128 
O W H Y H E E. 
not many ages back, from the mountain Roa to the fhore. 
The fouthern promontory looks like the mere dregs of a 
volcano. The projecting head-land is compOfed of broken 
and craggy rocks, piled irregularly on one another, and 
terminating in fharp points. Notwithftanding the difmal 
afpeft of this part of the ifland, there are many villages 
fcattered over it, and it certainly is much more populous 
than the verdant mountains of Apoona. Nor is this cir- 
cumftance hard to be accounted for. As thefe iflauders 
have no cattle, they have confequently no ufe for paftu- 
rage, and therefore naturally prefer fuch ground as either 
lies more convenient for fifhing,' or is belt fuited to the 
cultivation of yams and plantains. Now amidfl thefe 
ruins there are many patches of rich foil, which are care¬ 
fully laid out in plantations; and the neighbouring fea 
abounds with a variety of moll excellent fifh, with which, 
as well as with other provifions, we were always plenti¬ 
fully fupplied. The whole eafl fide of the ifland, from 
the northern to the fouthern extremity, does not afford 
the ftr.allefl harbour or (belter for (hipping. 
The fouth-weft parts of Akona are in the fame ftate 
with the adjoining diftrid: of Kaoo ; but farther to the 
north the country has been cultivated with great pains, 
and is extremely populous. In this part of the ifland is 
fituated Karakakooa Bay. Along the coafl: nothing is 
feen but large mafles of flag, and the fragments of black 
fcorched rocks ; behind which the ground rifes gradually 
for about two miles and a half, and appears to have been 
formerly covered with loofe burnt Hones. Thefe the na¬ 
tives have taken the pains of clearing away, frequently to 
the depth of three feet and upwards ; which labour, great 
as it is, the fertility of the foil amply repays. Here, in a 
rich afhy mould, they cultivate fweet potatoes, and the 
cloth-plant. The fields are inclofed with ftone fences, 
and are interperfed with groves of cocoa-nut trees. On 
the rifing ground beyond thefe the bread-fruit trees are 
planted, and flourifh with the greatell luxuriance. Koaara 
extends from the wefiernmoft point of the northern ex¬ 
tremity of the ifland ; the whole coafl; between them forrn- 
ingan extenlivebay, calledToe-yah-yah, which is bound¬ 
ed to the north by two very confpicuous hills. Toward 
the bottom of this bay, there is foul corally ground, ex¬ 
tending upwards of a mile from the fhore, without which 
the foundings are regular, with good anchorage, in twenty 
fathoms. The country, as far as the eye could reach, 
feemed fruitful and well inhabited, the foil being in ap¬ 
pearance of the fame kind with the diftrict of Kaoo ; but 
no frefh water is to be got here. 
A party advanced into the land, to the diflance of three 
or four miles from the bay ; they found the country as 
before deferibed ; the hills afterwards rofe with a more 
fudden afcent, which brought them to the extenfive plan¬ 
tations that terminate the view of the country, as feen 
from the fhips. Thefe plantations confift of the tarrow 
or eddy-root, and the fweet potatoe, with plants of the 
cloth-tree, neatly fet-out in rows. The walls that fepa- 
rate them are made of the loofe burnt ftones which are 
got in clearing the ground; and, being entirely concealed 
by fugar-canes, planted clofe on each fide, make the moll 
beautiful fences that can be conceived. The party flopped 
for the night at the fecond hut they found amonglt the 
plantations, about fix or feven miles, as they eftimated 
the diflance, from the fhips. The profpedi: from this fpot 
was very delightful; they faw the fhips in the bay before 
them ; to the left a continued range of villages, inler- 
fperfed with groves of cocoa-nut trees, fpreading along 
the fea-fhore; a thick w’ood ftretching out of fight be¬ 
hind them ; and to the right an extent of ground laid out 
in regular and well-cultivated plantations, as far as the 
eye could reach. Near this fpot, at a diflance from any 
other dwelling, the natives pointed out to them the refi- 
denceof an hermit, who, as they faid, had formerly been 
a great chief and warrior, but had long ago quitted the 
fhores of the ifland, and now never ftirred from his cot¬ 
tage. They proftrated themfelves as they approached 
him, and afterwards prefented to him a part of fuch pro¬ 
vifions as they had brought with them. His behaviour 
was eafy and cheerful; he fcarcely fhowed any marks of 
aftonifhinent at the fight of our people; and, though 
preffed to accept of fome of ourcuriofities, he declined the 
offer, and foon withdrew to his cottage. He was deferibed 
as by far the oldeft perfon any of the party had ever feen, 
and judged to be, by thofe who computed his age at the 
lowed, upwards of ioo years old. 
The party ftill proceeded, and entered a thick wood, 
through which their progrefs was flow; and, after they 
had advanced about ten miles in the wood, they found 
themfelves on a fudden within fight of the fea, and at 
no great diflance from it. They therefore retraced their 
fteps for fix or feven miles to an unoccupied hut, where 
they had left three of the natives and two of their own 
people, and the fmall flock that remained of their provi¬ 
fions. Their provifions being exhaufted, they found it 
advifable to return to fome of the cultivated parts of the 
ifland, and quitted the wood by the fame path by which 
they had entered it. Having obtained a frefh fupply, 
they marched along the fkirts of the wood for fix or feven 
miles, and entered it again, purfuing their courfe for the 
fir ft three miles through forefts of lofty fpice-trees. In 
pafling through the woods, they found many canoes half 
finifhed, and here and there a hut; but faw none of the 
inhabitants. In their farther progrefs, they experienced 
the want of water, as, in a courfe of twenty miles, they 
had met with nofprings. At-length they determined to 
return to the fhips, after taking a view of the country from 
the higheft trees which the place afforded. From this 
elevation they faw themfelves furrounded on all fides 
with wood towards the fea; they co'uld not diftinguifh, 
in the horizon, the fky from the water; and between 
them and the Snowy Mountain, which they had once in¬ 
tended to afeend and examine, was a valley about feven 
or eight miles broad, above which the mountain appeared 
only as a hill of a moderate fize. Finding themfelves 
about nine miles north-eaft of the fhips, they directed 
their march toward them through the plantations. As 
they palled along, they did not obferve a fingle fpot of 
ground that was capable of improvement left unplanted ; 
and, indeed, it appeared, from their account, hardly pofii- 
ble for the country to be cultivated to greater advantage 
for the purpofes of the inhabitants, or made to yield them 
a larger fupply of neceflaries for their fubfiflence. They 
were furprifed to meet with feveral fields of hay ; and, on 
enquiring to what ufe it was applied, were told it was 
defigned to cover the young tarrow grounds, in order to 
preferve them from being fcorched by the fun. They faw 
a few fcattered huts among the plantations, which ferved 
for occafional flicker to the labourers ; but no villages at 
a greater diflance than four or five miles from the fea. 
Near one of them, which was fituated about four miles 
from the bay, they difeovered a cave forty fathoms in 
length, three in breadth, and of the fame height. It was 
open at each end; its fides were fluted as if wrought with 
a chifel ; and the furface was glazed over, perhaps by the 
action of fire. There are fuppofed to be on this ifland 
about 150,000 inhabitants. So long as the name of Capt. 
Cook (hall be remembered, this ifland will not be for¬ 
gotten ; for he here fell a victim to a ftrange concatena¬ 
tion of events. See Cook, vol. v. 
VYe have the following account of the inhabitants of 
this ifland in Ellis’s Authentic Narrative. “ The men 
are above the middle-fize, flout, well-made, and flefhy, 
but not fat. Corpulency is not altogether fo great a mark; 
of diftinftion in thefe as in the Society Ifles; and tallnefs, 
for which the Otaheiteans have great partiality, is alfo 
overlooked. Their colour is moftly of a brown-olive. 
The women are in general mafeuline, though there are 
fome delicately made ; and the voice of them all is foft 
and feminine. The hair, both of the head and beard, is 
black; that of the head, the men wear in the form of a 
helmet, that is, a long frizzled ridge from the forehead to 
the 
