Pro°f °f his fuperiority ; fot he placed h *—. imfelf amongft the reft that fat before Poulaho; as attendants on his majelty.
He feemed, at firft, rather abaflied ; as fomé of us were- prefent who had been ufed to fee him aft a different part but he foon recovered himfelf. Some little converfation paffed between thefe two Chiefs, which none of us under-
ftood i nor were we fatisfied with Omai’s interpretation of it. We were, however, by this time, fuffkiently unde-
- ceived as to Feenou’s rank. Both he and Poulaho went on
board with me to dinner; but only the latter fat at table*
Feenou, having made his obeifance, in the ufual way,: fa- luting his fovereign’s foot with his head and hands, retired
out of the cabin *, The king had before told us<, that this would happen ; and it now appeared, that Feenou could; not even eat nor drink in his royal prefence.
Sunday s. At eight o’clock, next morning, we weighed and fleered
for Tongataboo, having a gentle breeze at North Eaft. About , fourteen or fifteen failing veflels, belonging to the natives*,
fet out with us ; but every one of them outrun the fhips
confiderably. Feenou was to have taken his paflàge in the-
Refolution ; but preferred his own canoe; and put two men on.
* Marks of profound refpe£t„ very fimilar to thofe paid by. natives of the Friendly-
Mands to their fovereign, are alfo paid to the principal Chiefs* or Tamoles of the Caroline
Hands, as appears from father Cantova’s account here tranfcribed. “ Lorf-
“ qu’un Tamok donne audience,, il paraît affis fur un,e table élevée : les peuples s’in-
“ clinent devant lui jufqu’à terre du plus loin qu’ils arrivent, ils marchent le
“ corps tout courbé, & la tête prefqu’entre les génoux, jufqu’à ce qu’ils foient au-
“ près de faperfonne; alors ils s’aflèyent à plate terre; &, les yeux baiffés, ils re-
- “ çoivent fes ordres avec le plus profond refpeét. Quand le Tamole les congédié, ils
<l fe retirent,' en fe courbant de la même manière que quand ils font venus, & ne fe
“ relèvent que lorfqu’ils font hors de fa préfence. Ses paroles font autant d’oraç'lés
“ qu’on revere ; on rend à fes ordres une obeifljmce aveugle ; enfin, on baife les
mains & les pieds* quand on lui demande quelque grace.” ■
Lettres, Edifiantes, ffê CitrieuJèsj T om .x v . p. 312, 313.. board,
'y//*
June. Sooouartha, btyo Wcoenftd buyc tc oums ptaof s.the belt anchorage. We fleered
At five in the afternoon we faw two fmall iilands, bearing Weft, about four leagues diftant. Our pilots called the one
Hoonga Hapaee, and the other Hoonga Tonga. They lie
in the latitude of 20' 36'’; and ten or eleven leagues from the Weft point of Annamooka, in the direftion of South,
46 Weft. According to the account of the iflanders on
board, only five men refide upon Hoonga Hapaee ; and wHiotohn fgeaa -Tfoowngl.a is uninhabited ; but both of them abound
We continued the fame courfe till two o’clock next morn- Monday 9, ing, when, feeing fome lights ahead, and pot knowing whether
they were on ihore, or on board the canoes, we hauled
the wind, and made a ihort trip, each way, till day-break.
We then refumed our courfe to the South by Weft ; and, prefently after, faw feveral fmall iilands before us, and
Eooa and Tongataboo beyond them. We had, at this
time, twenty-five fathoms water, over a bottom of broken coral and fand. The depth gradually decreafed as we drew -near the ifles above mentioned, which lie ranged along the North Eaft, fide of Tongataboo. By the direftion of our pilots
we fleered for the middle of it, and for the wideft fpace between
the fmall ifles which we were to pafs ; having our boats ahead, employed in founding. We were, infenfibly,
-drawn upon a large flat, upon which lay innumerable coral •rocks, of different depths, below the furface of the water.
Nótwithftanding all our care and atténtion to keep thè fliip
dear of them, we could not prevent her from ftriking on
one of thefe rocks. Nor did the Difcovery, though behind
us, èfeape any better. Fortunately, neither of the fliips ftuck
N n 2 .■ ! ’ fail, .