ut them in, built
for the purpose, and in these houses they likewise build and repair them,
and in this they shew a great deal of ingenuity far more than one could
expect. They are built full Bellied, and after the very same Model as
those Six we saw on George's Island, which I have already described, and
some of them are full as large; it is more than probable that these 6
Proes were built at some of these Islands. In these Proes, or Pahies as
they call them, from all the accounts we can learn, these people sail in
those Seas from Island to Island for several hundred Leagues, the Sun
serving them for a Compass by day, and the Moon and Stars by night. When
this comes to be proved, we shall be no longer at a loss to know how the
Islands lying in those Seas came to be peopled; for if the inhabitants of
Ulietea have been at Islands laying 2 or 300 Leagues to the Westward of
them, it cannot be doubted but that the inhabitants of those Western
Islands may have been at others as far to Westward of them, and so we may
trace them from Island to Island quite to the East Indies.

Tupia tells us that during the months of November, December, and January
Westerly winds, with rain, prevail; and as the inhabitants of the Islands
know very well how to make the proper use of the winds, there will no
difficulty arise in Trading or Sailing from Island to Island, even tho'
they lie in an East and West direction.* (* This paragraph is from the
Admiralty copy of Cook's Journal. This fact is now well known. The
islands here described, the Society Islands of Cook, and now known as the
Leeward Group of the Society Islands, were generally under the dominion
of Tahiti. At the time of Cook's visit, the chief of Bolabola was supreme
over most of the group, and their tie to Tahiti was but slight. They are
all very beautiful and fertile. Within the last decade they have formally
been recognised as belonging to France.)

[Sail from Society Islands.]

REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES IN THE SOUTH SEAS.

Thursday, August 10th. P.M., Light Airs and Calm, remainder fresh breezes
and Cloudy. At 6 p.m. the South end of Ulietea South-East 1/2 East,
distant 4 Leagues; but I take my departure from the
Harbour, saild from in Latitude 16 degrees 46 minutes South, and
Longitude 151 degrees 27 minutes West. At 7 a.m. found the Variation to
be 5 degrees 50 minutes East. Wind Easterly; course South 16 degrees
West; distance 50 miles; Latitude observed 17 degrees 34 minutes