CHAPTER XV. 



MADISON'S ISLAND— RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES, CUSTOMS, 



Having now nothing to occupy me but the refitting of 

 my ship, which went on with expedition, and the loading 

 the New-Zealander with the oil from the Greenwich, 

 Scringapatam, and the Sir Andrew Hammond, I was 

 enabled to make little excursions occasionally into different 

 parts of the valley, and visit the natives at their houses, 

 which was what i had not been enabled to do heretofore, 

 as my various occupations had kept me much confined to 

 our village. On these occasions I always met the most 

 hospitable and friendly reception from the natives of both 

 sexes. Cocoa-nuts, apd whatever else they had, were 

 offered me, and I rarely returned home without several 

 little tie ties as a token of their regard. I generally took 

 with me seeds of different descriptions, with which 1 was 

 provided, such as melons, pumpkins, peas, beans, oranges, 

 limes, &c. together with peach stones, wheat and Indian 

 corn, which were planted within the enclosures, in the 

 most suitable places for them, the natives always assisting 

 in pulling up the weeds and clearing the ground for this 

 purpose. The nature of the different kinds of vegetables 

 and fruit that each kind of grain would produce was ex- 

 plained, and they all promised to take the utmost care of 

 them, and prevent the hogs from doing them any injury. 

 I directed them not to pull any of the fruit until they had 

 consulted Wilson to know if it was ripe. Among all the 

 seeds sown there was none which gave them so much 

 pleasure as the wheat, which they called maie. This is 

 the name they gave the bread-fruit. They would not 

 believe, however, at first that it was from this grain we 

 made our bread (which they also called maie, but some- 

 times potatoe) until I ground some of the grain between 

 two stones, and showed them the flour. This produced 

 from them the most joyous exclamations of maie! maie! 

 maie ! and all began to clear away spots for sowing the 

 grain, and bringing me leaves and cocoa-nutshells, begging 



