the im p e r fe it defcription n ow giv en us, w e could not find out.
T h e y told us, that thefe Ihips had come from a place called
Reema ; by w h ich we gueffed, that Lima, the capital o f Peru,
was meant, and that thefe late vifiters were Spaniards. We
w ere informed, that the firft time they came, they built a
houfe, and left fou r men behind them, viz. two priefts, a
b oy or fervant, and a fourth perfon, called Mateema, w ho
was much fpoken o f at this time; carryin g away with them,
w h en they failed, fou r o f the natives; that, in about ten
months, the fame two ihips returned, b rin gin g ba ck two o f
the iflanders, the other two h a v in g died at L im a ; and that,
a fter a fhort ftay, they took away their .ow n people; but
that the houfe, w hich they had built, was left Handing.
T h e important news, o f red feathers'be ing on board our
ihips, h a vin g been conveyed on ihore b y Omai’s friends,
day had no fooner begun to break, next morning, than w e
were furrounded b y a multitude o f canoes, crowded w ith
people, b rin g in g hogs and fru its to market; At firft, a
quantity o f feathers, not greater than what might be got
from a tom-tit, would purchafe a ho g , o f forty or fifty
pounds w e igh t. Rut, as almoft every body in the ihips was
pofleiTed o f fome o f this precious article o f trade, it fell, in
its value, above five hundred per cent.' before night. However,
even then, the balance was much in our favour -r
and red feathers continued to preferve their fuperiority
over every other commodity. Some- o f the natives would
not part with a hog, unlefs they received an axe in exchange
; but nails, and beads, and other trinkets, w h ich ,
during our former voyages,-had fo great a run at this ifland,
were now fo much defpifed, that few would deign fo much
as to look at them.
The re being but little wind all the morning, it was nine
o ’clock before we could g e t to an anchor in the b a y ; where
w e moored with the two bowers. Soon after we had anchored,
Omai’s filter came on board to fee him. I was
happy to obferve, that, much to the honour o f them both,
their meeting was marked with expreffions o f the tendereft
affe&ion, eafter to be conceived than to be defcribed.
T h is moving fcene having clofed, and the ihip b e in g properly
moored,^Omai and I wept alhore. My firft object was
to pay a vifit to a man w hom m y friend reprefented as a
ve ry extraordinary perfonage indeed, fo r he faid, that he
was the god o f Bolabola. We found him feated under one o f
thole fmall awnings, w h ich they u fu a lly carry in their larger
canoes. He was an elderly man, and had loft the ufe o f his
lim b s ; fo that he was carried from place to place upon a hand-
barrow. Some called him Olla, or Orra, w h ich is the name o f
the god o f Bolabola ; but his own proper name was Etary.
From Omai s account o f this perfon, I expected to have feen
fome religious adoration paid to him. But, excepting fome
yo u n g plantain trees that la y before him, and upon the
aw n in g under w hich he fat, I could obferve nothing by
w h ich he migh t be diftinguilhed from their other Chiefs.
Omai prefented to him a tuft o f red feathers, tied to the
end o f a fmall flick ; but, after a little converfation on indifferent
matters w ith this Bolabola man, his attention was
drawn to an old woman, the fiftqr o f his mother. She was
already at his feet, and had bedewed them p len tifu lly w ith
tears o f jo y .
I le ft him w ith the old lady, in the midft o f a number o f
people, w ho had gathered round him, and went to take a
v iew o f the houfe, faid to be built b y the ftrangers who had
lately been here. I found it ftanding at a fmall diftance
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