80 cook's VOYAGE TO OCT. 



country, and shoot everv soul I should meet with. 

 This bloody counsel I could not follow ; but I re- 

 solved to march a party of men cross the island ; 

 and at day-break the next morning, set out with 

 thirty-five of my people, accompanied by one of the 

 old men, bv Omai, and three or four of his attend- 

 ants. At the same time, I ordered Lieutenant Wil- 

 liamson with three armed boats round the western 

 part of the island to meet us. 



I had no sooner landed with my party, than the 

 few natives who still remained in the neighbour- 

 hood fled before us. The first man that we met 

 with upon our march, ran some risk of his life ; for 

 Omai, the moment he saw him, asked me if he 

 should shoot him ; so fully was he persuaded that I 

 was going to carry his advice into execution. I im- 

 mediately ordered both him and our guide to make 

 it known, that I did not intend to hurt, much less to 

 kill, a single native. These glad tidings flew before 

 us like lightning, and stopped the flight of the inhab- 

 itants ; so that no one quitted his house or employ- 

 ment afterward. 



As we began to ascend the ridge of hills over which 

 lay our road, we got intelligence that the goat had 

 been carried that way before us ; and, as we under- 

 stood, could not as yet have passed the hills ; so that 

 we marched up in great silence, in hopes of surpriz- 

 ing the party who were bearing off the prize. But 

 when we had got to the uppermost plantation on side 

 of the ridge, the people there told us, that what we 

 were in search of had, indeed, been kept there the 

 first night, but had been carried the next morning to 

 Watea by Hamoa. We then crossed the ridge with- 

 out making any further enquiry, till we came within 

 sight of Watea, where some people showed us 

 Hamoa's house, and told us that the goat was there, 

 so that I made no doubt of getting it immediately 

 upon my arrival. But when I reached the house, to 

 my very great surprize, the few people we met with 



