habitants entertained us with a dance
executed by nineteen young women and one man, all singing together, and
in pretty good time. An old man showed us the spot where Captain Cook
was killed, on the 14th of February, 1779, with the cocoa-nut trees
pierced by the balls from the boats which the unfortunate navigator
commanded. This old man, whether it were feigned or real sensibility,
seemed extremely affected and even shed tears, in showing us these
objects. As for me, I could not help finding it a little singular to be
thus, by mere chance, upon this spot, on the 14th of February, 1811;
that is to say, thirty-two years after, on the anniversary of the
catastrophe which has rendered it for ever celebrated. I drew no
sinister augury from the coincidence, however, and returned to the ship
with my companions as gay as I left it. When I say with my companions, I
ought to except the boatswain, John Anderson, who, having had several
altercations with the captain on the passage, now deserted the ship,
preferring to live with the natives rather than obey any longer so
uncourteous a superior. A sailor also deserted; but the islanders
brought him back, at the request of the captain. They offered to bring
back Anderson, but the captain preferred leaving him behind.

We found no good water near Karaka-koua bay: what the natives brought us
in gourds was brackish. We were also in great want of fresh meat, but
could not obtain it: the king of these islands having expressly
forbidden his subjects to supply any to the vessels which touched there.
One of the chiefs sent a canoe to Tohehigh bay, to get from the governor
of the island, who resided there, permission to sell us some pigs. The
messengers returned the next day, and brought us a letter, in which the
governor ordered us to proceed without delay to the isle of Wahoo, where
the king lives; assuring us that we should there find good water and
everything else we needed.

We got under way on the 16th and with a light wind coasted the island as
far as Tohehigh bay. The wind then dropping away entirely, the captain,
accompanied by Messrs. M'Kay and M'Dougall, went ashore, to pay a visit
to the governor aforesaid. He was not a native, but a Scotchman named
John Young, who came hither some years after the death of Captain Cook.
This man had married a native woman, and had so gained the friendship
and confidence of the king, as to be raised to the rank of chief and
after the conquest of W