THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
7S 
which, according to his own directions, were eight feet in 
length, five in breadth, and about three in depth. Locks 
and bolts were not a fufhcient fecurity; but it mult be large 
enough for two people to fleep upon, by way of guarding 
it in the night. 
It will appear a little extraordinary, that we, who had a 
fmattering of their language, and Omai, befides, for an 
Interpreter, could never get any clear account of the time 
when the Spaniards arrived, how long they flayed, and 
when they departed. The more we inquired into this mat¬ 
ter, the more we were convinced of the inability of moft 
of thefe people to remember, or note the time, when pall 
events happened; efpecially if it exceeded ten or twenty 
months. It, however, appeared, by the date of the infcrip- 
tion upon the crofs, and by the information we received 
from the mofl intelligent of the natives, that two fhips ar¬ 
rived at Oheitepeha in 1774, f° on after I left Matavai, which 
was in May, the fame year. They brought with them the 
houfe and live flock, before mentioned. Some faid, that, 
after landing thefe things, and fome men, they failed in 
queft of me, and returned in about ten days. But I have 
fome doubt of the truth of this, as they were never feen, 
either at Huaheine, or at Ulietea. The live flock they left 
here, confifled of one bull, fome goats, hogs, and dogs, and 
the male of fome other animal; which we afterward found 
to be a ram, and, at this time, was at Bolabola, whither the 
bull was alfo to have been tranfported. 
The hogs are of a large kind; have already greatly im¬ 
proved the breed originally found by us upon the ifland ; 
and, at the time of our late arrival, were very numerous. 
Goats are, alfo, in tolerable plenty, there being hardly a 
Chief of any note who has not got fome. As to the dogs 
L 2 that 
T 777. 
September. 
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