g6 A V O Y A G E T O T H E
1786. fuffice, that we are, to a man, in tolerable health, and excellent
December. . . , ipints. .
I Ihall take the earlieft opportunity to communicate our tran-
faftions at this place. Mean while believe me ever thine,
W . B.
W hahoo, 1
.2d Dec. i
L E T T E R XXIL
EA R L Y in the morning of the ift of December, the people
began to overhaul our rigging, fore and aft, it being very
much out of order. By day-light we had a number of canoes
along-fide, chiefly loaded with water, which we purchafed on the
fame eafy terms as before, viz. a large calabafh for an eight-penny
or ten-penny nail, and fmaller ones in proportion.
Many of thefe gourds, or calabafhes, are very wide at the top, and
ufed by the natives for various purpofes, and particularly to hold a
kind of pudding made of taro. So eagerly did they purfue this
profitable traffic, that they feldom wafhed their veflels, and we
unavoidably got taro pudding mixed among the water j but we
found it of little or no prejudice, though the fight would perhaps
not have been altogether pleafing to an epicure. The people
brought fome hogs, potatoes, and taro, but not a fufficient quantity
to fupply us from day to day : on our enquiring the reafon,
we
'
N d R T H - W E S T C O A S T OF A M E R I C A . 97
we were given to underftand, that the hogs and vegetables were 1786.
tabooed, till the King had been on board the fhips, and that they _ccem cr‘
expefted him to pay us a vifit very fhortly. If I remember right,
I mentioned the taboo when we were lafl: at the Iflands. I fhall
now only juft obferve, that its operation is very extenfive, and
regards not only places, but food, and, in fhort, every action of
life.
In the afternoon of the ift, we had frequent fqualls, attended
with a good deal of rain.
By noon on the 3d, we had compleated our water, and could
have procured a great deal more, the natives ftill bringing it with
the greateft avidity. Indeed this is not to be wondered at, if we
confider the great value they fet on iron, and that water colls them
only the trouble of fetching from fhore.
'Befides nails, we found buttons very ufeful in our traffic with
thele people. To the credit of the men be it fpoken, they looked
on them as things of no value ; but the females faw them in a very
different point of view, and were exceedingly fond of wearing them
round their wrifts and ancles as bracelets, calling them Booboo,
and fometimes Poreema. As gallantry is perhaps equally prevalent
here, as in more civilized nations, the men frequently preferred
buttons to nails (contrary to their better judgment) in their
traffic. This is an inconteftible proof, that the power of beauty is.
not confined within the narrow limits of our polite European circles,
but has equal influence all over the world.
In the forenoon of the 4th, Teereteere, the King, paid us a vifit.
He came in a large double canoe, attended by two young men,
N 1 ” who