1777- And as we flood in nearer the land in the evening, than
u i i i j . w e had done any time before, of which pofition of the
ihips they were obferved to take great notice, they, pro-
: bably, thought we were meditating this formidable attack;
and, therefore, fuffered their guefts to depart ; under the
- expectation, however, of feeing them again on ihore next
morning. But I was too fenfible of the rilk they had al-
.ready run, to think of a repetition of the experiment.
This day, it feems, was deftined to give Omai more oc-
caiions than one, of being brought forward to hear a principal
part in its tranfaitions. The iiland, though never
before vifited by Europeans, actually happened to have
other ftrangers refiding in i t ; and it was entirely owing to
Omai’s being one of Mr. Gore’s attendants, that this curious
circumftance came to our knowledge.
Scarcely had he been landed upon the beach, when be
found, amongft the crowd there affembled, three of his own
countrymen, natives of the Society lilands. At the diftanc-e
of about two hundred leagues from thofe iflands, an im-
xnenfe, unknown ocean intervening, with fuch wretched
fea-boats as their inhabitants are known to make ufe of,
and fit only for a pafiage where fight of land is fcarcely
ever loft, fuch a meeting, aft fuch a place, fo accidentally
.vifited by us, may well be looked upon as one of thofe unexpected
fituations, with which the writers of feigned adventures
love to furprife their readers, and which, when
they really happen in common life, deferve to be recorded
for their Angularity.
It may eaiily be guelled, with what mutual furprife and
Tatisfaftion Omai and his countrymen engaged in convers
i o n . Their ftory, as related by them, is an affetfting one.
About
About twenty perfons in number, of both fexes, had em- .*77
barked on board a canoe at Otaheite, to crofs over to the '—44-
neighbouring ifland Ulietea. A violent contrary wind ari-
fing, they could neither reach the latter, nor get back to
the former. Their intended pafiage being a very Ihort one,
their-flock of provifions was fcanty, and foon exhaufted.
The hardlhips they fuffered, while driven along by the
ftorm, they knew not whither, are not to b e. conceived.
They palled many days without having any thing to eat or
drink. Their numbers gradually diminiflied, worn out by
famine and fatigue. Four men only furvived, when the
canoe overfet; and then the perdition of this fmall remnant
feemed inevitable. However, they kept hanging
by the fide of their veffel, during fome of the laft days,
till, Providence brought them in fight of the people of
this iiland, who immediately fent out canoes, took them
off their wreck, and brought them aihore. Of the four
who were thus faved, one was iince dead. The other three,
who lived to have this opportunity of giving an account of
their a 1 moil miraculous tranfplantation, fpoke highly o f
the kind treatment they here met with. Andfo well fa-
tisfied were they with their fituation, that they refufed the
offer made to them by our gentlemen, at Omai’s requeil, of
giving them a pafiage on board our ihips, to reftore them
to their native iflands. The fimilarity of manners and language,
had more than naturalized them to this fpot; and
the freih connexions which they had here formed, and
which it would have been painful to have broken off, after
fuch a length o f time, fufficiently account for their declining
to revifit the places of their- birth. They had arrived
upon this ifland at leaft twelve years ago. For I
learnt from Mr. Anderfon, that he found they knew no-
V-°l. L D d lhing