ix men and a chief, who was
standing up making signals with great earnestness. On his coming
alongside, Too-gee recognised the chief to be Ko-to-ko-ke, who is the
etiketica, or principal chief of the hippah whence the boats had come the
preceding evening. The old chief, who appeared to be about seventy years
of age, had not a visible feature, the whole of his face being tatooed
with spiral lines. At his coming on board he embraced Too-gee with great
affection; Too-gee then introduced me to him; and after the ceremony of
'ehong-i,' i.e. joining noses, he took off his ah-a-how, or mantle, and
put it on my shoulders. In return I gave him a mantle made of green
baize, and decorated with broad arrows. Soon after seven, other canoes,
with upwards of twenty men and women in each, came alongside. At
Too-gee's desire the poop was 'eta-boo,' i.e. all access to it by any
others than the old chief forbidden. Not long before Ko-to-ko-ke came on
board, I asked Too-gee and Hoo-doo if they would return to Norfolk Island
or land at Moo-dee When-u-a in case the calm continued, or the wind came
from the southward, of which there was some appearance. Too-gee was much
averse to either. His reason for not returning to Norfolk was the natural
wish to see his family and chief; nor did he like the idea of being
landed at Moo-dee When-u-a, as, notwithstanding what he had heard
respecting the good understanding there was between his district and that
of Moo-dee When-u-a, the information might turn out to be not strictly
true. Nothing more was said about it; and it was my intention to land
them nearer to their homes, if it could be done in the course of the day,
although it was then a perfect calm. Soon after the chief came on board
they told me with tears of joy that they wished to go with Ko-toko-ke,
who had fully confirmed all they had heard before, and had promised to
take them the next morning to Too-gee's residence, where they would
arrive by night. To wait the event of the calm, or the wind coming from
the northward, might have detained the ship some days longer. Could I
have reached in four days from leaving Norfolk the place where Too-gee
lived, I certainly should have landed him there; but that not being the
case (as this was the fifth day) I did not consider myself justifiable in
detaining the ship longer than was absolutely necessary to land them in a
place of safety, and from which they might get to their homes.

Notwithstanding the in