176 cook's first voyage jqly, 



also gave liberally of these seeds to the Indians, and 

 planted many of them in the woods : some of the 

 melon seeds having been planted soon after our ar- 

 rival, the natives showed him several of the plants 

 which appeared to be in the most flourishing condi- 

 tion, and were continually asking him for more. 



We now began to prepare for our departure, by 

 bending the sails and performing other necessary 

 operations on board the ship, our w^ater being already 

 on board, and the provisions examined. In the 

 mean time we had another visit from Oamo, Oberea, 

 and their son and daughter ; the Indians expressing 

 their respect by uncovering the upper parts of their 

 body as they had done before. The daughter, whose 

 name we understood to be Toimata, was very de- 

 sirous to see the fort, but her father would by no 

 means suffer her to come in. Tearee, the son of Wa- 

 heatua, the sovereign of Tiarrabou, the south-east 

 peninsula, was also with us at this time ; and we re- 

 ceived intelligence of the landing of another guest, 

 whose company was neither expected nor desired : 

 this was no other than the ingenious gentleman who 

 contrived to steal our quadrant. We were told, that 

 he intended to try his fortune again in the night ; 

 but the Indians all offered very zealously to assist us 

 against him, desiring that, for this purpose, they 

 might be permitted to lie in the fort. This had so 

 good an effect, that the thief relinquished his enter- 

 prise in despair. 



On the yth, the carpenters were employed in tak- 

 ing down the gates and pallisadoes of our little for- 

 tification, for firewood on board the ship ; and one 

 of the Indians had dexterity enough to steal the 

 staple and hook upon which the gate turned: he 

 was immediately pursued, and after a chace of six 

 miles, he appeared to have been passed, having con- 

 cealed himself among some rushes in the brook ; the 

 rushes were searched, and though the thief had 



