198 
A VOYAGE TO 
rjj. fur face of the water, and of a brown or brick colour; but 
_ pi Z L , the texture is rather porous, yet fufficient to withftand the 
walking of the furf which continually breaks upon it.” 
Though the landing of our Gentlemen proved the means 
of enriching my Journal with the foregoing particulars, 
the principal obje£t I had in view was, in a great meafure, 
unattained; for the day was fpent without getting any one 
thing from the illand worth mentioning. The natives, 
however, were gratified with a fight they never before had; 
and, probably, will never have again. And mere curiofity 
feems to have been their chief motive for keeping the 
gentlemen under fuch reftraint, and for ufing every art to 
prolong their continuance amonglt them. 
It has been mentioned, that Omai was fent upon this ex¬ 
pedition; and, perhaps, his being Mr. Gore’s interpreter 
was not the only fervice he performed this day. He was 
alked, by the natives, a great many queftions concerning 
us, our fhips, our country, and the fort of arms we ufed; 
and, according to the account he gave me, his anfwers were 
not a little upon the marvellous. As, for inftance, he told 
them, that our country had fhips as large as their illand; on 
board which were inltrum ents of war (defcribing our guns), 
of fuch dimenlions, that feveral people might lit within 
them; and that one of them was fufficient to crulh the 
whole illand at one Ihot. This led them to inquire of him, 
what fort of guns we actually had in our two fhips. He 
faid, that though they were but fmall, in comparifon with 
thofe he had juft defcribed, yet, with fuch as they were, we 
could, with the greateft eafe, and at the diftance the fhips 
were from the fhore, deftroy the illand, and kill every foul 
in it. They perfevered in their inquiries, to know by 
what means this could be done; and Omai explained the 
matter 
