PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STARIT. 153 



below, and nothing was stolen from the upper 

 decks ; but in the midshipmen's berth, things had 

 not been so carefully secreted, and a soup-tureen, a 

 spyglass, and some crockery were soon missing ; the 

 former was detected going over the side, and one of 

 the tea-cups was observed in the possession of a 

 person swimming away from the ship. This afforded 

 a favourable opportunity of showing our determina- 

 tion to resist all such depredations ; and indeed it 

 was absolutely necessary to do so, as every person 

 appeared to consider he had a right to whatever he 

 could carry away with him ; and the number of our 

 visiters amounted to double that of our own crew, 

 so that it was impossible to watch every one of 

 them. Besides, this conduct, if not checked in time, 

 might lead to serious consequences, which I wished 

 by every means to avoid. One of our small boats 

 was consequently sent in pursuit of the thief, who 

 was swimming at a considerable rate towards a raft 

 with his prize in his hand. His countrymen, ob- 

 serving that he was pursued, would not permit him 

 to mingle with them, lest they should participate in 

 the blame ; but he eluded detection by diving un- 

 derneath their rafts, until he became exhausted, 

 when he threw the cup to the bowman of the boat, 

 and made his escape. Immediately the boat was 

 sent off, all the rafts left the ship, and every man 

 upon the decks jumped overboard as if by instinct ; 

 but when tranquillity was restored, they returned 

 for fresh plunder. The rapidity with which the 

 news of a theft spreads among such a community 

 has been noticed by Captain Cook, and here it was 

 no less remarkable. 



I determined, since the main deck was cleared, 



