in the Pacific Ocean, lit 



owe the fairness of our skin entirely to the colour of that lumi- 

 nary. They are sensible that England and America are tv/o dis- 

 tinct countries, or rather islands, or valleys situated in the same 

 island; and they were astonished, that while the two tribes were 

 at war we should suffer our prisoners to live. 



No people are more strongly attached to their soil than the 

 natives of Nooaheevah ; no persuasions whatever, no offers of re- 

 ward (not even of whales'* teeth) can induce them to leave their 

 beloved island, their friends, and relations. And the only times 

 that I ever discovered anger strongly marked on their counte-. 

 nances, was when, for my amusement, I proposed to their chil- 

 dren or brothers to take them to America. Indeed I should 

 have been glad that one or two of their young men would have 

 consented to go with me, if I had been certain of having it in my 

 power to return them to their native island. But the apprehen- 

 sion that this might not be the case, prevented my being so soli- 

 citous as I otherwise should have been. It is true, they have not 

 the same aversion to leaving their island to search for other lands. 

 But they are taught by traditions that those are not the countries 

 of white men, they are islands abounding in bread-fruit, cocoa- 

 nuts, tarra, kava, and such other productions as are to them in 

 higher estimation than any other ; they are the lands belonging 

 to the great nation of which they make a part, who speak the 

 same language, with slight variations, have the same religion 

 and customs, use the same arms and ornaments, and are dissemi- 

 nated among the innumerable islands scattered about the Pacific 

 Ocean. A Nooaheevan, a Sandwich islander, an Otaheitan, and 

 a New Zealander, are all of the same nation, and their language 

 and appearance do not differ so much as those of the people of 

 the different counties of England. 



It has been seen by the traditionary accounts given me by 

 Gattanewa, that Oataia and Ovanova his wife came from an 

 island called Vavao (somewhere below Nooaheevah) and peopled 

 this island. It is said he brought with him a variety of plants, 

 and that his forty children, with the exception of one, (Po, or 

 night,) were named after those plants. Among the group of the 

 Friendly Islands is a fine island called Vavao, which produces 

 every thing in common with Tongataboo, and the other islands 

 of the group ; the productions of which differ little from those of 

 Nooaheevah. 



On the 9th of December, I had all my provisions, wood, and 

 water on board, my decks filled with hogs, and a most abundant 

 supply of cocoa-nuts and bananas, with which we had been fur- 

 nished by the liberality of our Nooaheevan friends, who had re- 

 served for us a stock of dried cocoa-nuts, suitable for taking to 

 sea, and calculated for keeping three or four months. 



