1777- THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 321 



paper mulberry-trees ; and the plantations in general 

 were well stocked with such roots and fruits as are 

 the natural produce of the island. To these I made 

 some addition, by sowing the seeds of Indian corn, 

 melons, pumpkins, and the like. At one place was 

 a house four or five times as large as those of the 

 common sort, with a large area of grass before it ; 

 and I take it for granted, the people resort thither 

 on certain public occasions. Near the landing-place 

 we saw a mount two or three feet high, covered with 

 gravel ; and on it stood four or five small huts, in 

 which the natives told us, the bodies of some of 

 their principal people had been interred. 



The island is not above seven miles long, and in 

 some places not above two or three broad. The 

 east side of it, which is exposed to the trade-wind, 

 has a reef running to a considerable breadth from it, 

 on which the sea breaks with great violence. It is 

 a continuation of this reef that joins Lefooga to 

 Foa, which is not above half a mile distant ; and at 

 low water the natives can walk upon this reef, which 

 is then partly dry, from the one island to the other. 

 The shore itself is either a coral rock, six or seven 

 feet high, or a sandy beach \ but higher than the 

 west side, which in general is not more than three or 

 four feet from the level of the sea, with a sandy 

 beach its whole length. 



When I returned from my excursion into the 

 country, and went on board to dinner, I found a 

 large sailing canoe fast to the ship's stern. In this 

 canoe was Latooliboula, whom I had seen at Ton- 

 gataboo, during my last voyage, and who was then 

 supposed by us to be the king of that island. He 

 sat in the canoe with all that gravity, by which, as I 

 have mentioned in my journal *, he was so remark- 



* See Vol. III. book ii. ch. 2. The name of this ex- 

 traordinary personage is there said to be Kokagee-too Fal- 

 langou ; which cannot, by the most skilful etymologist, be 

 tortured into the least most distant resemblance of Latooliboula. 

 VOL. V. Y 



