1777* THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 295 



Amongst these canoes, there were some double ones, 

 with a large sail, that carried between forty and fifty 

 men each. These sailed round us apparently with 

 the same ease, as if we had been at anchor. There 

 were several women in the canoes, who were, perhaps, 

 incited by curiosity to visit us; though, at the same 

 time, they bartered as eagerly as the men, and used 

 the paddle with equal labour and dexterity. I came 

 to an anchor in eighteen fathoms' water, the bottom 

 coarse coral sand; the island extending from east to 

 south-west; and the west point of the westernmost 

 cove south-east, about three quarters of a mile distant. 

 Thus I resumed the very same station which I had 

 occupied when I visited Annamooka three years 

 before*; and, probably, almost in the same place 

 where Tasman, the first discoverer of this, and some 

 of the neighbouring islands, anchored in 1643. t 



The following day, while preparations were making 

 for watering, I went ashore, in the forenoon, accom- 

 panied by Captain Clerke, and some of the officers, 

 to fix on a place where the observatories might be set 

 up, and a guard be stationed ; the natives having 

 readily given us leave. They also accommodated us 

 with a boat-house, to serve as a tent, and showed us 

 every other mark of civility. Toobou, the chief of the 

 island, conducted me and Omai to his house. We 

 found it situated on a pleasant spot, in the centre of 

 his plantation. A rine grass plot surrounded it, 

 which he gave us to understand, was for the purpose 

 of cleaning their feet, before they went within doors. 

 I had not before observed such an instance of atten- 

 tion to cleanliness at any of the places I had visited 

 in this ocean ; but afterward found, that it was 

 very common at the Friendly Islands. The floor of 



* See Captain Cook's last Voyage, Vol. IV. p. 7. 



t See Tasman's account of this island, in Mr. Dalrymple's valu- 

 able Collection of Voyages to the Pacific Ocean, vol. ii. p. 79, 80. 

 The few particulars mentioned by Tasman, agree remarkably with 

 Captain Cook's more extended relation. 



u 4- 



