The next day, I delivered to Captain Clerke instructions how to proceed, in case of being separated from me, after leaving these islands; and it may not be improper to give them a place here.

"BY CAPTAIN JAMES COOK,

COMMANDER OF HIS MAJESTY'S SLOOP THE RESOLUTION.

"Whereas the passage from the Society Islands to the northern coast of America is of considerable length, both in distance and in time, and as a part of it must be performed in the very depth of winter, when gales of wind and bad weather must be expected, and may, possibly, occasion a separation, you are to take all imaginable care to prevent this. But if, notwithstanding all our endeavours to keep company, you should be separated from me, you are first to look for me where you last saw me. Not seeing me in five days, you are to proceed (as directed by the Instructions of their Lordships, a copy of which you have already received) for the coast of New Albion; endeavouring to fall in with it in the latitude of 45°. In that latitude, and at a convenient distance from the land, you are to cruise for me ten days. Not seeing me in that time, you are to put into the first convenient port, in or to the north of that latitude, to recruit your wood and water, and to procure refreshments.

"During your stay in port, you are constantly to keep a good look-out for me. It will be necessary, therefore, to make choice of a station situated as near the sea-coast as is possible, the better to enable you to see me when I shall appear in the offing. If I do not join you before the 1st of next April, you are to put to sea, and proceed northward to the latitude 56°; in which latitude, and at a convenient distance from the coast, never exceeding fifteen leagues, you are to cruise for me till the 10th of May.

"Not seeing me in that time, you are to proceed northward, and endeavour to find a passage into the Atlantic Ocean, through Hudson's or Baffin's Bays, as directed by the above-mentioned Instructions. But if you should fail in finding a passage through either of the said bays, or by any other way, as the season of the year may render it unsafe for you to remain in high latitudes, you are to repair to the harbour of St. Peter and St. Paul, in Kamtschatka, in order to refresh your people, and to pass the winter.

sooner.

But, nevertheless, if you find that you cannot procure the necessary refreshments at the said port, you are at liberty to go where you shall judge most proper; taking care, before you depart, to leave with the governor an account of your intended destination, to be delivered to me upon my arrival: and in the spring of the ensuing year, 1779, you are to repair back to the above-mentioned port, endeavouring to be there by the 10th of May, or If, on your arrival, you receive no orders from, or account of me, so as to justify your pursuing any other measures than what are pointed out in the before-mentioned Instructions, your future proceedings are to be governed by them. You are also to comply with such parts of said Instructions as have not been executed, and are not contrary to these orders. And in case of your inability, by sickness or otherwise, to carry these, and the Instructions of their Lordships, into execution, you are to be careful to leave them with the next officer in command, who is hereby required to execute them in the best manner

he can.

"Given under my hand, on board the Resolution, at Ulietea, the 18th day of November, "J. COOK.

1777.

"To CAPTAIN CHARLES CLERKE,

Commander of His Majesty's Sloop The Discovery."

While we lay moored to the shore, we heeled, and scrubbed both sides of the bottoms of the ships. At the same time, we fixed some tin-plates under the binds; first taking off the old sheathing, and putting in a piece unfilled, over which the plates were nailed. These plates I had from the ingenious Mr. Pelham, secretary to the Commissioners for Victualling His Majesty's Navy; with a view of trying whether tin would answer the same end as copper, on the bottoms of ships.

On the 24th, in the morning, I was informed that a midshipman and a seaman, both belonging to the Discovery, were missing. Soon after, we learned from the natives, that they went away in a canoe the preceding evening, and were, at this time, at the other end

of the island. As the midshipman was known to have expressed a desire to remain at these islands, it seemed pretty certain that he and his companion had gone off with this intention; and Captain Clerke set out in quest of them with two armed boats, and a party of marines. His expedition proved fruitless; for he returned in the evening, without having got any certain intelligence where they were. From the conduct of the natives, Captain Clerke seemed to think, that they intended to conceal the deserters; and, with that view, had amused him with false information the whole day, and directed him to search for them in places where they were not to be found. The captain judged right; for the next morning we were told, that our runaways were at Otaha. As these two were not the only persons in the ships who wished to end their days at these favourite islands, in order to put a stop to any further desertion, it was necessary to get them back at all events; and that the natives might be convinced that I was in earnest, I resolved to go after them myself; having observed, from repeated instances, that they seldom offered to deceive me with false information. Accordingly, I set out the next morning with two armed boats; being accompanied by the chief himself. I proceeded, as he directed, without stopping anywhere, till we came to the middle of the east side of Otaha. There we put ashore; and Oreo despatched a man before us, with orders to seize the deserters, and keep them till we should arrive with the boats. But when we got to the place where we expected to find them, we were told that they had quitted this island, and gone over to Bolabola the day before. I did not think proper to follow them thither, but returned to the ships; fully determined, however, to have recourse to a measure which, I guessed, would oblige the natives to bring them back.

In the night, Mr. Bayly, Mr. King, and myself observed an immersion of Jupiter's third satellite. It happened by the observation of

Mr. Bayly and Mr. King observed, with Dollond's three and a half feet achromatic telescope, and with the greatest magnifying power. I observed, with a two-feet Gregorian reflector, made by Bird.

Soon after daybreak, the chief, his son, daughter, and son-in-law, came on board the Resolution. The three last I resolved to detain, till the two deserters should be brought back.

With this view, Captain Clerke invited them to go on board his ship; and as soon as they arrived there, confined them in his cabin. The chief was with me when the news reached him. He immediately acquainted me with it, supposing that this step had been taken without my knowledge, and consequently without my approbation. I instantly undeceived him; and then he began to have apprehensions as to his own situation, and his looks expressed the utmost perturbation of mind. But I soon made him easy as to this, by telling him, that he was at liberty to leave the ship whenever he pleased, and to take such measures as he should judge best calculated to get our two men back; that, if he succeeded, his friends on board the Discovery should be delivered up; if not, that I was determined to carry them away with me. I added, that his own conduct, as well as that of many of his people, in not only assisting these two men to escape, but in being, even at this very time, assiduous in enticing others to follow them, would justify any step I could take to put a stop to such proceedings. This explanation of the motives upon which I acted, and which we found means to make Oreo and his people, who were present, fully comprehend, seemed to recover them, in a great measure, from that general consternation into which they were at first thrown. But, if relieved from apprehensions about their own safety, they continued under the deepest concern for those who were prisoners. Many of them went under the Discovery's stern in canoes, to bewail their captivity, which they did with long and loud. exclamations. Poedooa! for so the chief's daughter was called, resounded from every quarter; and the women seemed to vie with each other in mourning her fate, with more significant expressions of their grief than tears and cries; for there were many bloody heads upon the occasion. Oreo himself did not give way to unavailing lamentations, but instantly began his exertions to recover our deserters, by despatching a canoe to Bolabola, with a

VOL. II.

P

message to Opoohy, the sovereign of that island, acquainting him with what had happened, and requesting him to seize the two fugitives, and send them back. The messenger, who was no less a man than the father of Pootoe, Oreo's son-in-law, before he set out came to receive my commands. I strictly enjoined him not to return without the deserters; and to tell Opoony from me, that if they had left Bolabola, he must send canoes to bring them back; for I suspected that they would not long remain in one place.

The consequence, however, of the prisoners was so great, that the natives did not think proper to trust to the return of our people for their release; or, at least, their impatience was so great, that it hurried them to make an attempt which might have involved them in still greater distress, had it not been fortunately prevented. Between five and six o'clock in the evening, I observed that all their canoes in and about the harbour began to move off, as if some sudden panic had seized them. I was ashore, abreast of the ship at the time, and inquired in vain to find out the cause; till our people called to us from the Discovery, and told us that a party of the natives had seized Captain Clerke and Mr. Gore, who had walked out a little way from the ships. Struck with the boldness of this plan of retaliation, which seemed to counteract me so effectually in my own way, there was no time to deliberate. I instantly ordered the people to arm; and, in less than five minutes, a strong party, under the command of Mr. King, was sent to rescue our two gentlemen. At the same time, two armed boats and a party under Mr. Williamson went after the flying canoes, to cut off their retreat to the shore. These several detachments were hardly out of sight, before an account arrived, that we had been misinformed; upon which I sent and called them all in.

It was evident, however, from several corroborating circumstances, that the design of seizing Captain Clerke had really been in agitation amongst the natives. Nay, they made no secret in speaking of it the next day. But their first and great plan of operations was to have laid hold of me. It was my custom every evening to bathe in the fresh water. Very often I went alone, and always without arms. Expecting me to go as usual this evening, they had determined to seize me, and Captain Clerke too, if he had accompanied me. But I had, after confining Oreo's family, thought it prudent to avoid putting myself in their power; and had cautioned Captain Clerke and the officers not to go far from the ships. In the course of the afternoon, the chief asked me, three several times, if I would not go to the bathing-place; and when he found, at last, that I could not be prevailed upon, he went off with the rest of his people, in spite of all I could do or say to stop him. But as I had no suspicion at this time of their design, I imagined that some sudden fright had seized them, which would, as usual, soon be over. Finding themselves disappointed as to me, they fixed on those who were more in their power. It was fortunate for all parties, that they did not succeed; and not less fortunate that no mischief was done on the occasion; for not a musket was fired, except two or three to stop the canoes. To that firing, perhaps, Messrs. Clerke and Gore owed their safety*; for at that very instant, a party of the natives armed with clubs were advancing toward them; and on hearing the report of the muskets, they dispersed. This conspiracy, as it may be called, was first discovered by a girl, whom one of the officers had brought from Huaheine. She, overhearing some of the Ulieteans say, that they would seize Captain Clerke and Mr. Gore, ran to acquaint the first of our people that she met with. Those who were charged with the execution of the design threatened to kill her, as soon as we should leave the island, for disappointing them. Being aware of this, we contrived that her friends should come some days after and take her out of the ship, to convey her to a place of safety, where she might lie concealed, till they should have an opportunity of sending her back to Huaheine.

On the 27th, our observatories were taken down, and every thing we had ashore carried on board; the moorings of the ships were cast off, and we transported them a little way down the harbour, where they came to an anchor again. Toward the afternoon, the natives began to shake off their fears, gathering round and on board the ships as usual; and the awkward transaction of the day before seemed to be forgotten on both sides. The following

Perhaps they owed their safety principally to Captain Clerke's walking with a pistol in his hand, which he once fired. This circumstance is omitted both in Captain

Cook's and in Mr. Anderson's journal; but is here mentioned on the authority of Captain King.

night, the wind blew in hard squalls from south to east, attended with heavy showers of rain. In one of the squalls, the cable, by which the Resolution was riding, parted just without the hawse. We had another anchor ready to let go, so that the ship was presently brought up again. In the afternoon, the wind became moderate; and we hooked the end of the best small bower cable, and got it again into the hawse.

Oreo, the chief, being uneasy as well as myself, that no account had been received from Bolabola, set out this evening for that island, and desired me to follow down the next day with the ships. This was my intention; but the wind which kept us in the harbour, brought Oreo back from Bolabola with the two deserters. They had reached Otaha the same night they deserted; but finding it impossible to get to any of the islands to the eastward (which was their intention), for want of wind, they had proceeded to Bolabola, and from thence to the small island Toobaee, where they were taken by the father of Pootoe, in consequence of the first message sent to Opoony. As soon as they were on board, the three prisoners were released. Thus ended an affair which had given me much trouble and vexation. Nor would I have exerted myself so resolutely on the occasion, but for the reason before mentioned, and to save the son of a brother officer from being lost to his country.

The wind continued constantly between the north and west, and confined us in the harbour till eight o'clock in the morning of the 7th of December; when we took the advantage of a light breeze which then sprung up at north-east, and with the assistance of all the boats got out to sea, with the Discovery in company.

During the last week, we had been visited by people from all parts of the island, who furnished us with a large stock of hogs and green plantains. So that the time we lay windbound in the harbour was not entirely lost; green plantains being an excellent substitute for bread, as they will keep good a fortnight or three weeks. Besides this supply of provisions, we also completed our wood and water.

The inhabitants of Ulietea seemed, in general, smaller and blacker than those of the other neighbouring islands, and appeared also less orderly, which, perhaps, may be considered as the consequence of their having become subject to the natives of Bolabola. Oreo, their chief, is only a sort of deputy of the sovereign of that island; and the conquest seems to have lessened the number of subordinate chiefs resident among them; so that they are less immediately under the inspection of those whose interest it is to enforce due obedience to authority. Ulietea, though now reduced to this humiliating state, was formerly, as we were told, the most eminent of this cluster of islands; and, probably, the first seat of government; for they say, that the present royal family of Otaheite is descended from that which reigned here before the late revolution. Ooroo, the dethroned monarch of Ulietea, was still alive when we were at Huaheine, where he resides a royal wanderer, furnishing, in his person, an instance of the instability of power; but what is more remarkable, of the respect paid by these people to particular families, and to the customs which have once conferred sovereignty; for they suffer Ooroo to preserve all the ensigns which they appropriate to majesty, though he has lost his dominions.

We saw a similar instance of this while we were at Ulietea. One of the occasional visitors I now had was my old friend Oree, the late chief of Huaheine. He still preserved his consequence; came always at the head of a numerous body of attendants; and was always provided with such presents as were very acceptable. This chief looked much better now than I had ever seen him during either of my former voyages*. I could account for his improving in health as he grew older, only from his drinking less copiously of the ara in his present station as a private gentleman, than he had been accustomed to do when he was regent.

Captain Cook had seen Oree in 1769, when he commanded the Endeavour; also twice during his second voyage in 1772.

CHAPTER VIII.-ARRIVAL AT BOLA BOLA.-INTERVIEW WITH OPOONY. - REASONS FOR PURCHASING MONSIEUR BOUGAINVILLE'S ANCHOR.—DEPARTURE FROM THE SOCIETY ISLANDS.— PARTICULARS ABOUT BOLABOLA.-HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF OTAHA AND ULIETEA.— HIGH REPUTATION OF THE BOLABOLA MEN.-ANIMALS LEFT THERE AND AT ULIETEA.PLENTIFUL SUPPLY OF PROVISIONS, AND MANNER OF SALTING PORK ON BOARD.— VARIOUS REFLECTIONS RELATIVE TO OTAHEITE AND THE SOCIETY ISLANDS.-ASTRONOMICAL AND NAUTICAL OBSERVATIONS MADE THERE.

As soon as we had got clear of the harbour, we took leave of Ulietea, and steered for Bolabola. The chief if not sole object I had in view by visiting that island, was to procure from its monarch, Opoony, one of the anchors which Monsieur de Bougainville had lost at Otaheite. This having afterward been taken up by the natives there, had, as they informed me, been sent by them as a present to that chief. My desire to get possession of it did not arise from our being in want of anchors; but having expended all the hatchets and other iron tools which we had brought from England, in purchasing refreshments, we were now reduced to the necessity of creating a fresh assortment of trading articles, by fabricating them out of the spare iron we had on board; and, in such conversions, and in the occasional uses of the ships, great part of that had been already expended. I thought that M. de Bougainville's anchor would supply our want of this useful material; and I made no doubt that I should be able to tempt Opoony to part with it.

Oreo, and six or eight men more from Ulietea, took a passage with us to Bolabola. Indeed, most of the natives in general, except the chief himself, would have gladly taken a passage with us to England. At sunset, being the length of the south point of Bolabola, we shortened sail, and spent the night making short boards. At day-break, on the 8th, we made sail for the harbour, which is on the west side of the island. The wind was scant, so that we had to ply up, and it was nine o'clock before we got near enough to send away a boat to sound the entrance; for I had thoughts of running the ships in, and anchoring for a day or two. When the boat returned, the master who was in her reported, that though, at the entrance of the harbour the bottom was rocky, there was good ground within, and the depth of water twenty-seven and twenty-five fathoms; and that there was room to turn the ships in, the channel being one-third of a mile broad. In consequence of this report, we attempted to work the ships in; but the tide, as well as the wind, being against us, after making two or three trips, I found that it could not be done, till the tide should turn in our favour. Upon this, I gave up the design of carrying the ships into the harbour; and having ordered the boats to be got ready, I embarked in one of them, accompanied by Oreo and his companions; and was rowed in for the island.

We landed where the natives directed us; and soon after I was introduced to Opoony, in the midst of a great concourse of people. Having no time to lose, as soon as the necessary formality of compliments was over, I asked the chief to give me the anchor, and produced the present I had prepared for him, consisting of a linen night-gown, a shirt, some gauze handkerchiefs, a looking-glass, some beads, and other toys, and six axes. At the sight of these last, there was a general outcry. I could only guess the cause, by Opoony's absolutely refusing to receive my present, till I should get the anchor. He ordered three men to go and deliver it to me; and, as I understood, I was to send, by them, what I thought proper in return. With these messengers, we set out in our boats for an island, lying at the north side of the entrance into the harbour, where the anchor had been deposited. I found it to be neither so large, nor so perfect, as I expected. It had originally weighed seven hundred pounds, according to the mark that was upon it; but the ring, with part of the shank, and the two points were now wanting. I was no longer at a loss to guess the reason of Opoony's refusing my present. He doubtless thought that it so much exceeded the value of the anchor in its present state, that I should be displeased when I saw it. Be this as it may, I took the anchor as I found it, and sent him every article of the present that I at first intended. Having thus completed my negotiation, I returned on board; and having hoisted