During our absence, Captain Clerke had been under the greatest anxiety for our safety. And these apprehensions were considerably increased, from his having entirely mistaken the drift of the conversation he had held with some natives who had been on board. The frequent mention of the name of Captain Cook, with other strong and circumstantial descriptions of death and destruction, made him conclude, that the knowledge of the unfortunate events at Owhyhee had reached them, and that these were what they alluded to; whereas all they had in view was, to make known to him the wars that had arisen, in consequence of the goats that Captain Cook had left at Oneeheow, and the slaughter of the poor goats themselves, during the struggle for the property of them. Captain Clerke, applying this earnestness of conversation, and these terrible representations, to our calamitous transactions at Owhyhee, and to an indication of revenge, kept his telescope fixed upon us, and the moment he saw the smoke of the muskets, ordered the boats to be manned and armed, and to put off to our assistance.
The next morning I was again ordered on shore with the watering party. The risk we had run the preceding day, determined Captain Clerke to send a considerable force from both ships for our guard, amounting in all to forty men under arms. This precaution, however, was now unnecessary; for we found the beach left entirely to ourselves, and the ground between the landing place and the lake, tabooed, with small white flags. We concluded, from this appearance, that some of the chiefs had certainly visited this quarter; and that, not being able to stay, they had kindly and considerately taken this step, for our greater security and convenience. We saw several men armed with long spears and daggers on the other side of the river, on our right; but they did not offer to give us the least molestation. Their women came over, and sat down on the banks close by us, and at noon we prevailed on some of the men to bring hogs and roots for our people, and to dress them for us. As soon as we had left the beach, they came down to the sea side, and one of them threw a stone at us; but his conduct seeming to be highly disapproved of by all the rest, we did not think it proper to show any resentment.
The next day we completed our watering without meeting with any material difficulty. On our return to the ships, we found that several chiefs had been on board, and had made excuses for the behaviour of their countrymen, attributing their riotous conduct to the quarrels which subsisted at that time amongst the principal people of the island, and which had occasioned a general want of order and subordination amongst them. The government of Atooi was in dispute between Toneoneo, who had the supreme power when we were here last year, and a boy named Teavee. They are both, by different fathers, the grandsons of Pereeorannee, king of Woahoo, who had given the government of Atooi to the former, and that of Oneeheow to the latter. The quarrel had arisen about the goats we had left at Oneeheow the last year: the right of property in which was claimed by Toneoneo, on the pretence of that island’s being a dependency of his. The friends of Teavee insisting on the right of possession, both parties prepared to maintain their pretensions by force; and a few days before our arrival, a battle had been fought, in which Toneoneo had been worsted. The consequence of this victory was likely to affect Toneoneo in a much deeper manner than by the mere loss of the objects in dispute; for the mother of Teavee, having married a second husband, who was a chief of Atooi, and at the head of a powerful faction there, he thought that the present opportunity was not to be neglected of driving Toneoneo entirely out of the island, and of advancing his son-in-law to the government. I have already had occasion to mention that the goats, which had increased to the number of six, and would probably in a few years have stocked all these islands, were destroyed in the contest.
On the 4th, the mother and sister of the young prince and his father-in-law, with many other chiefs of that party, came on board the Resolution, and made several curious and valuable presents to Captain Clerke. Amongst the former, were some fish-hooks, which they assured us were made of the bones of our old friend Terreeoboo’s father, who had been killed in an unsuccessful descent upon the island of Woahoo; and a fly flap, presented to him by the prince’s sister, the handle of which was a human bone, that had been given her as a trophy by her father-in-law. Young Teavee was not of the company, being engaged, as we were told, in performing some religious ceremonies, in consequence of the victory he had obtained, which were to last twenty days.
This and the two following days were employed on shore in completing the Discovery’s water; and the carpenters were busy on board, in caulking the ships, and in making other preparations for our next cruise. The natives desisted from giving us any further disturbance; and we procured from them a plentiful supply of pork and vegetables.
At this time, an Indian brought a piece of iron on board the Discovery, to be fashioned into the shape of pahooa. It was carefully examined both by the officers and men, and appeared to be the bolt of some large ship timbers. They were not able to discover to what nation it belonged; but from the pale colour[[10]] of the iron, and its not corresponding in shape to our bolts, they concluded that it certainly was not English. This led them to make a strict inquiry of the native, when and where he got it; and if they comprehended him right, it had been taken out of a piece of timber, larger than the cable bit, to which he pointed. This piece of wood, they farther understood from him, to have been driven upon their island, since we were here in January 1778.
On the 7th, we were surprised with a visit from Toneoneo. When he heard the dowager princess was in the ship, it was with great difficulty we could prevail on him to come on board, not from any apprehension that he appeared to entertain of his safety, but from an unwillingness to see her. Their meeting was with sulky and lowering looks on both sides. He staid but a short time, and seemed much dejected; but we remarked, with some surprise, that the women, both at his coming and going away, prostrated themselves before him; and that he was treated by all the natives on board with the respect usually paid to those of his rank. Indeed, it must appear somewhat extraordinary, that a person, who was at this time in a state of actual hostility with Teavee’s party, and was even prepared for another battle, should trust himself almost alone within the power of his enemies. It is therefore to be observed, that the civil dissentions, which are very frequent throughout all the South Sea Islands, seem to be carried on without much acrimony or bloodshed; and that the deposed governor still continues to enjoy the rank of an Eree, and is left to make use of such means as may arise for the regaining his lost consequence. But I shall have occasion to speak more particularly on this subject in the next chapter; in which the best account will be given, which we were able to collect, of the political state of those countries.
On the 8th, at nine in the morning, we weighed, and sailed toward Oneeheow; and at three in the afternoon, anchored in twenty fathoms water, nearly on the same spot as in the year 1778. We moored with the other anchor in twenty-six fathoms’ water. The high bluff, on the south end of the island, bore east south-east; the north point of the road, north half east; and a bluff head to the south of it, north-east by north. During the night we had a strong gale from the eastward; and, in the morning of the 9th, found the ship had driven a whole cable’s length, and brought both anchors almost ahead. We shortened in the best bower cable; but the wind blowing too fresh to unmoor, we were obliged to remain this and the two following days, with the anchors still ahead.
On the 12th, the weather being moderate, the master was sent to the north-west side of the island to look for a more convenient place for anchoring. He returned in the evening, having found, close round the west point of the road where we now lay, which is also the westernmost point of the island, a fine bay, with good anchorage, in eighteen fathoms’ water, a clear sandy bottom, not a mile from the beach, on which the surf beats, but not so as to hinder landing. The direction of the points of the bay were north by east, and south by west; and, in that line, the soundings seven, eight, and nine fathoms. On the north side of the bay was a small village; and a quarter of a mile to the eastward, were four small wells of good water; the road to them level, and fit for rolling casks. Mr. Bligh went afterward so far to the north as to satisfy himself, that Oreehoua was a separate island from Oneeheow; and that there was a passage between them; which, before, we only conjectured to exist.
In the afternoon we hoisted in all the boats, and made ready for going to sea in the morning.