134 A V O Y A G E T O 



>777' Mow high the Bolabola men are now in eflimation at Ota- 



heitc, may be inferred from Monfieur de Bougainville's an- 

 chor having been conveyed to them. To the fame caufe wc 

 muft afcribe the intention of tranfporting to their iiland the 

 Spanifli bull. And they had already got pofTeflion of a third 

 European curiofity, the male of another animal, brought 

 to Otaheite by the Spaniards. We had been much puzzled, 

 by the imperfect: defcription of the natives, to giiels what 

 this could be. But Captain Gierke's deferters, when brought 

 back from Bolabola, told me, that the animal had been 

 there fl\ewn to them, and that it was a ram. It feldom hap- 

 pens, but that fome good arifes out of evil ; and if our two 

 men had not deferted, I fliould not have known this. In 

 confequence of their information, at the fame time that I 

 landed to meet Opoony, I carried afliore a ewe, which we 

 had brought from the Cape of Good Hope ; and I hope that, 

 by this prefent, I have laid the foundation for a breed of 

 Iheep at Bolabola. I alfo left at Ulietea, under the care of 

 Oreo, an Englifli boar and fow, and two goats. So that, 

 not only Otaheite, but all the neighbouring iHands, will, in 

 a few years, have their race of hogs confiderably improved; 

 and, probably, be ilockcd with all the valuable animals 

 which have been tranfportcd hither by their European 

 vilitcis. 



When once this comes to pafs, no part of the world will 

 tcjual thefe iilands in variety and abundance of refrefli- 

 ments for navigators. Indeed, even in their prefent ftate, I 

 know no place that excels them. After repeated trials, in 

 the courfe of levcral voyages, we find, when they are not 

 <liilurbed by inteltine broils, but live in amity with one 

 another, which has been the cafe for fome years palt, 

 ilut their produ6tions are in the gieateft plenty ; and, 

 I particularly, 



