SECOND VOYAGE 157 



came upon them, and they stood on and off, under the 

 land, till the next morning. This is called Easter Island, 

 or Davis's Land. 



Here a canoe, conducted by two men, came off. They 

 brought with them a bunch of plantains, which they sent 

 into the ship by a rope, and then returned ashore. This 

 gave Captain Cook a good opinion of the islanders, and 

 inspired them with hopes of getting some refreshments, of 

 which they were in great want. 



They continued to range along the coast, till they opened 

 the northern point of the isle. While the ship was plying 

 in, a native came on board. The first thing he did was 

 to measure the length of the ship, by fathoming her from 

 the taffrail to the stem ; and as he counted the fathoms, 

 they observed that he called the numbers by the same 

 names that they do at Otaheite ; nevertheless his language 

 was nearly unintelligible to all of them. 



Next morning the Captain went ashore, accompanied by 

 some of the gentlemen, to see what the island was likely to 

 afford. They landed at a sandy beach, where some hundreds 

 of the natives were assembled, and who were so impatient 

 to see them, that many of them swam off to meet the boats. 

 Not one of them had so much as a stick or weapon of any 

 sort in his hand. After distributing a few trinkets amongst 

 them, they made signs for something to eat ; on which they 

 brought down a few potatoes, plantains, and sugar-canes, 

 and exchanged them for nails, looking-glasses, and pieces 

 of cloth. 



They presently discovered that they were as expert 

 thieves, and as tricking in their exchanges, as any people 

 they had yet met with. It was with some difficulty that 

 they could keep anything in their pockets, not even what 

 the natives had themselves sold ; for they would watch 

 every opportunity to snatch it from them, so that they 

 sometimes bought the same thing two or three times over, 

 and after all did not get it. 



The country appeared quite barren and without wood ; 

 there were, nevertheless, several plantations of potatoes, 

 plantains, and sugar-canes ; they also saw some fowls, and 

 found a well of brackish water. The ship was now brought 

 to an anchor about a mile from the nearest shore. 



Captain Cook was obliged to content himself with remain- 

 ing at the landing-place among the natives, as he was not 

 yet quite recovered. They had a pretty brisk trade with 

 them for potatoes, which they observed they dug out of an 

 adjoining plantation ; but this traffic, which was very 

 advantageous to them, was soon put a stop to by the 

 owner (as they supposed) of the plantation coming down 



