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 marai, 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 
