1777. are alfo feveral low iflands, to the North Eaitward o f Ota-
Decemfaer,, w h ich they have fometimes vifited, but not conftantl
y ; and are faid to he only at the diftance o f two days fail
•with a fa ir wind. T h e y were thus named to m e :
Mataeeva,
C called Oannah in Dalrymple’s Letter to
Oanaa, | Hawkefworth.
Taboohoe,
Awehe e,
Kaoora,
Orootooa,
Otavaoo, where are large pearls.
T h e inhabitants o f thefe ifles come more frequ en tly to
Otahe ite, and the other neighbouring h igh iflands, from
whofe natives they differ in being o f a darker colour, w ith
.a fiercer afpeit, and differently punftured. I was informed,
that at Mataeeva, and others o f them, it is a cuftom for the
men to give their daughters to ftrangers who arrive among«;
them ; but the pairs muft be five nights ly in g near each
other, without prefuming to proceed farther. On the fixth
evening, the father o f the you n g woman treats his gueft
with food, and informs his daughter, that ihe muft, that
night, receive him as he r hufband. T h e ftranger, however,
muft not offer to exprefs the leaft diflike, though the
bed-fellow allotted to him fhould be ever fo d ifag re eable ;
fo r this is confidered as an unpardonable affront, and is
punifhed with death. Forty men o f Bolabola, who, incited
b y curiofity, had roamed as fa r as Mataeeva in a
canoe, were treated in this manner ; one o f them having
incautioufly mentioned his diflike o f the woman who fe ll
to his lot, in the hearing o f a boy who informed her fa ther.
ther. in confequence o f this, the Mateevans fell upon th em ;
but thefe w ar lik e people killed three times their own n um ber
j though with the lofs o f all their party, except five.
T he fe hid themfelves in the vyoods, and took an opportun
ity , when the others were bu ry ing their dead, to enter
fome houfes, where, ha vin g provided themfelves w ith v ic tuals
and water, th e y carried them on board a canoe, in
which they made their e fcap e ; and, after paffing Mafaia, at
w h ich they wou ld not touch, at laft arrived fafe at Eimeo.
T h e Bolabolans, however, were fenfible enough that their
travellers had been to blame ; fo r a canoe from Mateeva,
arriving fome time after at Bolahola, fo fa r were they from
retaliating upon them fo r the death o f their countrymen,
that they acknowledged they had deferved their fate, and
treated their vifiters k in d ly .
T h e fe low ifles are, doubtlefs, the fartheft navigation,
w h ich thofe o f Otaheite, and the Society Iflands, perform at
prefent. It feems to be ,a groundlefs fuppofition, made by
Monf. de Bougainville, that they made voyages o f the prodigious
extent* he mentions; for I found, that it is reckoned
a fort o f a prodigy, that a canoe, once driven by a ftorm
from Otaheite, fhould have fallen in w ith Mopeeha, or
Howe’ s Ifland, though fo near, and directly to leeward. T he
kn owledge the y have o f other diftant iflands is, no doubt,
traditional; and has been communicated to them by the
natives o f thofe iflands, driven accidentally upon their coafts,
who, befides g iv in g them the names, could eafily inform
them o f the direftion in w hich the places lie from whence
th e y came, and o f the number o f days they had been upon
* See Bougainville's Voyage dutmir du Monde, p. 228. where we are told, that thefe
people fometimes navigate at the diftance o f more than three hundred leagues.
V ol. II. • A a the