THE SCOFFER ABROAD 177 



knew more about Mr. Banks. It was clear that he had 

 been the life and soul of the party, with his gun, and his 

 dogs, and his sporting instincts. Cook is not chary in his 

 admissions that Banks lent considerable spirit to the 

 Expedition. Hence the newspapers found a new source 

 of humour, in dwelling upon various incidents in which 

 he was concerned. Especially seductive was the idea of 

 his dallying with the tatooed ladies of Otaheite. Little of 

 this is worth repeating at this distance of time. One skit 

 in pamphlet form, rather clever, but desperately indecent, 

 appeared as an Epistle from Oberea the Queen, by whom 

 the visitors had been entertained and befriended. 1 



Some ten years after this period there appeared a new 

 Light in lyric poetry, who kept the town going for up- 

 wards of a quarter of a century. He called himself 

 " Peter Pindar* a distant relation of the poet of Thebes, 



1 Attributed to Major John Scott, a very versatile pamphleteer of 

 the day : An Epistle from Oberea, Queen of Otaheite, to Joseph Banks, 

 Esq. Translated by T. Q. Z., Esq., Professor of the Otaheite languages in 

 Dublin, and of all the languages of the undiscovered islands in the South 

 Sea ; and enriched with historical and explanatory notes (4to, London, 

 1774). This was speedily followed by An Epistle from Mr. Banks, 

 Voyager, Monster Hunter, and Amoroso, to Oberea, Queen of Otaheite. 

 Transfused by A. B. C., Esq., second professor of the Otaheite and of every 

 other unknown Tongue . . . (Printed at Batavia, for Jacopus Opano, and 

 sold in London, 1774.) Opano, it will be remembered, was the phonetic 

 form of Banks's name as pronounced by the islanders. An incident of 

 Cook's second voyage is made use of by the unknown author of " The 

 Travels of Hildebrand Bowman, Esquire, into Carnovirria, Taupiniera, 

 Olfactaria, and Auditante, in New Zealand ; in the Island of Bonhom- 

 mica, and in the powerful Kingdom of Luro-Volupto, on the Great 

 Southern Continent. Written by Himself ; who went on shore in the 

 Adventure's large cutter, at Queen Charlotte's Sound, New Zealand, the 

 fatal 1 7th of December, 1773 ; and escaped being cut off, and devoured, 

 with the rest of the boat's crew, by happening to be a-shooting in the 

 woods ; where he was afterwards unfortunately left behind by the 

 Adventure." (8vo, London, 1778.) 



2 i.e. John Wolcot, M.D., originally apprenticed to an apothecary at 

 Fowey ; he found a patron who discerned in him some talent, and took 

 him to Jamaica. Here he failed in making a physician's practice. He 

 came home and took orders ! and returned to Jamaica, where he utterly 

 failed as a parson. After his patron's death he returned to England, and 

 started as a physician at Truro. Here he enjoyed but partial success on 

 account of his general indiscretions. Far too witty a man for that 

 provincial circle, he presently came to London, in company with young 



