Potter's Voyage 



them as a being superior to themselves, but our Weaknesses and 

 assions have served to convince them that we are, hke them, 

 uman. Yet in the comparison, every thing in their opinion 

 maxks our superiority. 



Haii was, no doubt, some navigator, who, near four centuries 

 ago, left the aforesaid animals among the natives. Our accounts of 

 voyages made into this sea do not extend so far back, and even 

 if they did, we should be at a loss to know him by the name 

 given to him by the natives. They found it impossible to pro- 

 nounce our names distinctly, even after the utmost pains to teach 

 them, and the most repeated trials on their part. They gave me 

 the name of Opotee^ which was the nearest they could come to 

 Porter. Mr. Downes was called Onou ; Lieutenant Wilmer, 

 Wooreme ; Lieutenant M'Knight, Muscheetie^ and the name of 

 every one else underwent an equal change. These names we 

 were called by, and answered to, so long as we remained with 

 them ; and it is not improbable that we shall be so called in 

 their traditionary accounts. If there should be no other means 

 of handing our names down to posterity, it is likely we shall 

 be as little known to future navigators as Haii is to us. Al- 

 though we know not the navigator who, at that early period, (it 

 is possible, however, that there may be some error in the chro- 

 nology of the natives) visited these islands, yet we cannot be so 

 much at a loss to discover the nation to which he belonged. The 

 natives call a hog bouarka, or rather Pouarka ; and it is likely 

 that they still retain the name nearly by which they were first 

 known to them. The Spaniards call a hog porca^ giving it a 

 sound very little different from that used by the natives of these 

 islands; and as the Spaniards were the earliest navigators in 

 these seas, there is scarcely a doubt that they are indebted to 

 one of that nation for so precious a gift. 



The cocoa-nuts grow in great abundance in every valley of the 

 island, and are cultivated with much care. This tree is too well 

 known to need a description ; yet the mode used to propagate it 

 may not be uninteresting. As the cocoa-nuts become ripe, they 

 are carefully collected from the tree, which is ascended by means 

 of a slip of strong bark, with which they make their feet fast a 

 httle above the ankles, leaving them about a foot asunder. They 

 then grasp the tree with their arms, feet, and knees, and the strip 

 of bark resting on the rough projections of the bark of the tree, 

 prevents them from slipping down. M this manner^ by alter- 

 nately shifting their feet and hands, they ascend with great ap- 

 parent ease and rapidity the highest tree, whence they send 

 down the fruit, which is then hung together in bunches to a 

 cocoa-nut tree, situated near their dwelling, at a suipcient height 

 from the ground to place them in perfect security. Here they 



