I had fixed upon the 15th for sailing, till Taoofa pressed me to stay a day or two longer, to receive a present he had prepared for me. This reason, and the daily expectation of seeing some of our friends from Tongataboo, induced me to defer my departure.
Accordingly, the next day I received the chiefs present, consisting of two small heaps of yams, and some fruit, which seemed to be collected by a kind of contribution, as at the other isles. On this occasion, most of the people of the island had assembled at the place; and, as we had experienced on such numerous meetings amongst their neighbours, gave us not a little trouble to prevent them from pilfering whatever they could lay their hands upon. We were entertained with cudgelling, wrestling, and boxing-matches; and, in the latter, both male and female combatants exhibited. It was intended to have finished the shew with the bomai, or night dance, but an accident either put a total stop to it, or, at least, prevented any of us from staying ashore to see it. One of my people, walking a very little way, was surrounded by twenty or thirty of the natives, who knocked him down, and stripped him of every thing he had on his back. On hearing of this, I immediately seized two canoes, and a large hog, and insisted on Taoofa's causing the clothes to be restored, and on the offenders being delivered up to me. The chief seemed much concerned at what had happened, and forthwith took the necessary steps to satisfy me. This affair so alarmed the assembled people, that most of them fled. However, when they found that I took no other measures to revenge the insult, they returned. It was not long before one of the offenders was delivered up to me, and a shirt and a pair of trowsers restored. The remainder of the stolen goods not coming in before night, I was under a necessity of leaving them to go aboard; for the sea run so high, that it was with the greatest difficulty the boats could get out of the creek with day-light, much less in the dark.
The next morning I landed again, having provided myself with a present for Taoofa, in return for what he had given me. As it was early, there were but few people at the landing-place, and those few not without their fears. But on my desiring Omai to assure them that we meant no harm; and, in confirmation of this assurance, having restored the canoes and released the offender, whom they had delivered up to me, they resumed their usual gaiety; and presently a large circle was formed, in which the chief, and all the principal men of the island, took their places. The remainder of the clothes were now brought in; but as they had been torn off the man's back by pieces, they were not worth carrying on board. Taoofa, on receiving my present, shared it with three or four other chiefs, keeping only a small part for himself. This present exceeded their expectation so greatly, that one of their chiefs, a venerable old man, told me, that they did not deserve it, considering how little they had given to me, and the ill treatment one of my people had met with. I remained with them till they had finished their bowl of kava; and having then paid for the hog, which I had taken the day before, returned on board, with Taoofa, and one of Poulaho's servants, by whom I sent, as a parting mark of my esteem and regard for that chief, a piece of bar iron, being as valuable a present as any I could make to him.
Soon after, we weighed, and with a light breeze at S.E., stood out to sea; and then Tafooa, and a few other natives, that were in the ship, left us. On heaving up the anchor, we found that the cable had suffered considerably by the rocks; so that the bottom, in this road, is not to be depended upon. Besides this, we experienced, that a prodigious swell rolls in there from the S.W.
We had not been long under sail, before we observed a sailing canoe coming from Tongataboo, and entering the creek before which we had anchored. Same hours after, a small canoe, conducted by four men, came off to us. For, as we had but little wind, we were still at no great distance front the land. These men told us, that the sailing canoe, which we had seen arrive from Tongataboo, had brought orders to the people of Eooa, to furnish us with a certain number of hogs; and that, in two days, the king and other chiefs, would be with us. They, therefore, desired we would return to our former station. There was no reason to doubt the truth of what these men told us. Two of them had actually come from Tongataboo in the sailing canoe; and they had no view in coming off to us, but to give this intelligence. However, as we were now clear of the land, it was not a sufficient inducement to bring me back, especially as we had already on board a stock of fresh provisions, sufficient, in all probability, to last during our passage to Otaheite. Besides Taoofa's present, we had got a good quantity of yams at Eooa, in exchange chiefly for small nails. Our supply of hogs was also considerably increased there; though, doubtless, we should have got many more, if the chiefs of Tongataboo had been with us, whose property they mostly were. At the approach of night, these men finding that we would not return, left us; as also some others who had come off in two canoes, with a few cocoa-nuts and shaddocks, to exchange them for what they could get; the eagerness of these people to get into their possession more of our commodities, inducing them to follow the ships out to sea, and to continue their intercourse with us to the last moment.
SECTION X.
Advantages derived from visiting the Friendly Islands.--Best Articles for Traffic.--Refreshments that may be procured.--The Number of the Islands, and their Names.--Keppel's and Boscawen's Islands belong to them.--Account of Vavaoo--Of Hamoa--Of Feejee.--Voyages of the Natives in their Canoes.--Difficulty of procuring exact Information.--Persons of the Inhabitants of both Sexes.--Their Colour.--Diseases.--Their general Character.--Manner of wearing their Hair.--Of puncturing their Bodies.--Their Clothing and Ornaments.--Personal Cleanliness.
Thus we took leave of the Friendly Islands and their inhabitants, after a stay of between two and three months, during which time, we lived together in the most cordial friendship. Some accidental differences, it is true, now and then happened, owing to their great propensity to thieving; but too often encouraged by the negligence of our own people. But these differences were never attended with any fatal consequences, to prevent which, all my measures were directed; and I believe few on board our ships left our friends here without some regret. The time employed amongst them was not thrown away. We expended very little of our sea provisions, subsisting, in general, upon the produce of the islands, while we staid, and carrying away with us a quantity of refreshments sufficient to last till our arrival at another station, where we could depend upon a fresh supply. I was not sorry, besides, to have had an opportunity of bettering the condition of these good people, by leaving the useful animals before-mentioned among them; and, at the same time, those designed for Otaheite, received fresh strength in the pastures of Tongataboo. Upon the whole, therefore, the advantages we received by touching here were very great; and I had the additional satisfaction to reflect, that they were received, without retarding one moment, the prosecution of the great object of our voyage; the season for proceeding to the north, being, as has been already observed, lost, before I took the resolution of bearing away for these islands.
But besides the immediate advantages, which both the natives of the Friendly Islands and ourselves received by this visit, future navigators from Europe, if any such should ever tread our steps, will profit by the knowledge I acquired of the geography of this part of the Pacific Ocean; and the more philosophical reader, who loves to view human nature in new situations, and to speculate on singular, but faithful representations of the persons, the customs, the arts, the religion, the government, and the language of uncultivated man, in remote and fresh-discovered quarters of the globe, will perhaps find matter of amusement, if not of instruction, in the information which I have been enabled to convey to him, concerning the inhabitants of this Archipelago. I shall suspend my narrative of the progress of the voyage, while I faithfully relate what I had opportunities of collecting on these several topics.
We found by our experience, that the best articles for traffic at these islands, are iron tools in general. Axes and hatchets, nails, from the largest spike down to tenpenny ones, rasps, files, and knives, are much sought after. Red cloth, and linen, both white and coloured, looking-glasses and beads are also in estimation; but of the latter those that are blue are preferred to all others, and white ones are thought the least valuable. A string of large blue beads would at any time purchase a hog. But it must be observed, that such articles as are merely ornaments, may be highly esteemed at one time, and not so at another. When we first arrived at Annamooka, the people there would hardly take them in exchange even for fruit; but when Feenou came, this great man set the fashion, and brought them into vogue, till they rose in their value to what I have just mentioned.