THIRD VOYAGE 323 



" If they had any distrust or fear of us at first they now 

 appeared to have laid it aside, for they came on board the 

 ships and mixed with our people with the greatest freedom. 

 We soon discovered that they were as light-fingered as any 

 of our friends in the islands we had visited in the course 

 of the voyage, and they were far more dangerous thieves ; 

 for, possessing sharp iron instruments, they could cut a hook 

 from a tackle, or any other piece of iron from a rope, the 

 instant that our backs were turned. If we missed a thing 

 immediately after it had been stolen, we found little diffi- 

 culty in detecting the thief, as they were ready enough to 

 impeach one another. But the guilty person generally 

 relinquished his prize with reluctance, and sometimes we 

 found it necessary to have recourse to force. 



" A considerable number of the natives visited us daily, 

 and every now and then we saw new faces. On their first 

 coming they generally went through a singular mode of 

 introducing themselves. They would paddle, with all their 

 strength, quite round both ships, a chief, or other principal 

 person in the canoe, standing up with a spear or some other 

 weapon in his hand, and speaking, or rather hallooing, all 

 the time. Sometimes the orator of the canoe would have 

 his face covered with a mask, representing either a human 

 visage or that of some animal ; and instead of a weapon, 

 would hold a rattle in his hand, as before described. After 

 making this circuit round the ships, they would come 

 alongside and begin to trade without farther ceremony. 



" During these visits they gave us no other trouble than 

 to guard against their thievish tricks. But in the morning 

 of the 4th of April we had a serious alarm. Our party on 

 shore, who were employed in cutting wood and filling water, 

 observed that the natives all around them were arming 

 themselves in the best manner they could, preparing sticks 

 and collecting stones. On hearing this, I thought it prudent 

 to arm also. However, our fears were ill-grounded ; these 

 hostile preparations were not directed against us, but 

 against a body of their own countrymen, who were coming 

 to fight them ; and our friends of the Sound, on observing 

 our apprehensions, used their best endeavours to convince 

 us that this was the case. At length the difference, what- 

 ever it was, seemed to be compromised, but the strangers 

 were not allowed to come alongside the ships, nor to have 

 any trade or intercourse with us. Probably we were the 

 cause of the quarrel. 



" We resumed our work in the afternoon, and continued 

 the repairs of the vessels without interruption, and other 

 necessary business. 



" Bad weather now came on, but that did not, however, 



