TO 



A VOYAGE TO 



«777; the imperfccl dcfcription now given us, we could not find our. 



Auguft. f^ / 



v^— >-~--^ They told us, that thclc fhips had come from a place called 

 Reema ; by which we gucfled, that Lima, tlic capital of Peru, 

 was meant, and that thcfe late viliters were Spaniards. Wc 

 were informed, that the firft time they came, they built a 

 houfe, and left four men behind them, viz. two priefts, a 

 boy or fervant, and a fourth perfon, called Mateema, who 

 was much fpokcn of at this time; carrying away v/ith them, 

 when they failed, four of the natives; that, in about ten 

 months, the fame two (liips returned, bringing back two of 

 the illandcrs, the other two having died at Lima ; and thar, 

 after a fiiort flay, they took away their own people; but 

 that the houfc, which they had built, was left ftandhig. 



The important news, of red feathers being on board our 

 fhips, having been conveyed on fhorc by Omai's friends, 

 Wcdnef. 13. Jay had no fooncr begun to break, next morning, than we 

 were furrounded by a multitude of canoes, crowded with 

 people, bringing hogs and fruits to market. At firfl, a 

 quantity of feathers, not greater than what might be got 

 irom a tom-tir, would purchafc a hog, of forty or fifty 

 pounds wcigln. I^ut, as almoft every body in the fliips was 

 poflelled of Ibme of this precious article of trade, it fell, in 

 its value, above five hundred per cent, before night. How- 

 ever, even then, the balance was much in our favour ; 

 and red leathers continued to prefervc their fuperiority 

 over every other commodity. Some of the natives would 

 not part with a liog, imlcfs they received an axe in ex- 

 change ; but nails, and beads, and other trinkets, wliich, 

 during our former voyages, had lb great a run at this illand, 

 were now fo much dcfpifcd, that few would deign fo much 

 as to look at them. 



There 



