1777* mefs, which had been drelTed for him on ihore. It confided
May’ ■ o f fiih, foup, and yams. Inftead o f common water to make
the foup, cocoa-nut liquor had been made ufe of, in which
the fiih had been boiled or dewed; probably in a wooden
vefiel, with hot dones; but it was carried on board in a
plantain leaf. I taded of the mefs, and found it fo good,
that I, afterward, had fome fiih drefled in the fame way.
Though my cook fucceeded tolerably well, he could produce
nothing equal to the difli he imitated.
Finding that we had quite exhauded the idand, of almoft
Sundayu. every article of food that it afforded, I employed the n th
in moving off, from the ihore, the horfes, obfervatories, and
other things that we had landed, as alfo the party o f marines
who had mounted guard at our dation, intending to
fail, as foon as the Difcovery fhould have recovered her bed
bower anchor. Feenou, underdanding that I meant to proceed
direftly to Tongataboo, importuned me ftrongly to
alter this plan, to which he exprelfed as much averfion, as
i f he had fome particular intered to promote by diverting
me from it. In preference to it, he warmly recommended
an idand, or rather a group of idands, called Hapaee, lying
to the North Ead. There, he affured us, we could be fup-
plied plentifully with every refrefhment, in the eafied manner;
and, to add weight to his advice, he engaged to attend
us thither in perfon. He carried his point with me; and
Hapaee was made choice of for our next dation. As it had
never been vifited by any European fhips, the examination
of it became an objeffc with me.
Monday u. The 12th, and the 13th, were fpent in attempting the re-
Tuefday 13. covery Gf Captain Clerke’s anchor, which, after much
Wednef. .14. trouble, was happily accomplifhed ; and on the 14th, in the
morning, we got under fail, and left Annamooka.
9 T h i s
This idand is fomewhat higher than the other fmall ides Mtf
that furround it ; but, dill, it cannot be admitted to the * '
rank of thofe of a moderate height, fuch as Mangeea and
Wateeoo. The fhore, at that part where our fhips lay, is
compofed of a deep, rugged coral rock, nine or ten feet
high, except where there are two fandy beaches, which
have a reef of the fame fort of rock extending crofs their
entrance to the ihore, and defending them from the fea.
The fait water lake that is in the centre of the idand, is
about a mile and a half broad ; and round it, the land rifes
like a bank, with a gradualafcent. But we could not trace
its having any communication with the fea. And yet, the
land that runs acrofs to it, from the larged fandy beach,
being dat and low, and the foil fandy, it is mod likely that
it may have, formerly, communicated that way. The foil,
on the riling parts of the idand, and efpecially toward the
fea, is either of a reddilh clayey difpofition, or a black, loofe
mould ; but there is, no where, any dream of frelh water.
The idand is very well cultivated, except in a few places ;
and there are fome others, which, though they appear to
lie wade, are only left to recover the drength exhauded by
confiant culture; for we frequently faw the natives at work
upon thefe fpots, to plant them again. The plantations
confid chiefiy of yams and plantains. Many of them are
very extenfive, and often inclofed with neat fences of reed,
difpofed obliquely acrofs each other, about fix feet high.
Within thefé, we often faw other fences of lefs compafs,
furrounding the houfes of the principal people. The breadfruit,
and cocoa-nut trees, are interfperfed with little order ;
but chiefiy near the habitations of the natives ; and the
other parts of the idand, efpecially toward the fea, and
about the fides of the lake, are covered with trees and
bulhes of a mod luxuriant growth ; the lad place having a
H h 2 great