154 VOYAGE TO THE 



that it should be kept so, and placed a marine at 

 each of the ladders ; but as the natives tried every 

 method to elude their vigilance, the sentinels had an 

 arduous task to perform, and disturbances must in- 

 evitably have arisen in the execution of their orders 

 had it not been for our Newfoundland dog. It for- 

 tunately happened that this animal had taken a dis- 

 like to our visiters, and the deck being cleared, he 

 instinctively placed himself at the foot of the lad- 

 der, and in conjunction with the little terrier, who 

 did not forget his perilous hug of the day before, 

 most effectually accomplished our wishes. The na- 

 tives, who had never seen a dog before, were in the 

 greatest terror of them ; and Neptune's bark was 

 soon found to be more efficacious than the point of 

 a sentry's bayonet, and much less likely to lead to 

 serious disturbances. Besides, his activity cleared 

 the whole of the main deck at once, and supplied 

 the place of all the sentinels. The natives applied 

 the name of boa to him, a word which in the Ota- 

 heitan language properly signifies a hog. But it 

 may be observed that boa is applied equally to a 

 bull, or to a horse, which they call boa-afae-taata, 

 (literally, man-carrying pig), or to all foreign qua- 

 drupeds. 



Upon one of the rafts which came alongside there 

 was an elderly man with a grey beard, dressed in 

 white cloth. The paddles of his raft were of supe- 

 rior workmanship to the others, and had the ex- 

 tremity of the handle ornamented with a neatly 

 carved human hand. He carried a long staff of 

 hard black wood, finely polished, widened at one 

 end like a chisel. But though he was thus distin- 

 guished, lie exercised no authority over his unruly 



