e
had met with. I remained with them till they had finished their bowl of
_kava_; and having then paid for the hog, which I had taken the day
before, returned on board, with Taoofa, and one of Poulaho's servants,
by whom I sent, as a parting mark of my esteem and regard for that
chief, a piece of bar iron, being as valuable a present as any I could
make to him.

Soon after, we weighed, and with a light breeze at S.E., stood out to
sea; and then Tafooa, and a few other natives, that were in the ship,
left us. On heaving up the anchor, we found that the cable had suffered
considerably by the rocks; so that the bottom, in this road, is not to
be depended upon. Besides this, we experienced, that a prodigious swell
rolls in there from the S.W.

We had not been long under sail, before we observed a sailing canoe
coming from Tongataboo, and entering the creek before which we had
anchored. Same hours after, a small canoe, conducted by four men, came
off to us. For, as we had but little wind, we were still at no great
distance front the land. These men told us, that the sailing canoe,
which we had seen arrive from Tongataboo, had brought orders to the
people of Eooa, to furnish us with a certain number of hogs; and that,
in two days, the king and other chiefs, would be with us. They,
therefore, desired we would return to our former station. There was no
reason to doubt the truth of what these men told us. Two of them had
actually come from Tongataboo in the sailing canoe; and they had no
view in coming off to us, but to give this intelligence. However, as we
were now clear of the land, it was not a sufficient inducement to bring
me back, especially as we had already on board a stock of fresh
provisions, sufficient, in all probability, to last during our passage
to Otaheite. Besides Taoofa's present, we had got a good quantity of
yams at Eooa, in exchange chiefly for small nails. Our supply of hogs
was also considerably increased there; though, doubtless, we should have
got many more, if the chiefs of Tongataboo had been with us, whose
property they mostly were. At the approach of night, these men finding
that we would not return, left us; as also some others who had come off
in two canoes, with a few cocoa-nuts and shaddocks, to exchange them for
what they could get; the eagerness of these people to get into their
possession more of our commodities, inducing them to follow the ships
out to sea, and to continue their intercours