210 cook's SECOND VOYAGE OCT. 



dinner. We now saw that he was a man of conse- 

 quence ; for Attago would not sit down and eat be- 

 fore him, but got to the other end of the table ; and, 

 as the old chief was almost blind, he sat there, and 

 eat with his back towards him. After the old man 

 had eaten a bit of fish and drank two glasses of wine, 

 he returned ashore, As soon as Attago had seen him 

 out of the ship, he came and took his place at table, 

 finished his dinner, and drank two glasses of wine. 

 When dinner was over, we all went ashore, where we 

 found the old chief, who presented me with a hog ; 

 and he and some others, took a walk with us into the 

 country. 



Before we set out, I happened to go down with 

 Attago to the landing place, and there found Mr. 

 Wales in a laughable, though distressed, situation. 

 The boats which brought us on shore, not being able 

 to get near the landing place for want of a sufficient 

 depth of water ; he pulled off his shoes and stockings 

 to walk through, and as soon as he got on dry land, 

 he put them down betwixt his legs to put on again, 

 but they were instantly snatched away by a person 

 behind him, who immediately mixed with the crowd. 

 It was impossible for him to follow the man bare-footed 

 over the sharp coral rocks, which compose the shore, 

 without having his feet cut to pieces. The boat was 

 put back to the ship, his companions had each made 

 his way through the crowd, and he left in this condi- 

 tion alone. Attago soon found out the thief, reco- 

 vered his shoes and stockings, and set him at liberty. 

 Our route into the country was by the first mentioned 

 Afiatouca, before which we again seated ourselves, 

 but had no prayers, although the old priest was with 

 us. Our stay here was but short. The old chief \ 

 probably thinking that we might want water on board, 

 conducted us to a plantation hard by, and shewed us 

 a pool of fresh water, though we had not made the 

 least enquiry after any. I believe this to be the same 



