and some other things that had been
stolen before were returned and very few robbings of any consequence were
attempted and discovered until the day of our departure.

I took this opportunity of showing the chief what execution the cannon
and carronades would do by firing a six-pound shot on shore and an
eighteen-pounder carronade loaded with grape shot into the sea. I
afterwards went on shore with two boats and took with me the chief and
his attendants, and before I returned on board again told him that I
should send on shore the next morning for water and wood, and that I
should also come on shore myself in the course of the day, all which he
approved of and desired me to do, and accordingly the next morning, the
31st July the watering and wooding parties were sent on shore and carried
on their business without interruption, and in the afternoon I went on
shore myself and made a small present to the chief and to some other
people.

On the 2nd August, having completed my water, &c. and thinking it time to
return to England I did not think proper to wait any longer for the
tender, but left instructions for her commander should she happen to
arrive after my departure, and I sailed from Annamooka, attended by a
number of chiefs and canoes belonging to those and the surrounding
islands. After the ship was under way some of the natives had the address
to get in at the cabin windows and stole out of the cabin some books and
other things, and they had actually got into their canoes before they
were discovered. The thieves were allowed to make their escape, but the
canoes that had stolen these things were brought alongside and broke up
for firewood. During this transaction the other natives carried on their
traffic alongside with as much unconcern as if nothing had happened.

I made farewell presents to all the chiefs and to many others of
different descriptions, and after hauling round Annamooka shoals, passed
to the Eastward of Toofoa and Kaho, and in the morning saw Bickerton's
island and the small island to the Southward of it. On the 4th, in the
evening, saw land bearing N.N.W. At first we took it to be Keppel's and
Boscowen's islands, which I intended to visit, and by account was only a
few miles to the Westward of them. As we approached the land we perceived
that it was only one island, and as I supposed that it was a new
discovery I called it Proby's island.[62-1] The hills, of which there
are a great many of differe