THIRD VOYAGE 237 



handsome. Both of them had strong straight hair, of a jet 

 colour, tied together on the crown of the head with a bit of 

 cloth. They wore girdles of a substance made from the 

 Morus papyrifera, in the same manner as at the other 

 islands of this ocean. They had on a kind of sandals, made 

 of a grassy substance interwoven ; and, as we supposed, 

 intended to defend their feet against the rough coral rock. 

 Their beards were long, and the inside of their arms, from 

 the shoulder to the elbow, and some other parts, were 

 punctured or tattooed after the manner of the inhabitants 

 of almost all the other islands in the South Sea. The 

 lobe of their ears was slit to such a length, that one of 

 them stuck there a knife and some beads, which he had 

 received from us ; and the same person had two polished 

 pearl shells, and a bunch of human hair, loosely twisted, 

 hanging about his neck, which was the only ornament we 

 observed. The canoe they came in was not above ten feet 

 long, and very narrow, but both strong and neatly made. 

 They paddled either end of it forward indifferently. 



" We now stood off and on ; and as soon as the ships 

 were in a proper station, I ordered two boats to sound the 

 coast, and to endeavour to find a landing place. With this 

 view, I went in one of them myself, taking with me such 

 articles to give the natives as I thought might serve to 

 gain their good-will. I had no sooner put off from the 

 ship than the canoe with the two men, which had not 

 left us long before, paddled towards my boat, and, having 

 come alongside, Mourooa stepped into her, without being 

 asked, and without a moment's hesitation. 



" Omai, who was with me, was ordered to inquire of him 

 where we could land, and he directed us to two different 

 places. But I saw, with regret, that the attempt could 

 not be made at either place, unless at the risk of having 

 our boats filled with water, or even staved to pieces. Nor 

 were we more fortunate in our search for anchorage, for 

 we could find no bottom till within a cable's length of the 

 breakers. 



" While we were thus employed in reconnoitring the shore, 

 great numbers of the natives thronged down upon the reef, 

 all armed. Mourooa, who was now in my boat, probably 

 thinking that this warlike appearance hindered us from 

 landing, ordered them to retire back. As many of them 

 complied, I judged he must be a person of some conse- 

 quence among them. Indeed, if we understood him right, 

 he was the king's brother. So great was the curiosity of 

 several of them, that they took to the water, and swimming 

 off to the boats, came on board them without reserve. 

 Nay, we found it difficult to keep them out, and still more 



