1770. ROUND THE WORLD. 57 



a state of conscious security, and to avail themselves 

 of their advantage : their plantations were more nu- 

 merous, their canoes were more decorated, and they 

 had not only finer carving, but finer clothes. This part 

 of the coast also was much the most populous, and 

 possibly their apparent peace and plenty might arise 

 from their being united under one Chief, or King ; 

 for the inhabitants of all this part of the country told 

 us, that they were the subjects of Teratu : when 

 they pointed to the residence of this Prince, it was 

 in a direction which we thought inland ; but which, 

 when we knew the country better, we found to be the 

 Bay of Plenty. 



It is much to be regretted that we were obliged 

 to leave this countrv without knowing anv thing of 

 Teratu but his name. As an Indian monarch, his 

 territory is certainly extensive : he was acknowledged 

 from Cape Kidnappers to the northward, and west- 

 ward as far as the Bay of Plenty, a length of coast 

 upwards of eighty leagues ; and we do not yet know 

 how much farther westward his dominions may ex- 

 tend. Possibly the fortified towns which we saw in 

 the Bay of Plenty may be his barrier ; especially as at 

 Mercury Bay he was not acknowledged, nor indeed 

 any other single chief: for wherever we landed, or 

 spoke with the people upon that coast, they told 

 us that we were at but a small distance from their 

 enemies. 



In the dominions of Teratu we saw several subor- 

 dinate chiefs, to whom great respect was paid, and by 

 whom justice was probably administered ; for upon 

 our complaint to one of them, of a theft that had 

 been committed on board the ship by a man that 

 came with him, he gave him several blows and kicks, 

 which the other received as the chastisement of au- 

 thority, against which no resistance was to be made, 

 and which he had no right to resent. Whether this 

 authority was possessed by appointment or inherit- 



