1774. vrith a mufket in his hand, but very juftly reflected, that
March. _ _
fo flight a crime did not deferve the punilhment or a leaden
bullet. ■
In our walk along the fea-fhore, we difcovered a few
ilalks of the fame fpecies of celery which is plentiful on the
beaches of New Zeeland, and we alfo found two other little
plants common to that country. Whether thefe plants
originally exifted on the ifland, or fprung up from feeds,
which the current of the fea, or birds by their plumage
might tranfport from the oppofite fide of the ocean, I cannot
venture to determine. We likewife met with a plantation
of yams (diofcorea alata, Linn.J which in fo poor a flora as
that of Eafter Ifland was a great addition. The great cor-
refpondence ,in the features, cuftoms,. and languages of
thefe people, to thofe of other natives of the South Sea
iflands, gave us fome room to hope for fuch domeftic animals
among them, as we had obferved at Taheitee or New
Zeeland. But notwithftanding the moft diligent fearch,
we never met with any other than common fowls, which
were of a very fmall breed, and had a dull plumage. It
is.true we obferved alfo two or three noddies, which were
fo tame as to fettle on the fhoulders of the natives, but
from thefe individuals we could not conclude, that they
k.e,pt a regular breed of them.
About fun-fet we left the watering-place' and walked to
the cove where our boat lay at a grapnel. In our way we
palled
A VOY AGE , ROUND THE WORLD. SIS
palled over the area on which the Angle pillar before-mentioned
was placed. A few natives who ftill accompanied
us, made figns that we Ihould defcend, and walk in the
grafs at the foot of the pedeftal; but feeing that we did
not care to underftand their geftures, they made no other
attempt to oppofe our progrefs. We put fome queftions to
the moft intelligent perfons among them, concerning the
nature of thefe Hones, and from what we could underftand,
we concluded that they were monuments eredted to the
memory of fome of their areekees, or kings. This led us
to believe that the pedeftal was perhaps to be confidered as
a burying-place, and on looking carefully round it, we
found a number of human bones, which confirmed our
conjecture. The length of thefe bones was exactly fuch as.
might be expected in perfons of a middle ftature, and a-
thigh-bone which we meafured, exadtly correfponded with-
that of a perfon about five feet nine inches- high. To the-
weftward of the cove, there was a range of three pillars,,
Handing on a very large elevated area or pedeftal. Thisi
range the natives diftinguifhed by the name of hangii-roa, and
the Angle pillar they called obeena. About ten or twelve
people were feated at a little diftance from the laft, round
a fmall fire, over which they had, roafted a few potatoes.
Thefe ferved for their fupper, and they offered us fome of.
them as we palled by. We were much furprifed with this
snftance of hofpitality in fo poor a country, efpecially when,
we
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M arch.
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