1777* THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 203 



hamlet or village, by turns, applied to me to destroy 

 the other. One would have almost thought it impos- 

 sible, that so striking a proof of the divided state in 

 which this miserable people live, could have been 

 assigned. And yet I was sure that I did not mis- 

 conceive the meaning of those who made these 

 strange applications to me ; for Omai, whose lan- 

 guage was a dialect of their own, and perfectly un- 

 derstood all that they said, was our interpreter. 



On the 15th, I made an excursion in my boat to 

 look for grass, and visited the Hippah, or fortified 

 village, at the south-west point of Motuara, and the 

 places where our gardens had been planted on that 

 island. There were no people at the former ; but 

 the houses and pallisades had been rebuilt, and were 

 now in a state of good repair ; and there were other 

 evident marks of its having been inhabited not long 

 before. It would be unnecessary, at present, to give 

 a particular account of this Hippah, sufficient notice 

 having been taken of it in the Account of my first 

 Voyage, to which I refer.* 



When the Adventure arrived first at Queen Char- 

 lotte's Sound, in 1773 t, Mr. Bayly, fixed upon this 

 place for making his observations ; and he, and the 

 people with him, at their leisure hours, planted seve- 

 ral spots with English garden seeds. Not the least 

 vestige of these now remained. It is probable that 

 they had been all rooted out to make room for build- 

 ings, when the village was re-inhabited ; for, at all 

 the other gardens then planted by Captain Furneaux, 

 although now wholly over-run with the weeds of the 

 country, we found cabbages, onions, leeks, purslain, 

 radishes, mustard, &c. and a few potatoes. These 

 potatoes, which were first brought from the Cape of 

 Good Hope, had been greatly improved by change 

 of soil; and, with proper cultivation, would be su- 



* See Vol. I. p. 383. 

 f See Vol. Ill, p. 132 



