APR. 1769 THE DOLPHINS QUEEN 85 



fond ; on her landing she met Hercules (whom for the future 

 I shall call by his real name Dootahah), and showed him her 

 presents. He became uneasy, and was not satisfied till he 

 also had got a doll, which he now seemed to prefer to a 

 hatchet ; after this, however, dolls were of no value. 



29th. My first business this morning was to see that the 

 butcher was punished, as I promised Tubourai and Tamio, 

 and of which they had not failed to remind me yesterday, 

 when the crowd of people who were with us had prevented 

 its being carried out. I took them on board the ship, 

 where Captain Cook immediately ordered the offender to be 

 punished ; they stood quietly and saw him stripped and 

 fastened to the rigging, but as soon as the first blow was 

 given, interfered with many tears, begging that the punish- 

 ment might cease, a request which the captain would not 

 comply with. 



At night I visited Tubourai, as I often did by candle- 

 light, and found him and all his family in a most melancholy 

 mood; most of them shed tears, so that I soon left them 

 without being at all able to find out the cause of their grief. 

 An old man had prophesied to some of our people that in 

 four days we should fire our guns ; this was the fourth night, 

 and the circumstance of Tubourai crying over me, as we 

 interpreted it, alarmed our officers a good deal ; the sentries 

 are therefore doubled, and we sleep to-night under arms. 



SQth. A very strict watch was kept last night, as 

 intended, and at two in the morning I myself went round 

 the point, finding everything perfectly quiet. Our little 

 fortification is now complete ; it consists of high breastworks 

 at each end ; the front palisades and the rear guarded by 

 the river, on the bank of which we placed casks full of 

 water : at every angle is mounted a swivel, and two carriage- 

 guns pointed in the two directions by which the Indians 

 might attack us out of the woods. Our sentries are also 

 as well relieved as they could be in the most regular 

 fortification. 



About ten, Tamio came running to the tents ; she seized 

 my hand and told me that Tubourai was dying, and that I 



