118 cook's voyage to dec. 



CHAP. VIII. 



ARRIVAL AT BOLABOLA. INTERVIEW WITH OPOONY. REA- 

 SONS FOR PURCHASING MONSIEUR BOUGAINVILLE'S ANCHOR. 



DEPARTURE FROM THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. PARTICULARS 



ABOUT BOLABOLA. HISTORY OF THE CONOUEST OF OTAHA 



AND ULIETEA. HIGH REPUTATION OF THE BOLABOLA 



MEN. ANIMALS LEFT THERE AND AT ULIETEA. 



PLENTIFUL SUPPLY OF PROVISIONS, AND MANNER OF SALT- 

 ING PORK ON BOARD. VARIOUS REFLECTIONS RELATIVE 



TO OTAHEITE AND THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. ASTRONOMICAL 



AND NAUTICAL OBSERVATIONS MADE THERE. 



J\s soon as we had got clear of the harbour, we 

 took leave of Ulietea, and steered for Bolabola. 

 The chief if not sole object I had in view by visiting 

 that island, was to procure from its monarch, 

 Opoony, one of the anchors which Monsieur de 

 Bougainville had lost at Otaheite. This having after- 

 ward been taken up by the natives there, had, as 

 they informed me, been sent by them as a present to 

 that chief. My desire to get possession of it did not 

 arise from our being in want of anchors ; but hav- 

 ing expended all the hatchets and other iron tools 

 which we had brought from England, in purchasing 

 refreshments, we were now reduced to the necessity of 

 creating a fresh assortment of trading articles, by 

 fabricating them out of the spare iron we had on 

 board ; and, in such conversions, and in the occa- 

 sional uses of the ships, great part of that had been 

 already expended. 1 thought that M. de Bougain- 

 ville's anchor would supply our want of this useful 

 material ; and I made no doubt that I should be able 

 to tempt Opoony to part with it. 



Oreo, and six or eight men more from Ulietea, 

 took a passage with us to Bolabola. Indeed, most of 

 the natives in general, except the chief himself, 



*5 



