1773* ROUND THE WORLD. <J7 



every place affording something ; especially to us, to 

 whom nothing came amiss. 



It rained all the 17th ; but the 18th bringing fair 

 and clear weather, in the evening, our friends the 

 natives before mentioned paid us another visit ; and 

 the next morning, the chief and his daughter were 

 induced to come on board, while the others w T ent out 

 in the canoe fishing. Before they came on board I 

 showed them our goats and sheep that were on shore ; 

 which they viewed, for a moment, with a kind of 

 stupid insensibility. After this, 1 conducted them to 

 the brow ; but before the chief set his foot upon it to 

 come into the ship, he took a small green branch in 

 his hand, with which he struck the ship's side several 

 times, repeating a speech or prayer. When this was 

 over, he threw the branch into the main chains, and 

 came on board. This custom and manner of making 

 peace, as it were, is practised by all the nations in 

 the South Seas that I have seen. 



I took them both down into the cabin, where we 

 were to breakfast. They sat at table with us, but 

 would not taste any of our victuals. The chief 

 wanted to know where we slept, and indeed to pry 

 into every corner of the cabin, every part of which 

 he viewed with some surprise. But it was not possi- 

 ble to fix his attention to any one thing a single 

 moment. The works of art appeared to him in the 

 same light as those of nature, and were as far re- 

 moved beyond his comprehension. What seemed to 

 strike them most was the number and strength of our 

 decks, and other parts of the ship. The chief, before 

 he came aboard, presented me with a piece of cloth 

 and a green talk hatchet ; to Mr. Forster he also gave 

 a piece of cloth ; and the girl gave another to Mr. 

 Hodges. This custom of making presents, before 

 they receive any, is common with the natives of the 

 South Sea isles ; but I never saw it practised in New 

 Zealand before. Of all the various articles I gave 

 my guest, hatchets and spike-nails were the most 



VOL. III. h 



