1770. ROUND THE WORLD. 387 



man, whose name we found to be Topaa, and three 

 other natives, with whom Tupia had much convers- 

 ation. The old man told us, that one of the men 

 who had been fired upon by the officer who had 

 visited their hippah, under pretence of fishing, was 

 dead ; but to my great comfort I afterwards dis- 

 covered that this report was not true, and that if 

 Topaa's discourses were taken literally, they would 

 frequently lead us into mistakes. Mr. Banks and 

 Dr. Solander were several times on shore during 

 the last two or three days, not without success, but 

 greatly circumscribed in their walks, by climbers of 

 a most luxuriant growth, which were so interwoven 

 together as to fill up the space between the trees 

 about which they grew, and render the woods alto- 

 gether impassable. This day, also, I went on shore 

 again myself, upon the western point of the inlet, 

 and from a hill of considerable height I had a view 

 of the coast to the N. W. The farthest land I could 

 see in that quarter was an island which has been 

 mentioned before, at the distance of about ten leagues, 

 lying not far from the main: between this island and 

 the place where I stood, I discovered, close under 

 the shore, several other islands, forming many bays, 

 in which there appeared to be good anchorage for 

 shipping. After I had set off the different points for 

 my survey, I erected another pile of stones, in which 

 I left a piece of silver coin, with some musket balls 

 and beads, and a piece of an old pendant flying on 

 the top. In my return to the ship, I made a visit to 

 several of the natives, whom I saw along the shore, 

 and purchased a small quantity of fish. 



On the 30th, early in the morning, I sent a boat 

 to one of the islands for celery, and while the people 

 were gathering it, about twenty of the natives, men, 

 women, and children, landed near some empty huts: 

 as soon as they were on shore, five or six of the 

 women sat down upon the ground together, and 

 began to cut their legs, arms, and faces, with shells, 



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