Sennor; and, when a stranger was introduced to him, he did not fail to rise up and accost him, as well as he could.

We also found here the young man whom we called Oedidee, but whose real name is Heete-heete. I had carried him from Ulietea in 1773, and brought him back in 1774; after he had visited the Friendly Islands, New Zealand, Easter Island, and the Marqueses, and been on board my ship, in that extensive navigation, about seven months. He was, at least, as tenacious of his good breeding, as the man who had been at Lima; and yes, Sir, or if you please, Sir, were as frequently repeated by him, as si Sennor was by the other. Heete-heete, who is a native of Bolabola, had arrived in Otaheite about three months before, with no other intention, that we could learn, than to gratify his curiosity, or, perhaps, some other favourite passion; which are very often the only objects of the pursuit of other travelling gentlemen. It was evident, however, that he preferred the modes, and even garb, of his countrymen, to ours. For, though I gave him some clothes, which our Admiralty Board had been pleased to send for his use (to which I added a chest of tools, and a few other articles, as a present from myself), he declined wearing them, after a few days. This instance, and that of the person who had been at Lima, may be urged as a proof of the strong propensity natural to man, of returning to habits acquired at an early age, and only interrupted by accident. And, perhaps, it may be concluded, that even Omai, who had imbibed almost the whole English manners, will, in a very short time after our leaving him, like Oedidee, and the visiter of Lima, return to his own native garments.¹

In the morning of the 27th, a man came from Oheitepeha, and told us, that two Spanish ships had anchored in that bay the night before; and, in confirmation of this intelligence, he produced a piece of coarse blue cloth, which, he said, he got out of one of the ships, and which, indeed, to appearance, was almost quite new. He added, that Mateema was in one of the ships, and that they were to come down to Matavai in a day or two. Some other circumstances which he mentioned, with the foregoing ones, gave the story so much the air of truth, that I dispatched Lieutenant Williamson in a boat, to look into Oheitepeha bay; and, in the mean time, I put the ships into a proper posture of defence. For, though England and Spain were in peace when I left Europe, for aught I knew, a different scene might, by this time, have opened. However, on farther enquiry, we had reason to think that the fellow who brought the intelligence had imposed upon us; and this was put beyond all doubt, when Mr Williamson returned next day, who made his report to me, that he had been at Oheitepeha, and found that no ships were there now, and that none had been there since we left it. The people of this part of the island where we now were, indeed, told us, from the beginning, that it was a fiction invented by those of Tiaraboo. But what view they could have, we were at a loss to conceive, unless they supposed that the report would have some effect in making us quit the island, and, by that means, deprive the people of Otaheite-nooe of the advantages they might reap from our ships continuing there; the inhabitants of the two parts of the island being inveterate enemies to each other.