banks then dispatched a canoe to the observatory for his present, ⚫ and the messengers soon returned with an adze, a shirt, and some beads, which were presented to his majesty, and received with great satisfaction. By this time Tubourai Tamaide and Tomio joined them from the observatory. Tomio said, that she was related to Tarrao, and brought him a present of a long nail, at the same time complimenting Nuua with a shirt. The first internal contact of the planet with the sun being over, Mr. Banks returned to the observa tory, taking Tarrao, Nuna, and some of their prin cipal attendants, among whom were three very handSome young women, with him; he showed them the planet upon the sun, and endeavoured to make them understand that he and his companions had come from their own country on purpose to see it. Soon after Mr. Banks returned with them to the island, where he spent the rest of the day in examining its produce, which he found to be much the same with that of Otaheite. The people whom he saw there also exactly resembled the inhabitants of that island, and many of them were persons whom he had seen upon it; so that all those whom he had dealt with, knew of what his trading articles consisted, and the value they bore, The next morning having struck the tents, they set out on their return,and arrived at the fort before night. The observation was made with equal success by the persons whom I had sent to the eastward, and at the fort, there not being a cloud in the sky from the rising to the setting of the sun; the whole passage of the planet Venus over the sun's disk was observed with great advantage by Mr. Green, Dr. Solander and myself: Mr. Green's telescope and mine were of the same magnifying power, but that of Dr. Solander was greater. We all saw an atmosphere or dusky cloud round the body of the planet which very much disturbed the times of contact, especially of the internal ones; and че differed from each other in our accounts of the times of the Contacts much more than might have been expected. According to Mr. Green, Hours. Min. Sec. The first external contact, or first appearance of 41 3 14 87 3 32 100 The first internal contact, or total immersion, was 9 The second external contact, or total emersion N Morning. Afternoon. The latitude of the observatory was found to be 17° 29′ 15′′; and the longitude 149° 32′ 30′′ W. of Greenwich. A more particular account will ap pear by the tables, for which the reader is referred to the Transactions of the Royal Society, vol. Ixi. part 2. page 397 & seq. where they are illustrated by a cut. But if we had reason to congratulate ourselves upon the success of our observation, we had scarce less cause to regret the diligence with which that time had been improved by some of our people to another purpose. While the attention of the officers was engrossed by the transit of Venus, some of the ship's company broke into one of the store-rooms, and stole a quantity of spike nails, amounting to no less than one hundred weight; this was a matter of pub. lic and serious concern, for these nails, if circulated by the people among the Indians, would do us ir reparable injury, by reducing the value of iron, our staple commodity. One of the thieves was detected, but only seven nails were found in his custody. He was punished with two dozen lashes, but would impeach none of his accomplices. CHAP. XIV. The Ceremonies of an Indian Funeral, particularly described; General Observations on the Subject; A Character found among the Indians to which the Ancients paid great Veneration: A Robbery at the Fort, and its Consequences; with a Specimen of Indian Cookery, and various Incidents, ON the 5th we kept his Majesty's birth-day; for though it is the 4th, we were unwilling to celebrate it during the absence of the two parties who had been sent out to observe the transit. We had several of the Indian chiefs at our entertainment, who drank his majesty's health by the name of Kihiargo, which was the nearest imitation they could produce of King George. About this time died an old woman of some rank, who was related to Tomio, which gave us an opportunity to see how they disposed of the body, and confirmed us in our opinion, that these people, contrary to the present custom of all other nations now known, never bury their dead. In the middle of a small square, neatly railed in with bamboo, the awning of a canoe was raised upon two posts, and under this the body was deposited upon such a frame as has before been described: it was covered with fine cloth, and near it was placed bread-fruit, fish, and other provisions; we supposed that the food was placed there for the spirit of the deceased, and consequently that these Indians had some confused notion of a separate state; but upon our applying for further information to Tubourai Tamaide, he told us, that the food was placed there as an offering to their gods. They do not, however, suppose that the gods eat, any more than the Jews supposed that Jehovah could dwell in a house; the offering is made here upon the same principle as the temple was built at Jerusalem, as an expression of reverence and gratitude, and a solicitation of the more immediate, presence of the deity. In the front of the area was a kind of stile, where the relations of the deceased stood to pay the tribute of their sorrow; and under the awning were innumerable small pieces of cloth, on which the tears and blood of the mourners had been shed; for in their paroxysms of grief it is a universal custom to wound themselves with the shark's tooth. Within a few yards two occasional houses were set up, in one of which some relations of the deceased constantly resided, and in the other |