AUG. 1777.] A MAD PROPHET. chapel; for whatever else was want- | ing to create a resemblance, their imagination supplied; and if they had not previously known that there had been Spaniards lately here they could not possibly have made the mistake. Small offerings of fruit and roots seemed to be daily made at this shrine, as some pieces were quite fresh. These were deposited upon a "whatta," or altar, which stood without the palisades; and within these we were not permitted to enter. Two men constantly attended night and day, not only to watch over the place, but also to dress and undress the "toopapaoo." For when I first went to survey it, the cloth and its appendages were all rolled up; but at my request the two attendants hung it out in order, first dressing themselves in clean white robes. They told me that the chief had been dead twenty months. 645 sying, there fell a very heavy shower of rain, which made every one run for shelter but himself, who seemed not to regard it. He remained squeaking by us about half-an-hour, and then retired. No one paid any attention to what he uttered, though some laughed at him. I asked the chief what he was, whether an "Earee" or a "Towtow," and the answer I received was, that he was "taato eno," that is, a bad man. And yet, notwithstanding this, and the little notice any of the natives seemed to take of the mad prophet, superstition has so far got the better of their reason that they firmly believe such persons to be possessed with the spirit of the "Eatooa.' Omai seemed to be very well instructed about them. He said that during the fits that came upon them they knew nobody, not even their most intimate acquaintances; and that if any one of them happens to be a man of property he will very often give away every movable he is possessed of if his friends do not put them out of his reach; and when he recovers, will inquire what had become of those very things which he had but just before distributed, not seeming to have the least remembrance of what he had done while the fit was upon him. As soon as I got on board a light breeze springing up at E., we got under sail and steered for Matavai Bay, where the Resolution anchored the same evening. But the Discovery did not get in till the next morning, so that half of the man's prophecy was fulfilled. Having taken in a fresh supply of water, and finished all our other necessary operations, on the 22d I brought off the cattle and sheep which had been put on shore here to graze, and made ready for sea. In the morning of the 23d, while the ships were unmooring, Omai and I landed to take leave of the young chief. While we were with him, one of those enthusiastic persons whom they call "Eatooas," from a persuasion that they are possessed with the spirit of the Divinity, came and stood before us. He had all the appearance of a man not in his right senses, and his only dress was a large quantity of plantain leaves wrapped round his waist. He spoke in a low squeaking voice so as hardly to be understood, at least not by me. But Omai said that he comprehended him perfectly, and that he was advising Waheiadooa not to go with me to Matavai, an expedition which I had never heard he ABOUT 9 o'clock in the morning, Otoo, intended, nor had I ever made such a the King of the whole island, attended proposal to him. The "Eatooa" also by a great number of canoes full of foretold that the ships would not get people, came from Oparre, his place to Matavai that day. But in this he of residence; and having landed on was mistaken, though appearances Matavai Point, sent a message on now rather favoured his prediction, board expressing his desire to see me there not being a breath of wind in there. Accordingly I landed, accomany direction. While he was prophe-panied by Omai and some of the offi CHAPTER II. cers. We found a prodigious number of people assembled on this occasion, and in the midst of them was the King, attended by his father, his two brothers, and three sisters. I went up first and saluted him, being followed by Omai, who kneeled and embraced his legs. He had prepared himself for this ceremony by dressing himself in his very best suit of clothes, and behaved with a great deal of respect and modesty. Nevertheless, very little notice was taken of him. Perhaps envy had some share in producing this cold reception. He made the chief a present of a large piece of red feathers and about two or three yards of gold cloth; and I gave him a suit of fine linen, a gold-laced hat, some tools, and, what was of more value than all the other articles, a quantity of red feathers and one of the bonnets in use at the Friendly Islands. After the hurry of this visit was over, the King and the whole royal family accompanied me on board, followed by several canoes laden with all kinds of provisions, in quantity sufficient to have served the companies of both ships for a week. Each of the family owned, or pretended to own, a part, so that I had a present from every one of them; and every one of them had a separate present in return from me, which was the great object in view. Soon after, the King's mother, who had not been present at the first interview, came on board, bringing with her a quantity of provisions and cloth, which she divided between me and Omai. For although he was but little noticed at first by his countrymen, they no sooner gained the knowledge of his riches than they began to court his friendship. I encouraged this as much as I could, for it was my wish to fix him with Otoo. As I intended to leave all my European animals at this island, I thought he would be able to give some instruction about the management of them and about their use. Besides, I knew and saw that the farther he was from his native island he would be the better respected. But unfortunately poor Omai rejected my advice, and conducted himself in so imprudent a manner that he soon lost the friendship of Otoo, and of every other person of note in Otaheite. He associated with none but vagabonds and strangers, whose sole views were to plunder him; and if I had not interfered they would not have left him a single article worth the carrying from the island. This necessarily drew upon him the ill-will of the principal chiefs, who found that they could not procure from any one in the ships such valuable presents as Omai bestowed on the lowest of the people, his companions. He As soon as we had dined, a party of us accompanied Otoo to Oparre, taking with us the poultry with which we were to stock the island. They consisted of a peacock and hen (which Lord Bessborough was so kind as to send me for this purpose a few days before I left London), a turkey cock and hen, one gander and three geese, a drake and four ducks. All these I left at Oparre in the possession of Otoo; and the geese and ducks began to breed before we sailed. We found there a gander which the natives told us was the same that Captain Wallis had given to Oberea ten years before, several goats, and the Spanish bull, which they kept tied to a tree near Otoo's house. I never saw a finer animal of his kind. was now the property of Etary, and had been brought from Oheitepeha to this place in order to be shipped for Bolabola. But it passes my comprehension how they can contrive to carry him in one of their canoes. If we had not arrived, it would have been of little consequence who had the property of him, as without a cow he could be of no use, and none had been left with him. Though the natives told us that there were cows on board the Spanish ships, and that they took them away with them, I cannot believe this, and should rather suppose that they had died in the passage from Lima. The next day I sent the three cows that I had on board to this bull; and the bull which AUG. 1777.] EUROPEAN ANIMALS LANDED. I had brought, the horse and mare, and sheep, I put ashore at Matavai. Having thus disposed of these passengers, I found myself lightened of a very heavy burthen. The trouble and vexation that attended the bringing of this living cargo thus far is hardly to be conceived; but the satisfaction that I felt in having been so fortunate as to fulfil his Majesty's humane design in sending such valuable animals to supply the wants of two worthy nations, sufficiently recompensed me for the many anxious hours I had passed before this subordinate object of my voyage could be carried into execution. As I intended to make some stay here, we set up the two observatories on Matavai Point. Adjoining to them two tents were pitched for the reception of a guard, and of such people as it might be necessary to leave on shore in different departments. At this station I entrusted the command to Mr King, who, at the same time, attended the observations for ascertaining the going of the time-keeper and other purposes. During our stay various necessary operations employed the crews of both ships. The Discovery's mainmast was carried ashore and made as good as ever. Our sails and water-casks were repaired; the ships were calked; and the rigging all overhauled. We also inspected all the bread that we had on board in casks, and had the satisfaction to find that but little of it was damaged. On the 26th I had a piece of ground cleared for a garden, and planted it with several articles, very few of which I believe the natives will ever look after. Some melons, potatoes, and two pine-apple plants were in a fair way of succeeding before we left the place. I had brought from the Friendly Islands several shaddock trees. These I also planted here, and they can hardly fail of success, unless their growth should be checked by the same premature curiosity which destroyed a vine planted by the Spaniards at Oheitepeha. A number of the natives got together to taste the first fruit it bore; but as the 647 grapes were still sour they considered it as little better than poison, and it was unanimously determined to tread it under foot. In that state Omai found it by chance, and was overjoyed at the discovery; for he had a full confidence that if he had but grapes he could easily make wine. Accordingly he had several slips cut from off the tree to carry away with him, and we pruned and put in order the remains of it. Probably grown wise by Omai's instructions, they may now suffer the fruit to grow to perfection, and not pass so hasty a sentence upon it again. We had not been eight-and-forty hours at anchor in Matavai Bay before we were visited by our old friends whose names are recorded in the account of my last voyage. Not one of them came empty-handed, so that we had more provisions than we knew what to do with. What was still more, we were under no apprehensions of exhausting the island, which presented to our eyes every mark of the most exuberant plenty in every article of refreshment. Soon after our arrival here, one of the natives whom the Spaniards had carried with them to Lima paid us a visit; but in his external appearance he was not distinguishable from the rest of his countrymen. However, he had not forgot some Spanish words which he had acquired, though he pronounced them badly. Amongst them the most frequent were "Si, Señor;" and when a stranger was introduced to him he did not fail to rise up and accost him as well as he could. We also found here the young man whom we called Oedidee, but whose real name is Heete-heete. I had carried him from Ulietea in 1773, and brought him back in 1774, after he had visited the Friendly Islands, New Zealand, Easter Island, and the Marquesas, and been on board my ship in that extensive navigation about seven months. He was at least as tenacious of his good breeding as the man who had been at Lima, and " Yes, Sir," or "If you please, Sir," were as frequently repeated by him as "Si, Heete-gence had imposed upon us; and this was put beyond all doubt when Mr Williamson returned next day, who made his report to me that he had been at Oheitepeha, and found that no ships were there now, and that none had been there since we left it The people of this part of the island where we now were, indeed, told us from the beginning that it was a fiction invented by those of Tiaraboo. But what view they could have we were at a loss to conceive, unless they supposed that the report would have some effect in making us quit the island, and by that means deprive the people of Otaheite-nooe of the advantages they might reap from our ships continuing there; the inhabitants of the two parts of the island being inveterate enemies to each other. Señor" was by the other. heete, who is a native of Bolabola, had arrived in Otaheite about three months before, with no other intention that we could learn than to gratify his curiosity, or perhaps some other favourite passion, which are very often the only object of the pursuit of other travelling gentlemen. It was evident, however, that he preferred the modes and even garb of his countrymen to ours; for though I gave him some clothes which our Admiralty Board had been pleased to send for his use (to which I added a chest of tools and a few other articles as a present from myself), he declined wearing them after a few days. This instance, and that of the person who had been at Lima, may be urged as a proof of the strong propensity natural to man of returning to habits acquired at an early age, and only interrupted by accident. And perhaps it may be concluded that even Omai, who had imbibed almost the whole English manners, will in a very short time after our leaving him, like Oedidee and the visitor of Lima, return to his own native garments. In the morning of the 27th a man came from Oheitepeha, and told us that two Spanish ships had anchored in that bay the night before; and in confirmation of this intelligence he produced a piece of coarse blue cloth, which he said he got out of one of the ships, and which, indeed, to appearance was almost quite new. He added that Mateema was in one of the ships, and that they were to come down to Matavai in a day or two. Some other circumstances which he mentioned with the foregoing ones, gave the story so much the air of truth, that I despatched Lieutenant Williamson in a boat to look into Oheitepeha Bay; and in the meantime I put the ships into a proper posture of defence. For though England and Spain were in peace when I left Europe, for aught I knew a different scene might by this time have opened. However, on further inquiry we had reason to think that the fellow who brought the intelli From the time of our arrival at Matavai the weather had been very unsettled, with more or less rain every day, till the 29th; before which we were not able to get equal altitudes of the sun for ascertaining the going of the time-keeper. The same cause also retarded the calking and other necessary repairs of the ships. In the evening of this day the natives made a precipitate retreat both from on board the ships and from our station on shore, for what reason we could not at first learn, though in general we guessed it arose from their knowing that some theft had been committed, and apprehending punishment on that account. At length I understood what had happened. One of the surgeon's mates had been in the country to purchase curiosities, and had taken with him four hatchets for that purpose. Having employed one of the natives to carry them for him, the fellow took an opportunity to run off with so valuable a prize. This was the cause of the sudden flight, in which Otoo himself and his whole family had joined; and it was with difficulty that I stopped them, after following them two or three miles. As I had resolved to take no measures for the recovery of the hatchets, in order to put my people upon their guard against such negli SEPT. 1777.] WAR WITH EIMEO DETERMINED UPON. gence for the future, I found no difficulty in bringing the natives back and in restoring everything to its usual tranquillity. Hitherto the attention of Otoo and his people had been confined to us; but next morning a new scene of business opened by the arrival of some messengers from Eimeo or (as it is much oftener called by the natives) Morea, with intelligence that the people in that island were in arms, and that Otoo's partisans there had been worsted and obliged to retreat to the mountains. The quarrel between the two islands, which commenced in 1774, had, it seems, partly subsisted ever since. On the arrival of these messengers, all the chiefs who happened to be at Matavai assembled at Otoo's house, where I actually was at the time, and had the honour to be admitted into their council. One of the messengers opened the business of the assembly in a speech of considerable length; but I understood little of it besides its general purport, which was to explain the situation of affairs in Eimeo, and to excite the assembled chiefs of Otaheite to arm on the occasion. This opinion was combated by others who were against commencing hostilities; and the debate was carried on with great order, no more than one man speaking at a time. At last they became very noisy, and I expected that our meeting would have ended like a Polish Diet. But the contending great men cooled as fast as they grew warm, and order was soon restored. At length the party for war prevailed, and it was determined that a strong force should be sent to assist their friends in Eimeo. But this resolution was far from being unanimous. Otoo during the whole debate remained silent, except that now and then he addressed a word or two to the speakers. Those of the council who were for prosecuting the war applied to me for my assistance; and all of them wanted to know what 1 Morea, according to Dr Forster, is a district in Eimeo. | 649 part I would take. Omai was sent for Towha, who is a relation of Otoo and chief of the district of Tettaha, a man of much weight in the island, and who had been commander-inchief of the armament fitted out against Eimeo in 1774, happened not to be at Matavai at this time, and consequently was not present at any of these consultations. It, however, appeared that he was no stranger to what was transacted, and that he entered with more spirit into the affair than any other chief. For early in the morning of the 1st of September a |