the 21st;
and the carpenters were set to work to make a new fore-top-mast, to
replace the one that had been carried away some time before.

Next morning, about eight o'clock, we were visited by a number of
strangers, in twelve or fourteen canoes. They came into the cove from
the southward, and as soon as they had turned the point of it, they
stopped, and lay drawn up in a body above half an hour, about two or
three hundred yards from the ships. At first, we thought, that they
were afraid to come nearer; but we were mistaken in this, and they
were only preparing an introductory ceremony. On advancing toward the
ships, they all stood up in their canoes, and began to sing. Some
of their songs, in which the whole body joined, were in a slow, and
others in quicker time; and they accompanied their notes with the
most regular motions of their hands; or beating in concert, with their
paddles, on the sides of the canoes, and making other very expressive
gestures. At the end of each song, they remained silent a few
seconds, and then began again, sometimes pronouncing the word _hooee!_
forcibly, as a chorus. After entertaining us with this specimen of
their music, which we listened to with admiration, for above half an
hour, they came alongside the ships, and bartered what they had to
dispose of. Some of our old friends of the Sound were now found to
be amongst them, and they took the whole management of the traffic
between us and the strangers, much to the advantage of the latter.

Our attendance on these visitors being finished, Captain Clerke and
I went, in the forenoon, with two boats, to the village at the west
point of the Sound. When I was there before, I had observed, that
plenty of grass grew near it; and it was necessary to lay in a
quantity of this, as food for the few goats and sheep which were
still left on board. The inhabitants received us with the same
demonstrations of friendship which I had experienced before; and the
moment we landed, I ordered some of my people to begin their operation
of cutting. I had not the least imagination, that the natives could
make any objection to our furnishing ourselves with what seemed to be
of no use to them, but was necessary for us. However, I was mistaken;
for, the moment that our men began to cut, some of the inhabitants
interposed, and would not permit them to proceed, saying they must
"_makook_," that is, must first buy it. I was now in one of the
houses; but as soon as I