These occasional visits served to lessen my solicitude about the people who had landed. Though we could get no information from our visitors, yet their venturing on board seemed to imply, at least, that their countrymen on shore had not made an improper use of the confidence put in them. At length, a little before sunset, we had the satisfaction of seeing the boats put off. When they got on board, I found that Mr. Gore himself, Omai, Mr. Anderson, and Mr. Burney, were the only persons who had landed. The transactions of the day were now fully reported to me by Mr. Anderson; I shall give them nearly in his words:-

WA: We rowed towards a small sandy beach, upon which a great number of the natives had assembled. Several of the natives swam off, bringing cocoa-nuts; and Omai, with their countrymen whom we had with us in the boats, made them sensible of our wish to land.

Mr. Burney, the first lieutenant of the Discovery, and I, went in one canoe, a little time before the other; and our conductors, watching attentively the motions of the surf, landed us safely upon the reef. An islander took hold of each of us, obviously with an intention to support us in walking over the rugged rocks to the beach, where several of the others met us, holding the green boughs of a species of mimosa in their hands, and saluted us by applying their noses to ours.

We were conducted from the beach amidst a crowd of people, who flocked with very eager curiosity to look at us. We were then led up an avenue of cocoa-palms; and soon came to a number of men, arranged in two rows, armed with clubs. After walking a little way amongst these, we found a person who seemed a chief, sitting on the ground cross-legged, cooling himself with a sort of triangular fan made from a leaf of the cocoa-palm. In his ears were large bunches of beautiful red feathers; but he had no other mark to distinguish him from the rest of the people, though they all obeyed him.

We proceeded still amongst the men armed with clubs, and came to a second chief, who sat fanning himself, and ornamented as the first. In the same manner we were conducted to a third chief, who seemed older than the two former. He also was sitting, and adorned with red feathers; and after saluting him as we had done the others, he desired us both to sit down.

In a few minutes, we saw, at a small distance, about twenty young women, ornamented as the chiefs with red feathers, engaged in a dance, which they performed to a slow and serious air, sung by them all. We got up and went forward to see them; and though we must have been strange objects to them, they continued their dance without paying the least attention to us. Their motions and song were performed in exact concert. In general, they were rather stout than slender, with black hair flowing in ringlets down the neck, and of an olive complexion. Their eyes were of a deep black, and each countenance expressed a degree of complacency and modesty, peculiar to the sex in every part of the world; but perhaps more conspicuous here, where Nature presented us with her productions in the fullest perfection, unbiassed in sentiment by custom, or unrestrained in manner by art.

The natives now seemed to take some pains to separate us from each other; every one of us having his circle, to surround and gaze at him; and when I told the chief with whom I sat, that I wanted to speak to Omai, he peremptorily refused my request. At the same time, I found the people began to steal several trifling things which I had in my pocket; and when I took the liberty of complaining to the chief of this treatment, he justified it. From these circumstances, I now entertained apprehensions that they might have formed the design of detaining us amongst them.

Mr. Burney happening to come to the place where I was, I mentioned my suspicions to him; and, to put it to the test, whether they were well founded, we attempted to get to the beach. But we were stopped, when about half way, by some men who told us that we must go back to the place where we had left. On coming up, we found Omai entertaining the same apprehensions. But he had, as he fancied, an additional reason for being afraid; for he had observed, that they had dug a hole in the ground for an oven, which they were now heating; and he could assign no other reason for this, than that they meant to roast and eat us, as is practised by the inhabitants of New Zealand.

In this manner we were detained the greatest part of the day, being sometimes together and sometimes separated, but always in a crowd; who, not satisfied with gazing at us, frequently desired us to uncover parts of our skin; the sight of which commonly produced a general murmur of admiration.

Upon our urging the business we came upon, they gave us to understand, that we must stay and eat with them; and a pig which we saw, soon after lying near the oven, which they had prepared and heated, removed Omai's apprehensions of being put into it himself; and made us think it might be intended for our repast. A piece of the young hog that had been dressed was set before us, of which we were desired to eat. Our appetites, however, had failed, from the fatigue of the day; and though we did eat a little to please them, it was without satisfaction to ourselves.

It being now near sunset, we told them it was time to go on board. This they allowed; and sent down to the beach the remainder of the victuals that had been dressed, to be carried with us to the ships. They put us on board our boats, with the cocoa-nuts, plantains, and other provisions, which they had brought; and we rowed to the ships, very well pleased that we had at last got out of the hands of our troublesome masters.

We regretted much that our restrained situation gave us so little opportunity of making observations on the country. For, during the whole day, we were seldom a hundred yards from the place where we were introduced to the chiefs on landing; and, consequently, were confined to the surrounding objects. The first thing that presented itself, worthy of our notice, was the number of people, which must have been, at least, two thousand. In general, they had their hair tied on the crown of the head, long, black, and of a most luxuriant growth. Many of the young men were perfect models in shape, of a complexion as delicate as that of the women, and, to appearance, of a disposition as amiable.

The wife of one of the chiefs appeared with her child, laid in a piece of red cloth, which had been presented to her husband; and seemed to carry it with great tenderness, suckling it much after the manner of our women. Another chief introduced his daughter, who was young and beautiful; but appeared with all the timidity natural to the sex, though she gazed on us with a kind of anxious concern, that seemed to struggle with her fear, and to express her astonishment at so unusual a sight.

About a third part of the men were armed with clubs and spears. The clubs were generally about six feet long, made of hard black wood, lance-shaped at the end, but much broader, with the edge nicely scolloped, and the whole neatly polished.

What the soil of the island may be, farther inland, we could not tell. But, toward the sea, it is nothing more than a bank of coral, ten or twelve feet high, steep and rugged; except where there are small sandy beaches, at some clefts where the ascent is gradual. The reef or rock, that lines the shore entirely, runs to different breadths into the sea, where it ends all at once, and becomes like a high, steep wall.

CJC: Though the landing of our gentlemen proved the means of enriching my journal with the foregoing particulars, the principal object I had in view was, in a great measure, unattained; for the day was spent without getting any one thing from the island worth mentioning. The natives, however, were gratified with a sight they never before had; and, probably, will never have again. And mere curiosity seems to have been the chief motive for keeping the gentlemen under such restraint, and for using every art to prolong their continuance amongst them.

Omai was Mr. Gore's interpreter; but that was not the only service he performed this day. He was asked, by the natives, a great many questions concerning us; and according to the account he gave me, his answers were not a little upon the marvellous. As, for instance, he told them that our country had ships as large as their island, on board which were instruments of war, of such dimensions, that several people might sit within them; and that one of them was sufficient to crush the whole island at one shot. This led them to inquire of him what sort of guns we actually had in our two ships. He said, that though they were but small, in comparison with those he had just described, yet, with such as they were, we could, with the greatest ease, and at the distance the ships were from the shore, destroy the island, and kill every soul in it. They persevered in their inquiries to know by what means this could be done; and Omai explained the matter as well as he could. He happened luckily to have a few cartridges in his pocket. These he produced; the balls, and the gunpowder which was to set them in motion, were submitted to inspection; and, to supply the defects of his description, an appeal was made to the senses of the spectators. In the centre of a circle formed by the natives, the inconsiderable quantity of gunpowder, collected from his cartridges, was properly disposed upon the ground, and, by means of a bit of burning wood from the oven, where dinner was dressing, set on fire. The sudden blast and loud report, the mingled flame and smoke, that instantly succeeded, now filled the whole assembly with astonishment; they no longer doubted the tremendous power of our weapons, and gave full credit to all that Omai had said. This probably induced them to liberate the gentlemen.

Omai found three of his countrymen here; their story is an affecting one, as related by him. About twenty persons had embarked on board a canoe at Otaheite, to cross over to the neighbouring island, Ulietea. A violent contrary wind arising, they could neither reach the latter, nor get back to the former. Their intended passage being a very short one, their stock of provisions was scanty, and soon exhausted. The hardships they suffered, while driven along by the storm, are not to be conceived. They passed many days without sustenance. Their numbers gradually diminished, worn out by famine and fatigue. Four only survived, when the canoe overset. However, they kept hanging by the side of the vessel, till Providence brought them in sight of the people of this island, who immediately sent out canoes and brought them ashore. Of the four, one was since dead. The other three, still living, spoke highly of the kind treatment they here met with. And so well satisfied were they with their situation, that they refused the offer made to them by our gentlemen, at Omai's request, of giving them a passage on board our ships, to restore them to their native islands.

The landing of our gentlemen on this island, though they failed in the object of it, cannot but be considered as a very fortunate circumstance. It has proved, as we have seen, the means of bringing to our knowledge a matter of fact, not only very curious, but very instructive. The application of the above narrative is obvious. It will serve to explain, better than a thousand conjectures of speculative reasoners, how the detached parts of the earth, and in particular how the islands of the South Seas may have been first peopled; especially those that lie remote from any inhabited continent, or from each other.

Having taken our final leave of the Friendly Islands, I now resume my narrative of the voyage. In the evening of the 17th of July, at eight o'clock, the body of Eaoo bore north-east by north, distant three or four leagues. The wind was now at east, and blew a fresh gale. With it I stood to the south, till half an hour past six o'clock the next morning, when a sudden squall from the same direction took our ship aback; and before the ships could be trimmed, on the other tack, the mainsail and the top-gallant sails were much torn.

I continued to stretch to the east-south-east, without meeting with any thing worthy of note, till seven o'clock in the evening of the 29th; when we had a sudden and very heavy squall of wind from the north. At this time, we were under single-reefed top-sails, courses, and stay-sails. Two of the latter were blown to pieces; and it was with difficulty that we saved the other sails. After this squall, we observed several lights moving about on board the Discovery; by which we concluded that something had given way; and, the next morning, we saw that her main-topmast had been lost. Both wind and weather continued very unsettled till noon this day, when the latter cleared up, and the former settled in the north-west quarter. At this time we were in the latitude of 28° 6' south, and our longitude was 198° 23' east. Here we saw some pintado birds, being the first since we left the land. On the 31st, at noon, Captain Clerke made a signal to speak with me. By the return of the boat, which I sent on board his ship, he informed me, that the head of the main-mast had been discovered to be sprung, in such a manner, as to render the rigging of another topmast very dangerous; and that, therefore, he must rig something lighter in its place. He also informed me, that he had lost his main-top-gallant-yard; and that he neither had another, nor a spar to make one, on board. The Resolution's sprit-sail top-sail-yard, which I sent him, supplied this want. The next day, we got up a jury top-mast, on which he set a mizen-top-sail; and this enabled him to keep way with the Resolution.

The wind was fixed in the western board; that is, from the north, round by the west to south, and I steered east, and north-east, without meeting with anything remarkable, till eleven o'clock in the morning of the 8th of August, when the land was seen, bearing north-north-east, nine or ten leagues distant. At first, it appeared in detached hills, like so many separate islands; but as we drew nearer, we found that they were all connected, and belonged to one and the same island. I steered directly for it, with a fine gale at south-east by south; and at half-past six o'clock in the afternoon, it extended from north by east, to north-north-east ¾ east, distant three or four leagues. The night was spent standing off and on; and, at day-break, the next morning, I steered for the north-west or lee side of the island; and, as we stood round its south, or south-west part, we saw it every where guarded by a reef of coral rock, extending, in some places, a full mile from the land, and a high surf breaking upon it. Some thought that they saw land to the southward of this island; but, as that was to the windward, it was left undetermined. As we drew near, we saw people on several parts of the coast, walking or running along-shore; and, in a little time, after we had reached the lee-side of the island, we saw them launch two canoes, into which above a dozen men got, and paddled toward us.

I now shortened sail, as well to give these canoes time to come up with us, as to sound for anchorage. At the distance of about half a mile from the reef, we found from forty to thirty-five fathoms' water, over a bottom of fine sand. Nearer in, the bottom was strewed with coral rocks. The canoes having advanced to about the distance of a pistol-shot from the ship, there stopped. Omai was employed, as he usually had been on such occasions, to use all his eloquence to prevail upon the men in them to come nearer; but no entreaties could induce them to trust themselves within our reach. They kept eagerly pointing to the shore with their paddles, and calling to us to go thither; and several of their countrymen, who stood upon the beach, held up something white, which we considered also as an invitation to land. We could very well have done this, as there was good anchorage without the reef, and a break or opening in it, from whence the canoes had come out, which had no surf upon it, and where, if there was not water for the ships, there was more than sufficient for the boats; but I did not think proper to risk losing the advantage of a fair wind, for the sake of examining an island that appeared to be of little consequence. We stood in no need of refreshments, if I had been sure of meeting with them there; and having already been so unexpectedly delayed in my progress to the Society Islands, I was desirous of avoiding every possibility of farther retardment. For this reason, after making several unsuccessful attempts to induce these people to come alongside, I made sail to the north, and left them; but not without getting from them, during their vicinity to our ship, the name of their island, which they called Toobouai. It is situated in the latitude of 22° 15' south; and in 210° 37' east longitude. Its greatest extent, in any direction, exclusive of the reef, is not above five or six miles. On the north-west side, the reef appears in detached pieces, between which the sea seems to break in upon the shore. Small as the island is, there are hills in it of a considerable elevation. At the foot of the hills, is a narrow border of flat land, running quite round it, edged with a white sand beach.

We had an opportunity, from the conversation we had with those who came off to us, of satisfying ourselves, that the inhabitants of Toobouai speak the Otaheite language; a circumstance that indubitably proves them to be of the same nation. Some of those whom we saw upon the beach, where about a hundred persons had assembled, were entirely clothed with a kind of white garment. One of them kept blowing a large conch-shell, to which a reed, near two feet long, was fixed; at first, with a continued tone of the same kind; but he afterward converted it into a kind of musical instrument, perpetually repeating two or three notes, with the same strength. What the blowing the conch portended, I cannot say; but I never found it the messenger of peace.

One of the canoes carried seven, and the other eight, men; and they were managed with small paddles, whose blades were nearly round. When they saw us determined to leave them, they stood up in their canoes, and repeated something very loudly in concert; but we could not tell whether this was meant as a mark of their friendship or enmity. It is certain, however, that they had no weapons with them; nor could we perceive, with our glasses, that those on shore had any.

After leaving this island, from the discovery of which future navigators may possibly derive some advantage, I steered to the north, with a fresh gale at E. by S., and at day-break in the morning of the 12th, we saw the island of Maitea. Soon after, Otaheite made its appearance; and at noon it extended from S.W. by W. to W.N.W.; the point of Oheitepeha Bay bearing W., about four leagues distant. I steered for this bay, intending to anchor there, in order to draw what refreshments I could from the south-east part of the island, before I went down to Matavai; from the neighbourhood of which station I expected my principal supply. We had a fresh gale easterly, till two o'clock in the afternoon; when, being about a league from the bay, the wind suddenly died away, and was succeeded by baffling, light airs from every direction, and calms by turns. This lasted about two hours. Then we had sudden squalls, with rain, from the east. These carried us before the bay, where we got a breeze from the land, and attempted in vain to work in to gain the anchoring place. So that, at last, about nine o'clock, we were obliged to stand out, and to spend the night at sea.

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