1777* THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 105 



anchor, at its entrance, at two o'clock, and to warp 

 in, which employed ns till night set in. As soon as 

 we were within the harbour, the ships were surround- 

 ed with canoes filled with people, who brought hogs 

 and fruit to barter with us for our commodities ; so 

 that, wherever we went, we found plenty. 



Next morning, being the 4th, 1 moored the ship, 

 head and stern, close to the north shore, at the head 

 of the harbour ; hauled up the cables on deck ; and 

 opened one of the ballast-ports. From this a slight 

 stage was made to the land, being at the distance of 

 about twenty feet, with a view to get clear of some 

 of the rats that continued to infest us. The Disco- 

 very moored alongside the south shore for the same 

 purpose. While this work was going forward, I re- 

 turned Oreo's visit. The present I made him, on 

 the occasion, consisted of a linen gown, a shirt, a 

 red-feathered cap from Tongataboo, and other things 

 of less value. I then brought him, and some of his 

 friends, on board to dinner. 



On the 6th, we set up the observatories, and got 

 the necessarv instruments on shore. The two follow- 



r 



ing days, we observed the sun's azimuths, both on 

 board and ashore, with all the compasses, in order to 

 find the variation ; and in the night of the latter, we 

 observed an occultation of s Capricorni, by the moon's 

 dark limb. Mr. Bayly and I agreed in fixing the time 

 of its happening at six minutes and fifty-four seconds 

 and a half past ten o'clock. Mr. King made it half 

 a second sooner. Mr. Bayly observed with the achro- 

 matic telescope belonging to the Board of. Longi- 

 tude ; Mr. King, with the reflector belonging to the 

 board ; and I made use of my own reflector, of 

 eighteen inches. There was also an immersion of * 

 Capricorni behind the moon's dark limb, some time 

 before % but it was observed by Mr. Bayly alone. I 

 attempted to trace it, with a small achromatic ; but 

 found its. magnifying power not sufficient. 



Nothing worthy of note happened, till the night 



