22 BOWDITCH ISLAND. 



were very bright. At two o'clock, they had heavy squalls at Fase- 

 tootai, with the wind at east-northeast. This phenomenon appears 

 to have been local, for it was not observed at Apia, only twenty miles 

 distant. The wind, however, during its continuance, was found to 

 have changed to northwest-by-north, attended with heavy rain, and 

 bad weather continued for a fortnight. Both Mr. Cunningham and 

 Mr. Williams assured me that the halos and parhelia were usually 

 followed by bad weather. 



At Apia, among their old acquaintances, they encountered Pea, the 

 ruling chief of the place, whose begging propensities still existed in 

 all their force. His form was equally rotund, and his desire of being 

 of service quite as great. Report spoke of him as having become 

 very religious of late, but his covetousness had not diminished in 

 consequence, at least in the opinion of our officers. He was generally 

 full of business, among his friends and relatives, all of whom he con- 

 siders more or less as his dependants. He was very anxious to be in- 

 formed what had become of his relative, Tuvai, the murderer, whom 

 we had carried away from these islands on our former visit. 



Purser Speiden, who was the officer charged with procuring 

 supplies, and superintending the trade with the natives, having found 

 much difficulty in obtaining them alongside the ship, received per- 

 mission to make arrangements for a suitable place on shore. For this 

 purpose he procured a place to erect a pen for the pigs, &c. To 

 show the exorbitant demands of the natives, and their desire to prac- 

 tise imposition, I will state the difficulties he encountered. In the 

 first place, he had to pay for the site on which to build a pen; 

 secondly, for the logs and poles to build it with ; thirdly, for going 

 after the timbers; fourthly, for building the pen; fifthly, for trans- 

 ferring the live-stock to it ; sixthly, for services to a native to watch 

 the pigs during the day and see that they did not escape; seventhly, 

 to pay a man to collect cocoa-nuts for food ; eighthly, to pay a woman 

 to feed them ; and ninthly, to pay a man to watch the pigs, taro, &c, 

 during the night. Besides this, there was a charge made for trading 

 under the large tree ! This traffic seldom failed to afford much 

 amusement to the lookers-on. In the centre, near the trunk of the 

 tree, was the trade-box, and near to it stood the trade-master, measur- 

 ing- the fathoms of cloth. On one side were natives, seated with their 

 cocoa-nuts and pigs, and others looking on ; some again sitting aloof, 

 because they could not obtain their price, or the article they wanted ; 



