*773-
Septhmb
of both fexes, who brought vaft quantities of cloth, made
of the mulberry-tree’s bark, and offered them in exchange
for fmall nails. Our beads were much valued by the ladies
as ornaments, but by no means current like the nails» fo
that we could not even purchafe fruit with them. The Ta-
heitians fet a much higher value on thefe trifles, which
have no intrinfic worth ; may we not conclude therefore,
that a greater degree of general opulence is the caufe of
their particular affedtion for trinkets, efpecially as affluence
commonly tends to luxury !
The heat of the day prevented us from going on fhorc
till near fun-fet. We landed at the watering-place, where
we found a little tupapow, or ffied, under which a dead
body was depofited on a ftage, and a thick grove of various
fliady trees furrounded it on all fides. As I had never
feern the remains of the dead carelefsly expofed to all kinds
of accidents in thefe iflands, I was a little furprifed to
find the ground ftrewed with fculls and bones about this
fhed ; nor could I meet with any native at this time, from
whom I could receive the leaft information on this fubjedf.
I rambled about here for fome time entirely alone, all
the inhabitants having repaired to the chief’s houfe, where
the drums gave notice of another heeva, or public dance ;
for they are fo fond of this amufement, that they croud
together from a confiderable diftance to have the pleafure
of feeing it performed. The ftillnefs of the evening, and
the
the beauty of the fjpot made this walk extremely pleafant,
while the abfence of the inhabitants encouraged fome ideas
of an enchanted country. Before we returned to our boar,
we met, however, with a few of the natives, amongfl
whom one, a very intelligent man, gave us an account of
nine iflands in the neighbourhood, with moft of which
we were unacquainted. Their names were, i . Mopeehah,
2. Whennua-Ourab, 3. Jdeeha, ^./fowteepa, S- Woivwou, 6. On-
jioroo, 7. Tubooai, 8. Jwhaow, and 9. Rorotoa, The two firft
we had already heard of in the morning, but of the reft he
afferted that they all had their own inhabitants, except
Aneeha, which is occafionally vifited. Ooborroo he faid
was a whennua or high land, but all the reft he called
mo too, that is low iflands, or fuch as confift of ledges of
coral,
Out curiofity was fo much raifed by thefe accounts,
that we applied for farther information to the chief Orea,.
who came on board the next morning with his fon Ter
haiura, and feveral other chiefs. They enumerated the
firft, fecond, feventh and ninth iflands of the preceding acT
count; but their relations differed in this refpetft, as they
told us the fecond was regularly inhabited. Befides thefe
they {poke of two more, one called Woreeo or Woureea, a
large iflahd, and Oreematarra another, both which had
fettled inhabitants. The accounts of the fituation and dif-
tances of thefe ifles w.ere fo various and fo vague, that we
could
*773-
September.