1777- THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 269 



succeeded, now filled the whole assemly with astonish- 

 ment; they no longer doubted the tremendous power 

 of our weapons, and gave full credit to ail that Omai 

 had said. 



If it had not been for the terrible ideas they con- 

 ceived of the guns of our ships, from this specimen 

 of their mode of operation, it was thought that they 

 would have detained the gentlemen all night. For 

 Omai assured them, that if he and his companions 

 did not return on board the same day, they might 

 expect that I would fire upon the island. And as we 

 stood in nearer the land in the evening than we had 

 done any time before, of which position of the ships 

 they were observed to take great notice, they, pro- 

 bably, thought we were meditating this formidable 

 attack; and therefore suffered their guests to depart; 

 under the expectation, however, of seeing them again 

 on shore next morning. But I was too sensible of 

 the risk they had already run, to think of a repetition 

 of the experiment. 



This day, it seems, was destined to give Omai 

 more occasions than one of being brought forward 

 to bear a principal part in its transactions. The island, 

 though never before visited by Europeans, actually 

 happened to have other strangers residing in it; and 

 it was entirely owing to Omai's being one of Mr. 

 Gore's attendants, that this curious circumstance 

 came to our knowledge. 



Scarcely had he been landed upon the beach, 

 when he found amongst the crowd there assembled, 

 three of his own countrymen, natives of the Society 

 Islands. At the distance of about two hundred 

 leagues from those islands, an immense unknown 

 ocean intervening, with such wretched sea-boats as 

 their inhabitants are known to make use of, and fit 

 only for a passage where sight of land is scarcely ever 

 lost, such a meeting, at such a place, so accidentally 

 visited by us, may well be looked upon as one of 

 those unexpected situations, with which the writers 



