82 cook's voyage to march, 



women ; the men, they told us, were gone to 

 Morotoi to fight Tahyterree ; but that their chief 

 Perreeoranee, who had stayed behind, would certainly 

 visit us, as soon as he heard of our arrival. 



We were much disappointed to find the water had 

 a brackish taste for two hundred yards up the river, 

 owing to the marshy ground through which it empties 

 itself into the sea. Beyond this, it was perfectly 

 fresh, and formed a fine running stream, along the 

 side of which I walked, till I came to the conflux of 

 two small rivulets, that branched off to the right and 

 left of a remarkably steep and romantic mountain. 

 The banks of this river, and indeed the whole w r e 

 saw of the north-west part of Woahoo, are well cul- 

 tivated, and full of villages ; and the face of the 

 country is uncommonly beautiful and picturesque. 



As the watering at this place would have been at- 

 tended with great labour, I was sent to examine the 

 coast to leeward ; but not being able to land, on ac- 

 count of a reef of coral, which stretched along the 

 shore to the distance of half a mile, Captain Clerke 

 determined, without farther loss of time, to proceed 

 to Atooi. At eight in the morning we weighed, and 

 stood to the northward, till day -light on the 28th, 

 when we bore away for that island, which we were in 

 sight of by noon ; and about sunset, were off its 

 eastern extremity, which shews itself in a fine, green, 

 flat point. 



It being too late to run for the road, on the south- 

 west side of the island, where we had been the last 

 year, we passed the night in plying on and off, and at 

 nine the next morning, came to an anchor in twenty- 

 five fathoms water, and moored with the best bower 

 in thirty-eight fathoms, the bluff-head, on the west 

 side of the village, bearing north-east by north 

 three-quarters east, two miles distant ; the extremes 

 of the island, north-west by west three-quarters 

 west, and south-east by east half east ; the island 

 of Oneheow west by south half west In running 



14 



