.774- not fee him) his whitenefs did not proceed from hereditary
.Seplcmtier-. defcent, but from chance or fome difeafe; and fuch have
Friday * been feen at Otaheite and the Society Ifles *. A frefli eafterly
wind, and the Ihip lying a mile from the fhore, did not
hinder thefe good-natured people from fwimming off to us
in flioals of twenty or thirty, and returning the fame way.
Saturday 10. On the ioth, a party was on fhore as ufual; and Mr.
Forfter fo well recovered as to go out botanizing.
Sunday n. In the evening of the nth, the boats returned, when I was
informed of the following circumftances. From an elevation,
whichihey reached the morning they fet out, they had
a view of the coaft. Mr. Gilbert was of opinion, that they
faw the termination of it to the Weft, but Mr. Pickerfgill
thought not; though both agreed that there-was no paffage
for the fhip that way. From this place, accompanied by two
of the natives, they went to Balabea, which they did not
reach till after fun-fet and left again next morning before
fun-rife; confequently this was a fruitlefs expedition, and
the two following days were fpent in getting up to the
fhip. As they went down to the ifle, they faw abundance of
turtle, but the violence of the wind and fea made it impof-
fible to ftrike any. The cutter was near being loft, by fud-
denly filling with water, which obliged them to throw
feveral things overboard, before they could free her and flop
the leak fhe had fprung. From a fifhing canoe, which they
met coming in from the reefs, they got as much fifh as they
could eat; and they were received by Teabi, the chief of the
ifle of Balabea, and the people, who came in numbers to
fee them, with great courtefy. In order not to be too much
* Wafer met with Indians in fhe Ifihmus of Darien of the colour of a white horfe. See his
f>efcription o f th e Iftkm us, p. 134. See alio Mr. de Paw’s Philofophical Inquiries concerning the
Americans, where feveral other inftauees of this remarkable whitenefs are mentioned, and the
cauies of it attempted to be explained.
crowded,
crowded, our people drew a line on the ground, and gave September,
the others to underftand they were not to come within it.
This reftri&ion they obferved ; and one of them, foon after,
turned it to his own advantage. For happening to have
a few cocoa-nuts, which one of our people wanted to buy,
and he was unwilling to part with, he walked off, and was
followed by the man who wanted them. On feeing this he
fat down on the fand, made a circle round him, as he had
feen our people do, and lignified that the other was not to
come within i t ; which was accordingly obferved. As this
ftory was well attefted, I thought it not unworthy of a place
in this journal.
Early in the morning of the 12th, I ordered the carpenter Monday bi
to work, to repair the cutter, and the water to be replaced,
which we had expended the three preceding days. As
Teabobma the chief had not been feen fince he got the
dogs, and I wanted to lay a foundation for flocking the
country with hogs alfo, I took a young boar and fow with
me in the boat, and went up the mangrove creek to look
for my friend, in order to give them to him. But when we
arrived there, we were told that he lived at fome diftance,
and that they would fend for him. Whether they did or no
I cannot fay •, but he not coming, I refolved to give them to
the firft man of note I met with. The guide we had to the
hills happening to be there, I made him underftand, that I
intended to leave the two pigs on fhore, and ordered them
out of the boat for that purpofe. I offered them to .a grave
old man, thinking he was a proper perfon to entruft them
w ith ; but heihook his head, and he, and all prefent, made
figns to take them into the boat again. When they faw I
did not comply,, they feemed to confult with one anothei
what was to be done; and then our guide told me to carry
Q_2 them