T H E P A G I F r C O C E A N. ys 



enough for two people to» llcep upon, by way of guarding ^^ '777- 

 it in the nighr. 



It will appear a little extraordinary, that we, who had a 

 fmattering of their language, and Otnai, befides, for an 

 interpreter, could never get any clear account of the time 

 when the Spaniards arrived, how long they flayed, and 

 when they departed. The more we inquired into this mat- 

 ter, the more we were convinced of the inability of molt 

 of thefe people to remember, or note the time, when paft 

 events happened ; efpecially if it exceeded ten or twenty 

 months. It, however, appeared, by the date of the infcrip- 

 tion upon the crofs, and by the information we received 

 from the moft intelligent of the natives, that two fliips ar- 

 rived at Ohcitepeha in 1774, fcon after I left Matavai, which 

 was in May, the fame year. They brought with them the 

 houfe and live flock, before mentioned. Some faid, that, 

 after landing thcfc things, and fome men, they failed in 

 qucft of me, and returned in about ten days. But I have 

 fome doubt of the truth of this, as they were never feen, 

 cither at Huahcine, or at Ulietea. The live fl;ock they left 

 here, confilled of one bull, fome goats, hogs, and dogs, 

 and the male of fome other animal ; which we afterward 

 found to be a ram, and, at this time, was at Bolabola, whither 

 the bull was alfo to have been tranfported. 



The hogs are of a large kind ; have already greatly im- 

 proved the breed originally found by us upon the ifland ; 

 and, at the time of our late arrival, were very numerous. 

 Goats are, alfo, in tolerable plenty, there being hardly a 

 Chief of any note who has not got fome. As to the dogs 

 that the Spaniards put aQiore, which arc of two or three 

 forts, I think they would have done the iiland a great deal 

 more fervice, if they had hanged them all, inilead of leav- 



L 2 ing 



