356 cook's eirst voyage nov. 



and calms several days, during which tinae our inter- 

 course with the natives was continued in the most 

 peaceable and friendly manner, they being frequently 

 about the ship, and we ashore, both upon the islands 

 and the main. In one of our visits to the continent, 

 an old man showed us the instrument they use in the 

 staining their bodies, which exactly resembled those 

 that were employed for the same purpose at Otaheite. 

 We saw also the man v/ho was wounded in attempting 

 to steal our buoy: the ball had passed through the 

 fleshy part of his arm, and grazed his breast; but the 

 wound, under the care of Nature, the best surgeon, 

 and a simple diet, the best nurse, was in a good state, 

 and seemed to give the patient neither pain nor ap- 

 prehension. We saw also the brother of our old 

 chief, who luid been wounded with small shot in our 

 skirmish: they had struck his thigh obliquely, and 

 though several of them were still in the flesh, the 

 wound seemed to be attended with neither danger 

 nor pain. We found among their plantations the 

 morus papi/rijera, of which these people, as well as 

 those of Otaheite, make cloth; but here the plant 

 seems to be rare, and we saw no pieces of the cloth 

 large enough for any use but to wear by way of orna- 

 ment in their ears. 



Having one day landed in a very distant part of 

 the bay, the people immediately fled, except one old 

 man, who accompanied us wherever we went, and 

 seemed much pleased with the little presents we made 

 him. We came at last to a little fort, built upon a 

 small rock, which at high water was surrounded by 

 the sea, and accessible only by a ladder: we perceived 

 that he eyed us with a kind of restless solicitude as 

 we approached it, and upon our expressing a desire 

 to enter it, he told us that his wife was there: he 

 saw that our curiosity was not diminished by this in- 

 telligence, and after some hesitation, he said, if we 

 would promise to offer no indecency, he would ac- 

 company us : our promise was readily given, and he 



