368 cook's second voyage may, 



from whom we had the intelligence was now gone, so 

 that I could not confront them, and there were none 

 else present who knew any thing about it but by re- 

 port ; so that I laid aside sending over a boat till I 

 should be better informed. This evening we enter- 

 tained the people with fire-works, on one of the little 

 isles near the entrance of the harbour. 



I had fixed on the next day for sailing, but the in- 

 telligence from Huaheine put a stop to it. The chief 

 had promised to bring the man on board who first 

 brought the account ; but he was either not to be 

 found, or would not appear. In the morning, the 

 people were divided in their opinions ; but in the 

 afternoon all said it was a false report. I had sent 

 Mr. Gierke, in the morning, to the farthest part of 

 the island, to make inquiries there : he returned with- 

 out learning any thing satisfactory. In short, the 

 report appeared now too ill-founded, to authorise me 

 to send a boat over, or to wait any longer here j and, 

 therefore, early in the morning of the 4th, I got every 

 thing in readiness to sail. Oreo, the chiefi and his 

 whole family, came on board, to take their last fare- 

 wel, accompanied by Oo-oo-rou, the Earee de hi, and 

 Boba the Earee of Otaha, and several of their friends. 

 None of them came empty ; but Oo-oo-rou brought 

 a pretty large present, this being his first and only 

 visit. I distributed amongst them almost every thing 

 I had left. The very hospitable manner in which I 

 had ever been received by these people, had endeared 

 them to me, and given them a just title to every 

 thing in my power to grant. I questioned them 

 again about the ships at Huaheine \ and they all, to 

 a man, denied that any were there. During the time 

 these people remained on board, they were continu- 

 ally importuning me to return. The chief, his wife, 

 and daughter, but especially the two latter, scarcely 

 ever ceased weeping. 1 will not pretend to say 

 whether it was real or feigned grief they shewed 

 on this occasion. Perhaps there was a mixture of 



