December. u n ^er tlle infpeftion o f thofe .whofe intereft it is to enforce
—5---- > due obedience to authority. Ulietea, though now reduced
to this humiliating ftate, was formerly, as w e were told,
the moft eminent o f this clufter o f iflands\ and, probably,
the firft feat o f go v ernmen t; fo r they fay, that the prefent
ro y a l fam ily o f Otaheite is defcended from that which
■reigned here, before the late revolution. Ooroo, the dethroned
monarch o f Ulietea, was Hill alive, when w e were
at Huaheine, where he refides, a royal wanderer, furniih-
in g , in his perfon, an inftance o f the inftability o f power;
but, what is more remarkable, o f the refpeft paid by thefe
people to particular families, and to the cuftoms which have
once conferred fb v e re ign ty ; fo r they fuffer Ooroo to pre-
ferve all the enfigns w h ich the y appropriate to majefty,
though he has loft his dominions.
We faw a fimilar inftance o f this w h ile we were at Ulietea.
O ne o f the occafional viliters I now had, was m y old friend
Oree, the late C h ie f o f Huaheine. He ftill pneferved his
confequence ; came always at the head o f a numerous body
o f attendants; and was always provided w ith fuch prefents
as were very acceptable. This C h ie f looked much better
now than I had ever feen him, during either o f m y former
voyages *. I could account for his improving in health as
he g rew older, only from his drinkin g lefs copiouily o f the
ava in his prefent ftation as a private gentleman, than he
had been accuftomed to do when he was regent.
* Captain C ook had feen Oree in 1769, when he commanded the Endeavour ;
alio twice, during his fecond voyage, -in 1772.
c h a p . vnr.
A rr iv a l at Bolahola.— Interview with Opoony.— Reafom
fo r pur chafing Monfieur de Bougainville s Anchor.— D eparture
from the Society Iflands.— Particulars about
Bolahola— Hiflory o f the Conquefi o f Otaha and Ulietea..
— High Reputation o f the Bolahola Men.— Animah
left there, and at Ulietea— P len tifu l Supply o f Provi~
fon s, and Manner o f fairing Pori on board. — V a rious
RefleElions relative to Otaheite, and the Society
IJtands.— ■ Aftronomical and nautical Objervations made'
there.
\ S foon as we had’ got clear o f the harbour,, w e to ok 1777». •
our leave o f Ulietea, and fleered for Bolabola. T he .December°:
ch ie f i f not foie object I had in view, b y viliting that ifland,
was, to procure from its monarch, Opoony, one o f the anchors
w hich Monfieur de Bougainville had loft at Otaheite.
This ha vin g afterward been taken up by the natives there,,
had, as they informed me, been fent b y them as a prefent
to that Chief. My defire to-get poiTeffion o f it did not arife-
from our b e in g in want o f anchors. But having expended
all the hatchets, and other iron tools, which we had b rou gh t
from England, in purchafing refreihments, we w e re now
reduced to the necelfity o f creating a frefh aflbrtment o f
trading articles, b y fabricatin g them out o f the fpare ironw
e