C H A P . X.
Advantages derived from vififing the Friendly Ifa n d s.—
B ejl A rticles fo r Traffic.— Refrefhments that may be
procured.— The Number o f the Ifa nd sx and their Names.
— Keppels and Bofcawens Ifands belong to them.— A c count
o f Vavaoo-—of Hamoa— o f Feejee.-— Voyages o f
the N atives in their Canoes.— Difficulty o f procuring
exaEl Information.— Perfons o f the Inhabitants o f both
Sexes.— Their Colour.— Difeafes.— Their general Cha-
ra&er.— Manner o f wearing their H air— o f punBur-
ing their Bodies.— Their Clothing and Ornaments.—
Perfonal Cleanlinefs.
T HUS we took leave of the Friendly Iflands, and their
inhabitants, after a ftay of between two and three
months; during which time, we lived together iii the moil
cordial friendfhip. Some accidental differences, it is true,
now and then happened, owing to their great propenfity to
thieving; but, too often, encouraged by the negligence of
our own people. But thefe differences were never attended
with any fatal confequences; to prevent which, all my
meafures were directed ; and, I believe, few, on board our
fhips, left our friends here without fome regret. The time,
employed amongit them, was not thrown away. We expended
very little of our fea provifions; fubfifting, in general,
upon the produce of the iflands, while we ftaid; and
carrying away with us a quantity of refrefhments fufficient
to
to laft till our arrival at another ftation, where we could J777-
-depend upon a frefh fupply. I was not forry, befides, to >-— .—
have had an opportunity of bettering the condition of thefe
-good people, by leaving the ufeful animals, before-mentioned,
among them; and, at the fame time, thofe defigned
for Otaheite, received frefh ftrength in the paitures of Ton-
gataboo. Upon the whole, therefore, the advantages we
received, by touching here, were very great; and I had the
additional fatisfa&ion to refleit, that they were received,
without retarding, one moment, the profecution of the
great objeCt of our voyage; the feafon, for proceeding to
the North, being, as has been already obferved, loft, before
I took the refolution of bearing away for thefe iflands.
But, befides the immediate advantages, which both the
natives of the Friendly Iflands, and ourfelves, received by
this vifit, future navigators from Europe, if any fuch ihould
ever tread our fteps, will profit by the knowledge I acquired
o f the geography of this part of the Pacific Ocean; and the
more philqfophical reader, who loves to view human nature
in new fituations, and to fpeculate on lingular, but faithful
reprefentations of the perfons, the cuftoms, the arts, .-the
religion, the government, and the language of uncultivated
man, in remote and frefh difcovered quarters of the globe,
will, perhaps, find matter of amufement, if not of inftruc-
tion, in the information which I have been enabled to convey
to him, concerning the inhabitants of this Archipelago.
1 fhg.ll fufpend my narrative, of the progrefs of the voyage,
while I faithfully relate what I had opportunities of collecting
on thefe feveral topics.
We found, by our experience, that the bell articles for
traffic, at thefe iflands, are iron tools in general. Axes and
hatchets ; nails, from the largeft fpike down to tenpenny
7 ones;