When The Endeavour Bark Lay Here, She Had Distinguished
Herself By The Name Of Captain Cook's Sister, And One Day,
Being
denied admittance into the fort on Point Venus, had knocked down the
sentry who opposed her, and complained to
Her adopted brother of the
indignity which had been offered to her." Altogether, however, this
gentleman is the eulogist of the natives and country of Otaheite, and
admits, that he left them with great regret. We shall conclude our
extracts from his description, by the following remarks as to the
language: - "Many of them seeing us desirous of learning their
language, by asking the names of various familiar objects, or
repeating such as we found in the vocabularies of former voyages, took
great pains to teach us, and were much delighted when we could catch
the just pronunciation of a word. For my own part, no language seemed
easier to acquire than this; every harsh and sibilant consonant being
banished from it, and almost every word ending in a vowel. The only
requisite, was a nice ear to distinguish the numerous modifications of
the vowels which must naturally occur in a language confined to few
consonants, and which, once rightly understood, give a great degree of
delicacy to conversation. Amongst several observations, we immediately
found that the O or E with which the greatest part of the names and
words in (the account of) Lieutenant Cook's first voyage, is nothing
else than the article, which many eastern languages affix to the
greater part of their substantives." He applies this observation to
the name of the island which he thinks has been fortunately expressed
by M. Bougainville in French, by Taiti, without the initial vowel
usually given to it in English books. - E.
SECTION XII.
An Account of the Reception we met with at Huaheine, with the Incidents
that happened while the Ships lay there; and of Omai, one of the Natives,
coming away in the Adventure.
As soon as we were clear of the bay, and our boats in, I directed my course
for the island of Huaheine, where I intended to touch. We made it the next
day, and spent the night, making short boards under the north end of the
island. At day-light, in the morning of the 3d, we made sail for the
harbour of Owharre; in which the Resolution anchored, about nine o'clock,
in twenty-four fathoms water. As the wind blew out of the harbour, I chose
to turn in by the southern channel, it being the widest. The Resolution
turned in very well, but the Adventure, missing stays, got ashore on the
north side of the channel. I had the Resolution's launch in the water
ready, in case of an accident of this kind, and sent her immediately to the
Adventure. By this timely assistance, she was got off again, without
receiving any damage. Several of the natives, by this time, had come off to
us, bringing with them some of the productions of the island; and as soon
as the ships were both in safety, I landed with Captain Furneaux, and was
received by the natives with the utmost cordiality.
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