1774-* Auguft.
Saturday 20.
that point, but in a part where fome of our people had ■
been daily..
I cannot fay what might be the true cau'fe of tliefe
people fhewing fuch diflike to our going up into their
country. It might be owing to a naturally jealous dif-
pofitiori, or perhaps "tb their being' accufl'omed to hoftile
vifits from their neighbours, or quarrels among themfelves.
Circumftances feemed to fliew that fuch muft frequently
happen j for we obferved them very expert in arms, and well
accuftomed to them; feldom or never travelling without
therm . It is poffible all this might be on our account; but I
hardly think it.: We never gave them the leaft moleftation,
nor did w.e touch: any part, of their property, not even the
wood and water, without firft having obtained their confent.
The very cocoa-nuts, hanging over the heads1 of the workmen,
were as fafe as uho.fe- in the middle of the illand. It
happened rather fortunately, that there were fa many cocoa-
nut trees, near the Ikirts of the harbour, which feemed not
to be private property; fo that we could generally prevail
on the natives to bring us fome of thefe nuts, when nothing
would induce them to bring any our of the country.
We were not wholly without refrefhments ; for befides the
filh, which our feine now and then provided us with, we procured
daily fome fruits or roots from the natives, though but
little in proportion to what we could confume. The reafon
why we got no more might be our having nothing to'give
them in exchange, which they thought valuable, They
had not the leaft knowledge of iron ; confequently, nails
and iron tools, beads, &c. which had fo great a run at the
morc: eaftern iflcs, were of no cofifideration here; and cloth
can be of no ufe to people who go naked.
The
The produce of this illand is bread-fruit, plantains, cocoa-
nuts, a fruit like a neftarine, yams, tarra, a fort of potatoe,
fugar-cane, wild figs, a fruit like an orange, which is not
eatable, and fome other fruit and nuts whofe names I have
not. Nor have 1 any doubt that the nutmeg before mentioned
was the produce of this illand. The bread-fruit,
;cocoa-nuts, and plantains are neither fo plentiful nor fo good
as at Otaheite; .on the other hand, fugar-canes, and yams
are not only in greater plenty, but of fuperior quality, and
much larger. We got one of the latter which weighed
fifty-fix pounds, every ounce of which was good. Hogs did
not feem to be fcarce; but we faw not many fowls. Thefe are
the only domeftic animals they have. Land birds are not
more numerous than at Otaheite, and the other iflands; but
we met with fome fmall birds, with a very beautiful plumage,
which we had never feen before. There is as great a
variety of trees and plants here, as at any illand we touched
at, where our botanifts had time to examine. 1 believe thefe
people live chiefly on the produce of the land, and that the
fea contributes but little to their fubfiftence. Whether this
‘ arifes from the coaft not abounding with fifh, or from their
being bad fifhermen, I know not; both caufes perhaps concur.
I never faw any fort of fifhing-tackle amongft them, nor any
one'out fifhing, except on the fhoals, or along the fhores of
the harbour, where they would watch to fit ike with a dart
fuch fifh as came within their reach ; and in this they were
expert. They feemed much to admire our catching fifh
with the feme; and, I believe, were not well pleafed with it
at laft. I doubt not, they have other methods of catching fifli
befides flriking them.
We underftood that the little ifle of Immer was chiefly inhabited
by fifhermen, and that the canoes we frequently faw
pafs,