In return for the favourite commodities which I have enumerated, all the refreshments may be procured that the islands produce. These are, hogs, fowls, fish, yams, breadfruit, plantains, cocoa-nuts, sugar-cane, and, in general, every such supply as can be met with at Otaheite, or any of the Society Islands. The yams of the Friendly Islands are excellent, and, when grown to perfection, keep very well at sea. But their pork, bread-fruit, and plantains, though far from despicable, are nevertheless much inferior in quality to the same articles at Otaheite, and in its neighbourhood.
Good water, which ships on long voyages stand so much in need of, is scarce at these islands. It may be found, it is true, on them all; but still either in too inconsiderable quantities, or in situations too inconvenient, to serve the purposes of navigators. However, as the islands afford plenty of provisions, and particularly of cocoa-nuts, ships may make a tolerable shift with such water as is to be got; and if one is not over nice, there will be no want. While we lay at anchor under Kotoo, on our return from Hepaee, some people from Kao informed us, that there was a stream of water there, which, pouring down from the mountain, runs into the sea on the S.W. side of the island; that is, on, the side that faces Toofoa, another island remarkable for its height, as also for having a considerable volcano in it, which, as has been already mentioned, burnt violently all the time that we were in its neighbourhood. It may be worth while for future navigators to attend to this intelligence about the stream of water at Kao, especially as we learned that there was anchorage on that part of the coast. The black stone, of which the natives of the Friendly Islands make their hatchets and other tools, we were informed, is the production of Toofoa.
Under the denomination of Friendly Islands, we must include, not only the group at Hepaee which I visited, but also all those islands that have been discovered nearly under the same meridian to the north, as well as some others that have never been seen hitherto by any European navigators, but are under the dominion of Tongataboo, which, though not the largest, is the capital and seat of government.
According to the information that we received there, this archipelago is very extensive. Above one hundred and fifty islands were reckoned up to us by the natives, who made use of bits of leaves to ascertain their number; and Mr Anderson, with his usual diligence, even procured all their names. Fifteen of them are said to be high or hilly, such, as Toofoa and Eooa, and thirty-five of them large. Of these, only three were seen this voyage; Hepaee, (which is considered by the natives as one island,) Tongataboo, and Eooa: Of the size of the unexplored thirty-two, nothing more can be mentioned, but that they must be all larger than Annamooka, which those from whom we had our information ranked amongst the smaller isles. Some, or indeed several of this latter denomination, are mere spots without inhabitants. But it must be left to future navigators to introduce into the geography of this part of the South Pacific Ocean the exact situation and size of near a hundred more islands in this neighbourhood, which we had not an opportunity to explore, and whose existence we only learnt from the testimony of our friends as above-mentioned. On their authority the following list of them was made, and it may serve as a ground-work for farther investigation.
Names of the Friendly Islands, and others, in that Neighbourhood, mentioned by the Inhabitants of Anamooka, Hepaee, and Tongataboo.[173]
[Footnote 173: Those islands which the natives represented as large ones, are distinguished in Italics.]
Komooefeeva, Noogoofaeeou, Novababoo,
Kollalona, Koreemou, Golabbe,
Felongaboonga, Failemaia, Vagaeetoo,
Kovereetoa, Koweeka, Gowakka,
Fonogooeatta, Konookoonama, Goofoo,
Modooanoogoo Kooonoogoo, Mafanna,
noogoo Geenageena, Kolloooa,
Tongooa, Kowourogoheefo, Tabanna,
Koooa, Kottejeea, Motooha,
Fenooa eeka, Kokabba, Looakabba,
Vavaoo Boloa, Toofanaetollo,
Koloa, Toofagga, Toofanaelaa,
Fafeene, Loogoobahanga, Kogoopoloo,
Taoonga, Taoola, Havaeeeeke,
Kobakeemotoo, Maneeneeta, Tootooeela,
Kongahoonoho, Fonooaooma, Manooka,
Komalla, Fonooonneonne, Leshainga,
Konoababoo, Wegaffa, Pappataia,
Konnetalle, Fooamotoo, Loubatta,
Komongoraffa, Fonooalaiee, Oloo,
Kotoolooa, Tattahoi, Takounove,
Kologobeele, Latte, Kapaoo,
Kollokolahee, Neuafo, Kovooeea,
Matageefaia, Feejee, Kongaireekee;
Mallajee, Oowaia, Tafeedoowaia,
Mallalahee, Kongaiarahoi, Hamoa,
Gonoogoolaiee, Kotoobooo, Neeootabootaboo,
Toonabai, Komotte, Fotoona,
Konnevy, Komoarra, Vytooboo,
Konnevao, Kolaiva, Lotooma,
Moggodoo, Kofoona, Toggelao,
Looamoggo, Konnagillelaivoo, Talava.
I have not the least doubt that Prince William's Islands, discovered and so named by Tasman, are included in the foregoing list. For while we lay at Hapaee, one of the natives told me, that three or four days sail from thence to the N.W., there was a cluster of small islands, consisting of upwards of forty. This situation corresponds very well with that assigned in the accounts we have of Tasman's voyage, to his Prince William's Islands.[174]
[Footnote 174: Tasman saw eighteen or twenty of these small islands, every one of which was surrounded with sands, shoals, and rocks. They are also called in some charts, Heemskirk's Banks. See Dalrymple's Collection of Voyages to the South Pacific Ocean, vol. ii. p. 38, and Campbell's edition of Harris's, vol. i. p. 325.--D.]
We have also very good authority to believe that Keppel's and Boscawen's Island, two of Captain Wallis's discoveries in 1765, are comprehended in our list; and that they are not only well known to these people, but are under the same sovereign. The following information seemed to me decisive as to this: Upon my enquiring one day of Poulaho, the king, in what manner the inhabitants of Tongataboo had acquired the knowledge of iron, and from what quarter they had procured a small iron tool which I had seen amongst them when I first visited their island, during my former voyage, he informed me, that they had received this iron from an island which he called Neeootabootaboo. Carrying my enquiries further, I then desired to know whether he had ever been informed from whom the people of Neeootabootaboo had got it. I found him perfectly acquainted with its history. He said that one of those islanders sold a club for five nails, to a ship which had touched there, and that these five nails afterward were sent to Tongataboo. He added, that this was the first iron known amongst them, so that what Tasman left of that metal must have been worn out, and forgot long ago. I was very particular in my enquiries about the situation, size, and form of the island; expressing my desire to know when this ship had touched there, how long she staid, and whether any more were in company. The leading facts appeared to be fresh in his memory. He said that there was but one ship; that she did not come to an anchor, but left the island after her boat had been on shore. And from many circumstances which he mentioned, It could not be many years since this had happened. According to his information, there are two islands near each other, which he himself had been at. The one he described as high and peaked, like Kao, and he called it Kootahee; the other, where the people of the ship landed, called Neeootabootaboo, he represented as much lower. He added, that the natives of both are the same sort of people with those of Tongataboo, built their canoes in the same manner, that their islands had hogs and fowls, and in general the same vegetable productions. The ship so pointedly referred to in this conversation, could be no other than the Dolphin; the only single ship from Europe, as far as we have ever learned, that had touched of late years at any island in this part of the Pacific Ocean, prior to my former visit of the Friendly Islands.[175]