JULY 1769 OTAHAH 117 



also a trough for making Poe poe, or sour paste, carved out 

 of hard black stone such as their hatchets are made of; it 

 was 2 feet 7 inches long and 1 foot 4 broad, very thick and 

 substantial, and supported by four short feet, the whole 

 neatly finished and perfectly polished, though quite without 

 ornaments. To-day, as well as yesterday, every one of us 

 who walked out saw many jaw-bones fixed up in houses, as 

 well as out-of-doors, which confirmed what we had been 

 told of their taking these bones instead of scalps. 



24th. The captain attempted to go out of the reef by 

 another passage situated between the two islets of Opourourou 

 and Taumou. Whilst the ship was turning to windward 

 within the reef she narrowly escaped going ashore ; the 

 quartermaster in the chains called out two fathoms, but as the 

 ship drew at least fourteen feet, it was impossible that such 

 a shoal could be under her keel, so that either the man was 

 mistaken, or the ship went along the edge of a coral rock, 

 many of which are here as steep as a wall. 



Soon after this we came to an anchor, and I went ashore, 

 but saw nothing except a small rnarai, ornamented with two 

 sticks about five feet long, each hung with as many jaw- 

 bones as possible, and one having a skull stuck on its top. 



28th> Dr. Solander and I went ashore on the island of 

 Otahah. We went through a large breach in the reef 

 situate between two islands called Toahattu and Whennuaia, 

 within which we found very spacious harbours, particularly 

 in one bay, which was at least three miles deep. The in- 

 habitants as usual, so that long before night we had pur- 

 chased three hogs, twenty-one fowls, and as many yams and 

 plantains as the boat would hold ; indeed, of these last we 

 might have had any quantity, and a more useful refreshment 

 they are to us, in my opinion, even than the pork. They 

 have been for this week past boiled, and served instead of 

 bread ; every man in the ship is fond of them, and with us 

 in the cabin they agree much better than the bread-fruit 

 did. But what makes any refreshment of this kind more 

 acceptable is that our bread is at present so full of vermin 

 that, notwithstanding all possible care, I have sometimes had 



