At Ten O'clock We Got Under Sail;
But As Our Decks Were Much Encumbered With Fruit, &C. We Kept Plying
Under
the land till they were cleared.[9] The supplies we got at this isle, were
about one hundred and
Fifty pigs, twice that number of fowls, as many
bananoes and cocoa-nuts as we could find room for, with a few yams; and had
our stay been longer, we no doubt might have got a great deal more. This in
some degree shews the fertility of the island, of which, together with the
neighbouring one of Middleburg, I shall now give a more particular account.
[1] "A party of the marines were posted on the beach in case of
danger, to protect the captain's clerk, who traded for provisions. The
natives did not express either surprise or dislike at this proceeding,
perhaps, because they were unacquainted with its meaning. They
received us with acclamations of joy as at Ea-oonhe, and desired us to
sit down with them on the rocks along shore, which consisted of coral,
and were covered with shell sand. We purchased several beautiful
parroquets, pigeons, and doves, which they brought to us perfectly
tame; and our young Borabora man, Mahine (or Odeedee), traded with
great eagerness for ornaments made of bright red feathers, which he
assured us had an extraordinary value at Otaheite and the Society
Islands. Here they were commonly pasted to aprons used in their
dances, and made of the fibres of cocoa-nuts, or fixed upon bananoe
leaves, forming rhomboidal frontlets or diadems; and with a degree of
extacy, which gave the greatest weight to his assertion, he shewed us
that a little piece of feather-work, as broad as two or three fingers,
would purchase the largest hog in his island." - G.F.
[2] "We left the beach after the first acquaintance with the natives,
and ascended a few feet into a wild forest consisting of tall trees,
intermixed with shrubberies. This wood, though narrow, being in many
places not above one hundred yards wide, was continued along the shore
of Van Diemen's road, being more or less open in various parts. Beyond
it the whole island was perfectly level. We walked across a piece of
uncultivated land, about five hundred yards wide, which adjoined to
the wood. Part of it appeared to have been planted with yams, but the
rest was full of grass, and had a little swamp in the middle, where
the purple water-hen, or poula sultane, resided in great numbers. As
soon as we left this, we entered into a lane about six feet wide,
between two fences of reed, which inclosed extensive plantations on
each side. Here we met many of the natives, who were travelling to the
beach with loads of provisions, and courteously bowed their heads as
they passed by us, in sign of friendship, generally pronouncing some
monosyllable or other, which seemed to correspond to the Otaheitean
tays. The inclosures, plantations, and houses, were exactly in the
same style as at Ea-oonhe, and the people had never failed to plant
odoriferous shrubs round their dwellings.
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