16+ AVOYAGETOTHE 



^ viif ^' Soon afterwards the old priefl came on board, not in a 



* — -- — * large double canoe as ufual, but in a fmall old crazy one 



December, tliat would fcarccly fwim, and appeared as if he had come 



ur ays4. ^.^ -^j ftcalth. Thc momcnt the old man got upon deck 



he began to tell me that the king was a great rafcal, per- 



fifted in his former ftory, and begged me to watch him 



narrowly. After haranguing for a fhort time, he left me 



and went on board the Queen Charlotte, where he fpent 



the remainder of the day. By this time our wooding 



buhnefs was completed, having purchafed a quantity fuf- 



ficient for at lead fix months confumptioii. 



jL 



Friday 15. Next moming at eight o'clock the long-boat came 



along-fide, and Mr. Hayward informed me, that on going 

 down to the place where his guide conduced him in 

 Queen Charlotte's Bay, he found a fmall bay with very 

 deep water, clofe to a fandy beach, where the natives 

 generally landed with their canoes, but no place for a 

 ihip to ride in with fafety ; adjoining to the beach, in a 

 beautiful valley, furrounded by fine groves of cocoanut- 

 trees and a delightful country, there was a large town, 

 where (as Towanooha informed him) the king generally 

 refided, and the diftrift round it was called Whyteetee. 

 According to Mr. Hayward' s account, there were very 

 few canoes in the bay ; neither did he fee any great num- 

 ber of inhabitants ; fo that we may reafonably fuppofe 

 they were come into, the bay where we lay, led either by 

 bufinefs or curiofity. 



Not a fingle native came near the fhips for two days, 

 and their canoes were hauled out of fight, but we could 

 perceive vaft numbers of the inhabitants about the houfb 



on 



4 - 



