A THEFT AND THE RESULT. 



505 



mast was found to be much damaged, the heel being exceedingly 

 rotten, having a large hole up the middle of it capable of hold- 

 ing four or five cocoanuts. The reception of the ships was very 

 different from what it had been on their first arrival : there 

 were no shouts, no bustle, no confusion. The bay seemed de- 

 serted, though from time to time a solitary canoe stole stealthily 

 along the shore. 



Toward the evening of the 13th, a theft committed by a party 

 of the islanders on board the Discovery gave rise to a disturbance 

 of a very serious nature. Pareea, a personage of some author- 

 ity, was accused of the theft, and a scuffle ensued, in which 



FIGHT WITH ISLAND EES. 



Pareea was knocked down by a violent blow on the head with 

 an oar. The natives immediately attacked the crew of the 

 pinnace with a furious shower of stones and other missiles, and 

 forced them to swim off with great precipitation to a rock at 

 some distance from the shore. The pinnace was immediately 

 ransacked by the islanders, and would have been demolished, 

 but for the interposition of Pareea, who, upon the recognition of 

 his innocence, joined noses with the officers and seemed to have 

 forgotten the blow he had received. 



When Captain Cook heard of what had happened, he ex- 

 pressed some anxiety, and said that it would not do to allow 

 the islanders to imagine that they had gained an advantage. 

 It was too late to take any steps that evening, however. A 

 double guard was posted at the observatory, and at midnight 



