1773- June. S E C T . III. Firjt Voyage from New. Zealand to Otaheite, and from thence back again to New Zealand. ON the 7th o f June we failed from New Zealand, and had thoughts o f taking in refreihments in fome of the warmer iilancls, as the cold feafon was: now fet in in this part of the world. After we had been at fea a few days, we refolved upon killing a fat, though ugly Dutch dog, before the fcurvy, together with the ffiort commons o f the ihip, ihould render his fleih unfit for eating. Already ufed in our run between the Capè and New Zealand to put up with fheep that had died of the fcurvy or other diforders, difeafed hens and geefe, we certainly were not now in a condition to turn up our nofes at a roafted dog, which was really nice and well-tafted. After we had paffed the tropic, we came in fight o f divers iflands, fome o f which had been difcovered before, and others had been hitherto entirely unknown; and.on the 1 6th of Au- guft we arrived at the far-famed, though, perhaps, too highly celebrated, iiland of Otaheite. We were in the greateft danger of fuffering ihipwreck on this iiland, facred to to love; for our keel ftruck'feveral times very hard againft the coral rocks, before we-came to anchor. After re- J v J maining here fourteen days we vifited the iflands of Hua- heine, Uliatea, and Otaba, and afterwards difcovered a new, but probably an uninhabited iiland; looked out for the iflands of-'New Amfierdam and New Middledurg,Idifcovered about a-hundred years ago by T a sm a n ; and having found them, and taken in refreihments there, returned again to Queen Charldttds^found, in New Zealand, after having been abfent -from it about h a lff a year.J. During- this run, according to the-jtime o f the -'year it was winter ; but, with refpedt to our feelings and the warmth of the weather, it was fummer., We likewife met with a greater variety of •remarkable, fubjedts for defcription (fuch as the different countries, their produce, the nations that inhabited them, and' their peculiar cuftoms and manners) than I am able to: comprize here in a fmall compafs. I cannot, however, help relating fome few events that happened at different times: as for inftance, one evening when both iliips, driving before a brifle gale o f wind, wanted to fpeak with each other, they .'came fo near together in confequence of the great fwell of the fea, and the dilatory manoeuvering of the men at the helm of one of the ihips, that not- withftanding the officer of the watch repeatedly called out with the greateft anxiety, Jlarboard and port, they ' were within a hair’s breadth of ftriking againft each other; in which cafe they-would doubtlefs have daihed one another to j>ieqes in an inftant, or elfe have both gone to the bottom: As befides myfelf very few people, not even the officers V o l . I. N belonging
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