had had time to
make arrangements to do so, in a manner consistent with their own
notions of good cheer. It is perfectly easy then to understand, that
when, instead of the necessary absence of the strangers till the next
season of plenty, there elapsed a few days only, as we shall find, it
was impossible for them to form any other conception of the nature
or object of the visit, than what served to give a very different
direction to their feelings. And yet perhaps we shall be induced to
believe, that all their surprise and uneasiness would have quietly
subsided, if an unfortunate, and, in fact, merely partial altercation
had not excited it beyond its original intensity, and produced a
momentary determination to get rid by any means of such troublesome
encroachers.--E.]

We were this day much diverted, at the beach, by the buffooneries of
one of the natives. He held in his hand an instrument, of the sort
described in the last volume; some bits of sea-weed were tied round
his neck, and round each leg a piece of strong netting, about nine
inches deep, on which a great number of dogs' teeth were loosely
fastened in rows. His style of dancing was entirely burlesque, and
accompanied with strange grimaces, and pantomimical distortions of
the face, which, though at times inexpressibly ridiculous, yet, on the
whole, was without much meaning or expression. Mr Webber thought it
worth his while to make a drawing of this person, as exhibiting a
tolerable specimen of the natives; the manner in which the _maro_
is tied; the figure of the instrument before mentioned, and of the
ornaments round the legs, which, at other times, we also saw used by
their dancers.

In the evening, we were again entertained with wrestling and
boxing-matches; and we displayed, in return, the few fireworks we had
left. Nothing could be better calculated to excite the admiration
of these islanders, and to impress them with an idea of our great
superiority, than an exhibition of this kind. Captain Cook has already
described the extraordinary effects of that which was made at Hapaee;
and though the present was, in every respect, infinitely inferior, yet
the astonishment of the natives was not less.

I have before mentioned, that the carpenters, from both ships, had
been sent up the country, to cut planks, for the head rail-work of the
Resolution. This was the third day since their departure; and having
received no intelligence from them, we began to be very