ioo AVOYAGETO 



'^pl: And as we flood in nearer the land in the evening, than 

 we had done any time before, of which polition of the 

 fliips they were obferved to take great notice, they, pro- 

 bably, thought we were meditating this formidable attack; 

 and, therefore, fuffered their guefts to depart ; under the 

 expeiftation, however, of feeing them again on fliore next 

 morning. But I was too fcnfible of the riflv they had al- 

 ready run, to think of a repetition of the experiment. 



This day, it feems, was deftined to give Omai more oc- 

 cafions than one, of being brought forward to bear a prin- 

 cipal part in its tranfacTiions. The ifland, though never 

 before vilited by E,uropeans, ac5lually happened to have 

 other ftrangers refiding in it ; and it was entirely owing to 

 Omai's being one of Mr. Gore's attendants, that this cu- 

 rious circumllance came to our knowledge. 



Scarcely had he been landed upon the beach, when he 

 found, amongfl the crowd there allembled, three of his own 

 countrymen, natives of the Society Iflands. At the diftance 

 of about two hundred leagues from thofe iflands, an im- 

 menfe, unknown ocean intervening, with fuch wretched* 

 fea-boats as their inhabitants are known to make ufe of, 

 and fit only for a palTage where fight of land is fcarcely 

 ever lofl, fuch a meeting, at fuch a place, fo accidentally 

 vifited by us, may well be looked upon as one of thofe un- 

 expctfled fituations, with which tiie writers of feigned ad- 

 ventures love to furpiife their readers, and which, when 

 they really happen in common life, deferve to be recorded 

 for their Angularity. 



It may eafily be guelTed, with what mutual furprife and 

 fatisfaflion Omai and his countrymen engaged in conver- 

 fation. Their fiory, as related by them, is an afTcifting one. 



About 



