17()9. ROUND THE WORLD. 109 



to the fort in a kind of procession, of which she and 

 myself brought up the rear. In our way to the fort 

 we met Tootahah, who, though not king, appeared 

 to be at this time invested w^ith the sovereign autho- 

 rity ; he seemed not to be well pleased with the dis- 

 tinction that was showed to the lady, and became so 

 jealous when she produced her doll, that to propitiate 

 him it was thought proper to compliment him with 

 another. At this time he thought fit to prefer a doll 

 to a hatchet ; but this preference arose only from a 

 childish jealousy, which could not be soothed but 

 by a gift of exactly the same kind with that which 

 had been presented to Oberea ; for dolls in a very 

 short time were universally considered as trifles of no 

 value. 



The men who had visited us from time to time had, 

 without scruple, eaten of our provisions ; but the 

 women had never yet been prevailed upon to taste a 

 morsel. To day, however, though they refused the 

 most pressing solicitations to dine with the gentle- 

 men, they afterwards retired to the servants' apart- 

 ment, and ate of plantains very heartily ; a mystery 

 of female economy here, which none of us could ex- 

 plain. 



On the 29th, not very early in the forenoon, Mr. 

 Banks went to pay his coiu't to Oberea, and was told 

 that she was still asleep under the awning of her 

 canoe : thither therefore he went, intending to call 

 her up, a liberty which he thought he might take, 

 without any danger of giving ofience : but, upon 

 looking into her chamber, to his great astonishment 

 he found her in bed with a handsome young fellow 

 about five-and-twenty, whose name was Obadee : he 

 retreated with some haste and confusion, but was 

 soon made to understand, that such amours gave no 

 occasion to scandal, and that Obadee was universally 

 known to have been selected by her as the object of 

 her private favours. The lady being too polite to 

 suffer Mr. Banks to wait long in her antichamber. 



