The only iron tools, or rather bits o f iron, feen amongft
•them, and which they had before our arrival, were a piece
o f iron hoop, about two inches long, fitted into a wooden
■handle * ; and another edge-tool, which our people gueffed
to be made o f the point o f a broad-fword. Their ha vin g
the actual poileffion o f thefe, and their fo generally k n ow in
g the ufe o f this metal, inclined fome on board to thin k,
that we had not been the firft European vifiters o f thefe
iflands. But, it feems to me, that the ve ry great furprize
expreifed by them, on feeing our ihips, .and their total ig norance
o f the ufe o f fire-arms, cannot be reconciled with
fuch a notion. There áre many w ays, by w h ich fuch people
may get pieces o f iron, or acquire the kn owledge o f the evidence
o f fuch a metal, w ith ou t having ever had an immediate
con n e xion with nations that ufe it. It can hardly
be doubted, that it was un kn own to all the inhabitants o f
this fea, before Magellan led the w a y into it ; fo r no difco-
verer immediately after his voyage, e ve r found any o f this
metal in their poffeffion ; though, in the courfe o f our late
voyages, it has been obferved, that the ufe o f it was kn own
at feveral illands, to w hich no former European ihips had
ever, as fa r as w e know, found their way. At all the places
where Mendana touched, in his tw o voyages, it mull have
been feen and le ft; and this would extend the knowledge o f
it, no doubt, to all the various iflands with w hich thofe,
whom he had vifited, had any immediate intercourfe. It
migh t even be carried fa r th e r ; and where fpecimens o f this
favourite article could not be procured, defcriptions might,
in fome meafure, ferve to make it known, when afterward
feen. T h e next voya ge to the Southward o f the line, in
* Captain K in g purchased this, and has it now in his poffeffion.
■ -which
w h ich any intercourfe was had with the natives o f this 1778-
ocean, was that o f Quiros, who landed at Sagittaria, the
Ifland p f Handfome People, and at Tierra del Efpiritu
Santo ; at all w h ich places, and at thofe w ith whom they
had any communication, it muft, o f confequence, have
been made known. T o him fucceeded, in this navigation,
Le Maire and Schouten, whofe connections with the natives
commenced much farther to the Eaftward, and ended
at Cocos and Horn Iflands. It was not furprifing, that, when
I vifited Tongataboo in 1773, I fhould find a bit o f iron there, .
as we kn ew that Tafman had vifited it before me ; but,
let us fuppofe, that he had never difcovered the Friendly
Iflands, our finding iron amongft them would have occa-
fioned much fpeculation ; though w e have mentioned before
*, the method by w hich they had gained a renewal o f
their kn owled ge o f this metal, w hich confirms m y hypo-
thefis. For Neëootaboo taboo, or Bofcawen’s Ifland, where
Captain Wallis’s ihips left it, and from whence Poulaho re ceived
it, lies fome degrees to the North Weft o f Tong a-
taboo. It is w e ll known, that Roggewein loft one o f his
ihips on the Pernicious Iflands ; which, from their fituation,
are, probably, not unknown to, though not frequently vifited
by, the inhabitants o f Otaheite and the Society Iflands.
It is equally certain, that thefe laft people had a knowledge
o f iron, and purchafed it w ith the greateft avidity, when
Captain Wallis difcovered Otaheite ; and this knowledge
could only have been acquired, through the mediation o f
thofe neighbouring iflands where it had been originally
left. Indeed they acknowledge, that this was adtually the
çafe ; and they have told us fince, that they held it in fuch
# See V o l. i¿ p. 37©,