48 VOYAGE TO THE 



CI J^ P - it was very difficult, on account of the Islanders 

 v -^y^«~' crowding to the place all in expectation of receiving 

 1825. something. The applicants were impatient, noisy, 

 and urgent : they presented their bags, which they 

 had carefully emptied for the purpose, and signified 

 their desire that they should be filled : they practised 

 every artifice, and stole what they could in the most 

 careless and open manner : some went even farther, 

 and accompanied their demands by threats. About 

 this time one of the natives, probably a chief, with a 

 cloak and head-dress of feathers, was observed from 

 the ship hastening from the huts to the landing- 

 place, attended by several persons with short clubs. 

 This hostile appearance, followed by the blowing of 

 the conch-shell, a sound which Cook observes he 

 never knew to portend good, kept our glasses for a 

 while riveted to the spot. To this chief it is sup- 

 posed, for it was impossible to distinguish amongst 

 the crowd, Mr. Peard made a handsome present, 

 with which he was very well pleased, and no ap- 

 prehension of hostilities was entertained. It hap- 

 pened, however, that the presents were expended 

 and this officer was returning to the boat for a fresh 

 supply, when the natives, probably mistaking his 

 intentions, became exceedingly clamorous, and the 

 confusion was further increased by a marine endea- 

 vouring to regain his cap, which had been snatched 

 from his head. The natives took advantage of the 

 confusion, and redoubled their endeavours to pilfer, 

 which our party were at last obliged to repel by 

 threats, and sometimes by force. At length they 

 became so audacious that there was no longer any 

 doubt of their intentions, or that a system of open 

 plunder had commenced ; which, with the appear- 



