148 cook's SECOND VOYAGE NOV. 



In the afternoon a party of us went ashore into one 

 of the coves, where were two families of the natives 

 variously employed ; some sleeping, some making 

 mats, others roasting fish and fir roots, and one girl, 

 I observed, was heating of stones. Curious to know 

 what they were for, I remained near her. As soon 

 as the stones were made hot, she took them out of the 

 fire, and gave them to an old woman, who was sitting 

 in the hut. She placed them in a heap, laid over 

 them a handful of green celery, and over that a coarse 

 mat, and then squatted herself down, on her heels, 

 on the top of all ; thus making a kind of Dutch warm- 

 ing-pan, on which she sat as close as a hare on her 

 seat. I should hardly have mentioned this operation, 

 if I had thought it had no other view than to warm 

 the old woman's backside. I rather suppose it was 

 intended to cure some disorder she might have on 

 her, which the steams arising from the green celery 

 might be a specific for. I was led to think so by 

 there being hardly any celery in the place, we having 

 gathered it long before ; and grass, of which there 

 was great plenty, would have kept the stones from 

 burning the mat full as well, if that had been all that 

 was meant. Besides, the woman looked to me sickly, 

 and not in a good state of health. 



Mr. Wales from time to time communicated to me 

 the observations he had made in this Sound for de- 

 termining the longitude, the mean results of which 

 give 174° 25' 7"* E. for the bottom of Ship Cove, 

 where the observations were made ; and the latitude 

 of it is 41° 5' 56'£ S. In my chart, constituted 

 in my former voyage, this place is laid down in 

 184° 54' 30" West, equal to 175° 5' 30" E. The 

 error of the chart is therefore, 0° 40' 0", and nearly 

 equal to what was found at Dusky Bay ; by which it 

 appears that the whole of Tavai-poenammoo is laid 

 down 40' too far east in the said chart, as well as in 

 the journal of the voyage. But the error in Eahei- 



