1777- of treating them. The king and Feenou did fo ; but neither
<—Ì-» ' Mareewagee, nor any other perfon for him, took the leaft
notice of the iheep afterward ; nor did old Toobou attend at this meeting, though he was invited, and was in the neighbourhood.
I had meant to giVe him the goats, viz. a ram and two ewes ; which, as he was fo indifferent about them,
I added to the king’s fliare.
Friday zo. It foon appeared, that fome were difiatisfied allotment of our animals ; for, early next morninwg,i tohn et hoisf our kids, and two turkey-cocks, were miffing. I could not be fo fimple as to fuppofe, that this was merely an accidental
lofs 5 arid I was- determined to . have them again. The firft ftep I took was to feize on three canoes that happened
to be along-fide the Ihips. I then went afhore, and, having found the king, his brother, Feenou, and fome other Chiefs, in the houfe that we occupied, I immediately
put a guard over them, arid gave them to underitand,' that they muft remain under reftraint, till not only the kid and the turkeys, but the other things, that had been fiolen from us, at different times, were reflated. They concealed, as well
aasn dth, ehyi vcionugld a, ftfhiiereird femeeli,n tghsa, to env feirnyd itnhgin tgh eimhofcullvde sb ep rriefoftnoerresd ,;
as I defired, fat down to drink their fas;«, feemingly much at their eafe, It was not long, before an axe, and an iron wedge, were brought to me. In the mean time, fome armed natives began to gather behind the houfe ; but, on a part of our guard
marching againft them, they difperfed ; and I advifed the dCehrise fws etroe g aivtceo rodrdine'rgsl,y tghiavte nn ob my tohreem ih, oaunldd tahpepye ware. reS oubcehy eodr.
On aiking . them to go aboard with me to dinner, they readily confented. But fome having afterward objected to the king’s going, he inftantly rofe up, and declared he
would
Would be the firft man. Accordingly we came on board. I kept them there till near four o’clock, when I conduced them afliore; and, foon after, the kid, and one of the
turkey-cocks, were brought back. The other, they faid,
ihould be reftored the next morning. I believed this would happen, and releafed both them and the canoes.
After the Chiefs had left us, I walked out with Omai, to obferve how the people about us fared; for this was the time of their meals. I found that, in general, they*were mato fiht oorft tchoem ymamons,s . andN oorth eisr pthroisv iltioo nbse wwhoicnhd etrheedy abtr,o iuinghcet with them, were fold to us ; and they never thought of returning
to their own habitations, while they could find any fort of fubfiftence in our neighbourhood. Our ftation was upon an uncultivated point of land; fo that there were none of the iflanders, who, properly, refided within half a mile of us. But, even at this diftance, the multitude
of ftrangers being fo great, one might have expefted, that every houfe would have been much crowded. It was quite
otot htehre wmiffee.l veTsh, ea sf aimf itlhieesr er ehfaiddi nngo tt hbereee nw ae refu apse rmnuumche rlaerfyt viiiter near them. All the ftrangers lived in little temporary
fheds, or under trees and bullies; and the cocoa-trees Cwheireef sf.tripped of their branches, to ereit habitations for the
In this walk we met with about half a dozen women, in one place, at fupper. Two of the company, I obferved, being fed by the others, on our aiking the reafon, they faid taboo mat tee. On farther inquiry we found, that one of them had, two months before, waihed the dead corpfe of a Chief; and that, on this account, ihe was not to handle
any food for five months. The other had performed the
V o l . I. R r fame