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In the mean time, I kept plying off and on, waiting for the boat's return; at half an hour after five, not seeing any thing of her, I fired a gun, and after it was dark hoisted a light; at half an hour after eight, we heard the report of a musket, which we answered with a gun, and soon after the boat came on board. The master reported, that the har-bour was safe and commodious, with good anchorage from twenty-five to sixteen fathom water, clear ground.

As soon as the boat was hoisted in, I made sail to the northward, and at eight o'clock in the morning of the 29th, we were close under the Peak of Bolabola, which was high, rude, and craggy. As the island was altogether inaccessible in this part, and we found it impossible to weather it, we tacked and stood off, then tacked again, and after many trips did not weather the south end of it till twelve o'clock at night. At eight o'clock the next morning, we discovered an island, which bore from us N. 63° W. distant about eight leagues; at the same time the Peak of Bolabola bore N. E. distant three or four leagues. This island Tupia called Maurua, and said that it was small, wholly surrounded by a reef, and without any harbour for shipping; but inhabited, and bearing the same produce as the neighbouring islands: The middle of it rises in a high round hill, that may be seen at the distance of ten leagues.

When we were off Bolabola, we saw but few people on the shore, and were told by Tupia that many of the inhabitants were gone to Ulietea. In the afternoon we found ourselves nearly the length of the south end of Ulietea, and to windward of some harbours that lay on the west side of this island. Into one of these harbours, though we had before been ashore on the other side of the island, I intended to put, in order to stop a leak which we had sprung in the powder-room, and to take in more ballast, as I found the ship too light to carry sail upon a wind. As the wind was right against us, we plied off one of the harbours, and about three o'clock in the afternoon on the 1st of August, we came to an anchor in the entrance of the channel leading into it in fourteen fathom water, being prevented from working in, by a tide which set very strong out. We then carried

The people of Otaheite are said to procure pearls from this island. It is, however, subject to Bolabola, as the reader will soon see mentioned,

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carried out the kedge-anchor, in order to warp into the harbour; but when this was done, we could not trip the bower-anchor with all the purchase we could make; we were therefore obliged to lie still all night, and in the morning, when the tide turned, the ship going over the anchor, it tripped of itself, and we warped the ship into a proper birth with ease, and moored in twenty-eight fathom, with a sandy bottom. While this was doing, many of the natives came off to us with hogs, fowls, and plantains, which they parted with at an easy rate.

When the ship was secured, I went on shore to look for a proper place to get ballast and water, both which I found in a very convenient situation.

This day Mr Banks and Dr Solander spent on shore very much to their satisfaction; every body seemed to fear and respect them, placiug in them at the same time the utmost confidence, behaving as if conscious that they possessed the power of doing them mischief, without any propensity to make use of it. Men, women, and children crowded round them, and followed them wherever they went; but none of them were guilty of the least incivility: On the contrary, whenever there happened to be dirt or water in the way, the men vied with each other to carry them over on their backs. They were conducted to the houses of the principal people, and were received in a manner altogether new: The people, who followed them while they were in their way, rushed forward as soon as they came to a house, and went hastily in before them, leaving however a lane sufficiently wide for them to pass. When they entered, they found those who had preceded them ranged on each side of a long matt, which was spread upon the ground, and at the farther end of which sat the family: In the first house they entered they found some very young women or children, dressed with the utmost neatness, who kept their station, expecting the strangers to come up to them and make them presents, which they did with the greatest pleasure; for prettier children or better dressed they had never seen. One of them was a girl about six years old; her gown, or upper garment, was red; a large quantity of plaited hair was wound round her head, the ornament to which they give the name of Tamou, and which they value more than any thing they possess. She sat at the upper end of a matt thirty feet long, upon which none of the spectators presumed

presumed to set a foot, notwithstanding the crowd; and she leaned upon the arm of a well-looking woman about thirty, who was probably her nurse. Our gentlemen walked up to her, and as soon as they approached, she stretched out her hand to receive the beads which they offered her, and no princess in Europe could have done it with a better grace.

The people were so much gratified by the presents which were made to these girls, that when Mr Banks and Dr Solander returned they seemed attentive to nothing but how to oblige them; and in one of the houses they were, by order of the master, entertained with a dance, different from any that they had seen. It was performed by one man, who put upon his head a large cylindrical piece of wicker-work, or basket, about four feet long and eight inches in diameter, which was faced with feathers, placed perpendicularly, with the tops bending forwards, and edged round with shark's teeth, and the tail-feathers of tropic birds: When he had put on this head-dress, which is called a Whow, he began to dance, moving slowly, and often turning his head so as that the top of his high wicker-cap described a circle, and sometimes throwing it so near the faces of the spectators as to make them start back: This was held among them as a very good joke, and never failed to produce a peal of laughter, especially when it was played off upon one of the strangers.

On the 3d, we went along the shore to the northward, which was in a direction opposite to that of the route Mr Banks and Dr Solander had taken the day before, with a design to purchase stock, which we always found the people more ready to part with, and at a more easy price, at their houses than at the market. In the course of our walk we met with a company of dancers, who detained us two hours, and during all that time afforded us great entertainment. The company consisted of two women-dancers, and six men, with three drums; we were informed by Tupia, that they were some of the most considerable people of the island, and that though they were continually going from place to place, they did not, like the little strolling companies of Otaheite, take any gratuity from the spectators. The women had upon their heads a considerable quantity of Tamou, or plaited hair, which was brought several times round the head, and adorned in many parts with the flowers

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of the cape-jessamine, which were stuck in with much taste, and made a head-dress truly elegant. Their necks, shoulders, and arms were naked; so were the breasts also as low as the parting of the arm; below that, they were covered with black cloth, which set close to the body; at the side of each breast, next the arm, was placed a small plume of black feathers, much in the same manner as our ladies now wear their nosegays or bouquets; upon their hips rested a quantity of cloth plaited very full, which reached up to the breast, and fell down below into long petticoats, which quite concealed their feet, and which they managed with as much dexterity as our opera-dancers could have done: The plaits above the waist were brown and white alternately, the petticoats below were all white.

In this dress they advanced sideways in a measured step, keeping excellent time to the drums, which beat briskly and loud; soon after they began to shake their hips, giving the folds of cloth that lay upon them a very quick motion, which was in some degree continued through the whole dance, though the body was thrown into various postures, sometimes standing, sometimes sitting, and sometimes resting on their knees and elbows, the fingers also being moved at the same time with a quickness scarcely to be imagined. Much of the dexterity of the dancers, however, and the entertainment of the spectators, consisted in the wantonness of their attitudes and gestures, which was, indeed, such as exceeds all description.

One of these girls had in her ear three pearls; one of them was very large, but so foul that it was of little value; the other two were as big as a middling pea; these were clear, and of a good colour and shape, though spoiled by the drilling. Mr Banks would fain have purchased them, and offered the owner any thing she would ask for them, but she could not be persuaded to part with them at any price: He tempted her with the value of four hogs, and whatever else she should chuse, but without success; and indeed they set a value upon their pearls very nearly equal to what they would fetch among us, except they could be procured before they are drilled.

Between the dances of the women, the men performed a kind of dramatic interlude, in which there was dialogue as well as dancing; but we were not sufficiently acquainted with their language to understand the subject.

On the 4th, some of our gentlemen saw a much more regular entertainment of the dramatic kind, which was divided into four acts.

Tupia had often told us that he had large possessions in this island, which had been taken away from him by the inhabitants of Bolabola, and he now pointed them out in the very bay where the ship was at anchor. Upon our going on shore, this was confirmed by the inhabitants, who shewed us several districts or Whennuas, which they acknowledged to be his right.

On the 5th, I received a present of three hogs, some fowls, several pieces of cloth, the largest we had seen, being fifty yards long, which they unfolded and displayed so as to make the greatest show possible; and a considerable quantity of plantains, cocoa-nuts, and other refreshments, from Opoony, the formidable king, or, in the language of the country, Earee rahie, of Bolabola, with a message that he was at this time upon the island, and that the next day he intended to pay me a visit.

In the mean time Mr Banks and Dr Solander went upon the hills, accompanied by several of the Indians, who conducted them by excellent paths, to such a height, that they plainly saw the other side of the island, and the passage through which the ship had passed the reef between the little islands of Opururu and Tamou, when we landed upon it the first time. As they were returning, they saw the Indians exercising themselves at what they call Erowhaw, which is nothing more than pitching a kind of light lance, headed with hard wood, at a mark: In this amusement, though they seem very fond of it, they do not excel, for not above one in twelve struck the mark, which was the bole of a plantain tree, at about twenty yards distance.

On the 6th, we all staid at home, expecting the visit of the great king, but we were disappointed; we had, however, much more agreeable company, for he sent three very pretty girls to demand something in return for his present: Perhaps he was unwilling to trust himself on board the ship, or perhaps he thought his messengers would procure a more valuable return for his hogs and poultry than he could himself; be that as it may, we did not regret his absence, nor his messengers their visit.

In the afternoon, as the great king would not come to us, we determined to go to the great king. As he was lord

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