10 
A VOYAGE TO 
1777- that they had left animals there, fuch as we had on board, 
u—But, on farther inquiry, we found they were only hogs, 
dogs, goats, one bull, and the male of fome other animal, 
which, from the imperfect defcription now given us, we 
could not find out. They told us, that thefe fliips had 
come from a place called Reema ; by which we gueffed, 
that Lima, the capital of Peru, was meant, and that thefe 
late vifiters were Spaniards. We were informed, that the 
firft time they came, they built a houfe, and left four men 
behind them, viz. two priefts, a boy or fervant, and a fourth 
perfon, called Mateema, who was much fpoken of at this 
time; carrying away with them, when they failed, four of 
the natives; that, in about ten months, the fame two fhips 
returned, bringing back two of the illanders, the other two 
having died at Lima; and that, after a fhort flay, they took 
away their own people; but that the houfe, which they had 
built, was left Handing. 
The important news, of red feathers being on board our 
fhips, having been conveyed on fhore by Omai’s friends, 
Wednef. 13. day had no fooner begun to break, next morning, than we 
were furrounded by a multitude of canoes, crowded with 
people, bringing hogs and fruits to market. At firft, a 
quantity of feathers, not greater than what might be got 
from a tom-tit, would purchafe a hog, of forty or fifty 
pounds weight. But, as almoft every body in the Blips was 
poftefled of fome of this precious article of trade, it fell, in 
its value, above five hundred per cent, before night. How¬ 
ever, even then, the balance was much in our favour; 
and red feathers continued to preferve their fuperiority 
over every other commodity. Some of the natives would 
not part with a hog, unlefs they received an axe in ex¬ 
change ; but nails, and beads, and other trinkets, which, 
during 
