their canoe, and Potattow was so conscious of his guilt, that neither he nor his wife, who was privy to his knavery, could look us in the face for some time afterwards.

CHAP. XVI.

An Expedition of Mr. Banks to trace the River ; Marks of subterraneous Fire: Preparations for leaving the Island. An Account of Tupia.

On the 3d, Mr. Banks set out early in the morning, with some Indian guides, to trace our river up the valley from which it issues, and examine how far its banks were inhabited. For about six miles they met with houses, not far distant from each other, on each side of the river, and the valley was every where about four hundred yards wide from the foot of the hill on one side, to the foot of that on the other ; but they were now shewn a house which they were told was the last that they would see. When they came up to it, the master of it offered them refreshments of cocoa-nuts and other fruits, of which they accepted; after a short stay, they walked forward for a considerable time; in bad way it is not easy to compute distances, but they imagined that they had walked about six miles farther, following the course of the river, when they frequently passed under vaults, formed by fragments of the rock, in which they were told people who were benighted frequently passed the night. Soon after they found the river banked by steep rocks, from which a cascade, falling with great violence, formed a pool, so steep, that the Indians said they could not pass it. They seemed, indeed, not much to be acquainted with the valley beyond this place, their business lying chiefly upon the declivity of the rocks on each side, and the plains which extended on their summits, where they found plenty of a wild plantain,

which they called vae. The way up these rocks from the banks of the river was in every respect dreadful; the sides were nearly perpendicular, and in some places one hundred feet high; they were also rendered exceeding slippery by the water of innumerable springs which issued from the fissures on the surface: yet up these precipices a way was to be traced by a succession of long pieces of the bark of the hibiscus tiliaceus, which served as a rope for the climber to take hold of, and assisted him in scrambling from one ledge to another, though upon these ledges there was footing only for an Indian or a goat. One of these ropes was nearly thirty feet in length, and their guides offered to assist them in mounting this pass, but recommended another at a little distance lower down, as less difficult and dangerous. They took a view of this "better way," but found it so bad that they did not chuse to attempt it, as there was nothing at the top to reward their toil and hazard but a grove of the wild plantain or Vae tree, which they had often seen before.

During this excursion, Mr. Banks had an excellent opportunity to examine the rocks, which were almost every where naked, for minerals ; but he found not the least appearance of any. The stones every where, like those of Madeira, shewed manifest tokens of being burnt; nor is there a single specimen of any stone, among all those that were collected in the island, upon which there are not manifest and indubitable marks of fire; except perhaps some small pieces of the hatchet-stone, and even of that, other fragments were collected which are burnt almost to a pumice. Traces of fire are also manifest in the very clay upon the hills; and it may, therefore, not unreasonably be supposed, that this, and the neighbouring islands, are either shattered remains of a continent, which some have supposed to be necessary in this part of the globe, to preserve an equilibrium of its parts, which were left behind when the rest sunk by the mining of a subterraneous fire, so as to give a passage to the sea over it; or were torn from rocks,

which, from the creation of the world, had been the bed of the sea, and thrown up in heaps, to a height which the waters never reach. One or other of these suppositions will perhaps be thought the more probable, as the water does not gradually grow shallow as the shore is approached, and the islands are almost every where surrounded by reefs, which appear to be rude and broken, as some violent concussion would naturally leave the solid substance of the earth. It may also be remarked upon this occasion, that the most probable cause of earthquakes seem to be the sudden rushing in of water upon some vast mass of subterraneous fire, by the instantaneous rarefaction of which into vapour, the mine is sprung, and various substances, in all stages of vitrification, with shells, and other marine productions, that are now found fossil, and the strata that covered the furnace, are thrown up; while those parts of the land which were sup ported upon the broken shell give way, and sink into the gulph. With this theory the phænomena of ail earthquakes seem to agree; pools of water are fre quently left where land has subsided, and various substances, which manifestly appear to have suffered by the action of fire, are thrown up. It is indeed true, that fire cannot subsist without air; but this cannot be urged against there being fire below that part of the earth which forms the bed of the sea; because there may be inumerable fissures by which a communication between those parts and the external air may be kept up, even upon the highest mountains, and at the greatest distance from the sea-shore.

On the 4th, Mr. Banks employed himself in plant. ing a great quantity of the seeds of water-melons, oranges, lemons, limes, and other plants and trees, which he had collected at Rio de Janeiro. For these he prepared ground on each side of the fort, with as many varieties of soil as he could chuse; and there is little doubt but that they will succeed. He also gave liberally of these seeds to the Indians, and planted

many of them in the woods some of the melonseeds having been planted soon after our arrival, the natives shewed him several of the plants which appeared to be in the most flourishing condition, and were continually asking him for more.

We now began to prepare for our departure, by bending the sails and performing other necessary oper. ations on board the ship, our water being already on board, and the provisions examined. In the mean time we had another visit from Oamo, Oberea, and their son and daughter; the Indians expressing their respect by uncovering the upper parts of their body as they had done before. The daughter, whose name we understood to be Toimata, was very desirous to see the fort, but her father would by no means suffer her to come in. Tearee, the son of Waheatua, the sovereign of Tiarrabou, the south-east peninsula, was also with us at this time; and we received intelligence of the landing of another guest, whose company was neither expected nor desired this was no other than the ingenious gentleman who contrived to steal our quadrant. We were told, that he intended to try his fortune again in the night; but the Indians all offered very zealously to assist us against him, desiring that, for this purpose, they might be permitted to lie in the fort. This had so good an effect, that the thief relinquished his enterprize in despair.

On the 7th, the carpenters were employed in taking down the gates and pallisadoes of our little fortification, for fire-wood on board the ship; and one of the Indians had dexterity enough to steal the staple and hook upon which the gate turned he was immediately pursued, and after a chase of six miles, he appeared to have been passed, having concealed him. self among some rushes in the brook; the rushes were searched, and though the thief had escaped, a scraper was found which had been stolen from the ship sometime before; and soon after our old friend Tabourai Tamaide brought us the staple.