272 CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGES 



" The only quadrupeds, besides hogs, are a few rats and 

 some dogs. Fowls, which are of a large breed, are 

 domesticated here. 



" On July 6th we were ready to sail ; but the wind being 

 unfavourable, we were under the necessity of waiting two 

 or three days. We took our final leave of Tongataboo on 

 the 10th, and early in the morning of the second day after, 

 reached Middleburgh, or Eooa. 



" We had no sooner anchored, than Taoofa, the chief, and 

 several other natives, visited us on board, and seemed to 

 rejoice much at our arrival. This Taoofa knew me when 

 I was here during my last voyage, consequently we were not 

 strangers to each other. In a little time I went ashore with 

 him in search of fresh water, the procuring of which was the 

 chief object that brought me to Eooa. I was first con- 

 ducted to a brackish spring, between low and high-water 

 mark, in the cove where we landed. Finding that we did 

 not like this, our friends took us a little way into the 

 island, where, in a deep chasm, we found very good water. 

 But rather than undertake the tedious task of bringing it 

 down to the shore, I resolved to rest contented with the 

 supply the ships had got at Tongataboo. 



" I put ashore at this island the ram and two ewes of the 

 Cape of Good Hope breed, intrusting them to the care of 

 Taoofa, who seemed proud of his charge. 



" As we lay at anchor, this island bore a very different 

 aspect from any we had lately seen, and formed a most 

 beautiful landscape. 



" The 13th in the afternoon, a party of us made an 

 excursion to the highest part of the island, in order to have 

 a full view of the country. From the elevation to which we 

 had ascended, we had a full view of the whole island, except 

 a part of the south point. The plains and meadows, of 

 which there are here some of great extent, lie all on the 

 north-west side ; and, as they are adorned with tufts of 

 trees, intermixed with plantations, they form a very 

 beautiful landscape in every point of view. While I was 

 surveying this delightful prospect, I could not help flattering 

 myself with the pleasing idea that some future navigators 

 may, from the same station, behold these meadows stocked 

 with cattle brought to these islands by the ships of England, 

 and that the completion of this single benevolent purpose, 

 independently of all other considerations, would sufficiently 

 mark to posterity that our voyages had not been useless 

 to the general interests of humanity. 



" The next morning I planted a pine-apple, and sowed the 

 seeds of melons and other vegetables, in the chief's planta- 

 tion. I had some encouragement, indeed, to flatter myself 



