?6 
A VOYAGE TO 
c 1777 that the Spaniards put afhore, which are of two or three 
forts, I think they would have done the ifland a great deal 
more fervice, if they had hanged them all, inftead of leav¬ 
ing them upon it. It was to one of them, that my young 
ram fell a victim. 
When thefe fhips left the ifland, four Spaniards remained 
behind. Two were priefts, one a fervant, and the fourth 
made himfelf very popular among the natives, who dif- 
tinguifh him by the name of Mateema. He feems to have 
been a perfon who had ftudied their language; or, at leaflr, 
to have fpoken it fo as to be underftood; and to have taken 
uncommon pains to imprefs the minds of the iflanders with 
the molt exalted ideas of the greatnefs of the Spanifh na¬ 
tion, and to make them think meanly of the Englifh. He 
even went fo far as to aflure them, that we no longer ex- 
ifted as an independent nation; that Pretane was only a 
fmall -ifland, which they, the Spaniards, had entirely de- 
ftroyed; and, for me, that they had met with me at fea, 
and, with a few fhot, had fent my fliip, and every foul in 
her, to the bottom ; fo that my viflting Otaheite, at this 
time, was, of courfe, very unexpected. All this, and many 
other improbable falfehoods, did this Spaniard make thefe 
people believe. If Spain had no other views, in this expe¬ 
dition, but to depreciate the Englifh, they had better have 
kept their fhips at home; for my returning again to Ota¬ 
heite, was confidered as a complete confutation of all that 
Mateema had faid. 
With what defign the priefts flayed, we can only guefs. 
If it was to convert the natives to the catholic faith, they 
have not fucceeded in any one inftance. But it does not ap¬ 
pear, that they ever attempted it; for, if the natives are to 
be believed, they never converfed with them, either on this, 
or 
