144 VOYAGE IN SEARCH 



their trouble ; but, in this fhort palTage, fome 

 other natives turned us to better account, by 

 flipping foftly behind us, and robbing us 

 quite at their eafe, while the former were car- 

 rying us on their backs : thefe thieves, how- 

 ever, were not equally fuccefsful ; for we pur- 

 fued fome of them, whom we forced to reftore 

 what they had jufl taken. 



As foon as we had arrived on board, the com- 

 manding officer informed us that, during our 

 abfence, he had given orders for flopping an 

 iflander, at the moment when he was carrying 

 away feveral articles of hardware which he had 

 flolen in the between- decks; and that Fnttafaihe^ 

 difapproving the robberies which the natives 

 daily committed on us, had, with apparent fin- 

 cerity, declared aloud that this man mufl be 

 punifhed with death : but it was foon perceiv- 

 ed that this was only a feint on the part of the 

 chief; for, no fooner was the thief ftruck with 

 a rope's end, than he interceded for his p^irdon, 

 which he did not obtain ; and as the number of 

 ftrokes which the fellow was to receive had been 

 fixed at five and twenty, and which were actu- 

 ally inflidled on him, Fiitlafaihe feemed to be 

 extremely afl'ecfted. 



Early in the morning of the ifl of April, we 

 had a viflt from Tonga^ who accompanied Too- 



bou. 



