be duped by every designing knave. From the natives who came off to us, in the course of this day, we learnt that two ships had twice been in Oheitepeha Bay, since my last visit to this island in 1774, and that they had left animals there such as we had on board. But, on farther enquiry, we found they were only hogs, dogs, goats, one bull, and the male of some other animal, which, from the imperfect description now given us, we could not find out. They told us that these ships had come from a place called Reema, by which we guessed that Lima, the capital of Peru, was meant, and that these late visitors were Spaniards. We were informed that the first time they came, they built a house, and left four men behind them, viz. two priests, a boy or servant, and a fourth person called Mateema, who was much spoken of at this time, carrying away with them, when they sailed, four of the natives; that, in about ten months, the same two ships returned, bringing back two of the islanders, the other two having died at Lima, and that, after a short stay, they took away their own people; but that the house which they had built was left standing.

The important news of red feathers being on board our ships, having been conveyed on shore by Omai's friends, day had no sooner begun to break, next morning, than we were surrounded by a multitude of canoes, crowded with people, bringing hogs and fruits to market. At first, a quantity of feathers, not greater than what might be got from a tom-tit, would purchase a hog of forty or fifty pounds weight. But, as almost every body in the ships was possessed of some of this precious article of trade, it fell in its value above five hundred per cent. before night. However, even then, the balance was much in our favour, and red feathers continued to preserve their superiority over every other commodity. Some of the natives would not part with a hog, unless they received an axe in exchange; but nails and beads, and other trinkets, which, during our former voyages, had so great a run at this island, were now so much despised, that few would deign so much as to look at them.

There being but little wind all the morning, it was nine o'clock before we could get to an anchor in the bay, where we moored with the two bowers. Soon after we had anchored, Omai's sister came on board to see him. I was happy to observe, that, much to the honour of them both, their meeting was marked with expressions of the tenderest affection, easier to be conceived than to be described.

This moving scene having closed, and the ship being properly moored, Omai and I went ashore. My first object was to pay a visit to a man whom my friend represented as a very extraordinary personage indeed, for he said that he was the god of Bolabola. We found him seated under one of those small awnings which they usually carry in their larger canoes. He was an elderly man, and had lost the use of his limbs, so that he was carried from place to place upon a hand-barrow. Some called him Olla, or Orra, which is the name of the god of Bolabola, but his own proper name was Etary. From Omai's account of this person, I expected to have seen some religious adoration paid to him. But, excepting some young plantain trees that lay before him, and upon the awning under which he sat, I could observe nothing by which he might be distinguished from their other chiefs. Omai presented to him a tuft of red feathers, tied to the end of a small stick; but, after a little conversation on indifferent matters with this Bolabola man, his attention was drawn to an old woman, the sister of his mother. She was already at his feet, and had bedewed them plentifully with tears of joy.

I left him with the old lady, in the midst of a number of people who had gathered round him, and went to take a view of the house said to be built by the strangers who had lately been here. I found it standing at a small distance from the beach. The wooden materials of which it was composed seemed to have been brought hither, ready prepared, to be set up occasionally; for all the planks were numbered. It was divided into two small rooms; and in the inner one were a bedstead, a table, a bench, some old hats, and other trifles, of which the natives seemed to be very careful, as also of the house itself, which had suffered no hurt from the weather, a shed having been built over it. There were scuttles all around, which served as air holes; and, perhaps, they were also meant to fire from with muskets, if ever this should have been found necessary. At a little distance from the front stood a wooden cross, on the transverse part of which was cut the following inscription:

And on the perpendicular part (which confirmed our conjecture that the two ships were Spanish),

On the other side of the post I preserved the memory of the prior visits of the English, by inscribing,

The natives pointed out to us, near the foot of the cross, the grave of the commodore of the two ships, who had died here while they lay in the bay the first time. His name, as they pronounced it, was Oreede. Whatever the intentions of the Spaniards in visiting this island might be, they seemed to have taken great pains to ingratiate themselves with the inhabitants, who, upon every occasion, mentioned them with the strongest expressions of esteem, and veneration.

I met with no chief of any considerable note on this occasion, excepting the extraordinary personage above described. Waheiadooa, the sovereign of Tiaraboo (as this part of the island is called), was now absent; and I afterward found that he was not the same person, though of the same name with the chief whom I had seen here during my last voyage; but his brother, a boy of about ten years of age, who had succeeded upon the death of the elder Waheiadooa, about twenty months before our arrival. We also learned that the celebrated Oberea was dead; but that Otoo and all our other friends were living.

When I returned from viewing the house and cross erected by the Spaniards, I found Omai holding forth to a large company; and it was with some difficulty that he could be got away to accompany me on board, where I had an important affair to settle.

As I knew that Otaheite, and the neighbouring islands, could furnish us with a plentiful supply of cocoa-nuts, the liquor of which is an excellent succedaneum for any artificial beverage, I was desirous of prevailing upon my people to consent to be abridged, during our stay here, of their stated allowance of spirits to mix with water. But as this stoppage of a favourite article, without assigning some reason, might have occasioned a general murmur, I thought it most prudent to assemble the ship's company, and to make known to them the intent of the voyage, and the extent of our future operations. To induce them to undertake which with cheerfulness and perseverance, I took notice of the rewards offered by parliament to such of his majesty's subjects as shall first discover a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, in any direction whatever, in the northern hemisphere; and also to such as shall first penetrate beyond the 39th degree of northern latitude. I made no doubt, I told them, that I should find them willing to co-operate with me in attempting, as far as might be possible, to become entitled to one or both these rewards; but that, to give us the best chance of succeeding, it would be necessary to observe the utmost economy in the expenditure of our stores and