NEW ZEALAND AGAIN 207 



lack of a convenient harbour prevented the two 

 vessels anchoring, but Cook learnt from tv^o na- 

 tives who came on board in their canoe that the 

 island was called Mangeea. 



On March 31st he discovered another island, 

 called Wateea, and there he landed a party 

 which included Lieutenants Gore and Burney, 

 the surgeon Anderson and Omai. The latter 

 was surprised to meet three Tahitians who, 

 twelve years previously, had embarked at Tahiti 

 in a canoe with about twenty of their compatriots 

 to go to Ulietea. A terrible storm had upset 

 their craft, and all had been drowned with the 

 exception of four, who had clung to the canoe 

 and had drifted for several days, until they were 

 seen by the inhabitants of this island. One of 

 these Tahitians had been dead for several years. 

 As for the remaining three, they were so happy 

 in this charming country, covered with fertile 

 plains and green hills, that they refused the offer 

 of the Englishmen to take them back to their 

 own country. 



The new-comers were the first Europeans who 

 had landed on the island. They were therefore 

 regarded by the islanders, very like the Tahi- 

 tians, as truly strange creatures. A large crowd 

 followed them. They even presented them with 

 the spectacle of a dance, in which twenty young 

 women, very good-looking, moved in perfect 



