t their ease. It was not long before an
axe, and an iron wedge, were brought to me. In the mean time, some armed
natives began to gather behind the house; but, on a part of our guard
marching against them, they dispersed; and I advised the chiefs to give
orders, that no more should appear. Such orders were accordingly given
by them, and they were obeyed. On asking them to go aboard with me to
dinner, they readily consented. But some having afterward objected to
the king's going, he instantly rose up, and declared he would be the
first man. Accordingly we came on board. I kept them there till near
four o'clock, when I conducted them ashore; and, soon after, the kid,
and one of the turkey-cocks, were brought back. The other, they said,
should be restored the next morning. I believed this would happen, and
released both them and the canoes.

After the chiefs had left us, I walked out with Omai, to observe how the
people about us fared; for this was the time of their meals. I found
that, in general, they were at short commons. Nor is this to be wondered
at, since most of the yams, and other provisions which they brought with
them, were sold to us; and they never thought of returning to their own
habitations, while they could find any sort of subsistence in our
neighbourhood. Our station was upon an uncultivated point of land; so
that there were none of the islanders, who, properly, resided within
half a mile of us. But, even at this distance, the multitude of
strangers being so great, one might have expected, that every house
would have been much crowded. It was quite otherwise. The families
residing there were as much left to themselves, as if there had not been
a supernumerary visitor near them. All the strangers lived in little
temporary sheds, or under trees and bushes; and the cocoa-trees were
stripped of their branches, to erect habitations for the chiefs.

In this walk we met with about half a dozen women, in one place, at
supper. Two of the company, I observed, being fed by the others, on our
asking the reason, they said _taboo mattee_. On farther enquiry we
found, that one of them had, two months before, washed the dead corpse
of a chief; and that, on this account, she was not to handle any food
for five months. The other had performed the same office to the corpse
of another person of inferior rank, and was now under the same
restriction; but not for so long a time. At another place, hard by, we
saw another woman