;6 AVOYAGETO 



•777- ing ihcm upon it. It was to one of them, that my young 



September. . 



« , ' ram fell a victim. 



When thcfe fliips left the ifland, four Spaniards remained 

 bcliind. Two were priells, one a fervant, and the fourth 

 made himfelf very popular among the natives, who dif- 

 tinguifli him by the name of Mateema. He feems to have 

 been a pcrfon who had fludied their language]; or, at leaf!, 

 to have fpoken it {o as to be underftood ; and to have taken 

 uncommon pains to imprefs the minds of the illandcrs with 

 the moll: exalted ideas of the greatnefs of the Spanifh na- 

 tion, and to make them think meanly of the Englifli. He 

 even went fo far as to afiure them, that we no longer ex- 

 ifted as an independent nation ; that Pretane was only a 

 fmall ifland, which they, the Spaniards, had entirely de- 

 ftroyed ; and, for me, that they had met with me at fca, 

 and, with a few fliot, had fent my fliip, and every foul in 

 her, to the bottom ; fo that my vifiting Otaheitc, at this 

 lime, was, of courfe, very unexpe6led. All this, and many 

 other improbable falfchoods, did this Spaniard make thefe 

 people believe. If Spain had no other views, in this expedi- 

 tion, but to depreciate the Englifli, they had better have 

 kept their fliips at home ; for my returning again to Ota- 

 . hcite, was confidcred as a complete confutation of all that 

 Mateema had faid. 



With what dcfign the pricfls flayed, we can only guefs. 

 If it was to convert the natives to the catholic faith, they 

 have not fucceedcd in any one inftance. But it does not ap- 

 pear, that they ever attempted it ; for, if the natives are to 

 be believed, they never converfed with them, either on tliis, 

 or on any other fubjc*!!:. The priefts rclidcd conftantly in 

 the houfc at Ohcitcpcha ; but Mateema roved about, vifiting 

 mod parts of the illand. At length, after he and his com- 

 6 panions 



