i6 AVOYACxETO 



>77S- the fliips in their canoes. They brought refrefhraents with 

 ,;"'"J^ them, which were purchafed, in exchange for nails, and 

 pieces of iron hoops ; and I diftributed a good many pieces 

 of ribbon, and forae buttons, as bracelets, amongft the wo- 

 men in the canoes. One of the men had the figure of a 

 lizard pundturcd upon his bread, and upon thofe of others 

 were the figures of men badly imitated. Thefe vifiters in- 

 formed us, that there was no Chief, or Hairee, of this illand -, 

 but that it was fubjecft to Teneooneoo, a Chief of Atooi ; 

 which ifland, they faid, was not governed by a fingle Chief, 

 but that there were many to whom they paid the honour of 

 inoe, or proflration ; and, amongft others, they named Otaeaio 

 and Terarotoa. Among other things, which thefe people 

 now brought olF, was a fmall drum, almolt like thofe of 

 Otaheite. 



About ten or eleven o'clock at night, the wind veered to 

 the South, and the flcy feemed to forebode a ftorm. With 

 fuch appearances, thinking that wc were rather too near 

 the Ihore, I ordered the anchors to be taken up, and, having 

 carried the (hips into forty-two fathoms, came to again in 

 tiiat fafcr ftation. The precaution, however, proved to be 

 unnccefTary ; for the v-/ind, foon after, veered to North North 

 Eaft, from which quarter it blew a frefli gale, with fqualls, 

 attended with very heavy lliovvers of rain. 



Caturcliy?!. This wcather continued all the next day; and the fea ran 

 fo high, that we had no manner of comminiication with 

 our party on fhorc ; and even the natives tlicmfelves durft 

 ■not vcntiu-e out to the fliips in their canoes. In the even- 

 ing, 1 fent the mafter in a boat up to the Soucii Eall head, 

 or point of the illand, t • try if he could land under it. He 

 returned with a favourable report ; but it was loo late, now, to 



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