yiy.- . The iftand of Huaheine, or Hnahene, is fituated in the la-
tHU1de ° f .l6° S., and longitude i 5o05a W. from Greenwich
: it is diftant from Otaheite about thirty-one leagues
m the direction of N. 58 W. and is about feven leagues in
eompafs. Its furface is hilly and uneven, and it has a fafe
and commodious harbour. The harbour, which is called by
the natives Ow a u e , or Owharee, lies on the weft fide, under
the northermoft high land, and within the north end of
the reef, which lies along that fide of the ifland ; there are
two inlets or openings, by which it may be entered, through
the reef, about a mile and a half diftant from each other-
the fouthermoft is the wideft, and on the fouth fide of it lies
a very fmall fandy ifland.
Huaheine feems to be a month forwarder in fts productions
than Otaheite, as we found the cocoa-nuts full o f kernel,
and fome of the new bread-fruit fit to-eat. Of the cocoa-
nuts the inhabitants make a food which they call Poe, by
mixing them with yams; they ferape both fine, and having
incorporated the powder, they put it into a wooden trough,
with a number of hot ftones, by which an oily kind of liafty
pudding is made, that our people relilhed very well, efpe-
cially when it was fryed. Mr. Banks found not more than
eleven or twelve new plants | but he obferved fome infers,
and a fpecies of fcorpion which he had not feen before.
The inhabitants feem to be larger made, and more ftout
than thofe o f Otaheite. Mr. Banks meafured one of the men'
and found him to be fix feet three inches and an half high •’
yet they are fo lazy, that he could not perfuade any o f them
to go up the hills with him: they faid, i f they were to attempt
it, the fatigue would kill them. The women were
very fair, more fo than thofe of Otaheite; and in general,
we thought them more handfome, though none that were
equal
equal to fome individuals. Both fexes feemed to be lefs timid, 176?-
and lefs curious: it has been obferved, that they made no ■ — . ,
enquiries on board the fhip; and when we fired a gun, they Wedner’ 1?t
were frighted* indeed, but they did not fall down, as our
friends at Otaheite conftantly did when we firft came among
them. For this difference, however, we can eafily account
upon other principles; the people at Huaheine had not feen
the Dolphin,, thofe at Otaheite had. In one, the report of a
gun was connected with the idea of inftant deftrudtion ; to
the other, there was nothing dreadful in it but the appearance
and the found, as they had never experienced its power
of difpenfing death..
While we were on ihore, we found that Tupia had commended
them beyond their merit, when he faid that they
would not ileal; foroneof themwas detected in the fa ft. But
when he was feized by the hair, the reft, inftead of running
away, as the people at Otaheite would have done, gathered
round, and enquired what provocation had been given | but
this alfo may be accounted for without giving them credit for
fuperior. courage ; they had no experience of the confequence
of European refentment, which the people at Otaheite .had
in many inftances purchafed with life.. It muithowever be-
acknowledged, to their honour, that when they.underftood
what had happened, they fhowed ftrong figns of difappro-
bation, and prefcribed a good beating for the thief, which,
was immediately adminiftered,.
We now made fail for the ifland’o f U'c ie t e a , which lies uiiete*..
S. W. by W, diftant feven or eight leagues from Huaheine,
and. at half an hour after fix in the. evening we. were within
three leagues of the fhore, on the eaftern fide. We ftood.off
and on all night, and when the. day broke the next morning, ThurHay 20...
we flood in for the.fti.Qre: we foon after difcovered an opening.