rned when I saw Tinah and
Oreepyah with a number of people at a house at some distance; and soon
after they all marched to the eastward, passing close by our post.
Oedidee, who was with me, told me that they had intelligence of the
thief, and were gone in quest of him: and in less than an hour news was
brought that they had taken him. Shortly after the whole party appeared
with the water-cask and compass. Tinah had hold of the thief by the arm
and, showing him to me, desired that I would kill him. The bedding, he
said, he had not heard of, but would go in search of it. I applauded him
for the pains he had taken in this business, and explained with some
success the injustice of stealing from us: that if any of our people
committed the least offence against them it did not pass unnoticed; and
that friendship required on their part that those who injured us should
not be protected by them. Tinah stopped me from saying more by embracing
me and the whole crowd cried out Tyo myty (i.e. good friend). Tinah then
left me to enquire after the bedding, and I sent the offender on board,
whom I punished with a severe flogging. I was glad to find this man was
not of Oparre or Matavai.

The fine fruit called Avee was just coming into season: it was likewise
in season at the time of our arrival in October. The breadfruit trees I
have no doubt bear all the year round: we have seen a scarcity of
breadfruit but have never been wholly without it. Some fern-root was
shown to me which in scarce seasons is used by the natives as bread. It
bears a long even-edged leaf about an inch wide; the taste somewhat
resembled that of a yam. I was informed by our people that in their walks
they saw in many places patches of Indian corn just making their
appearance through the ground. This convinces me that the corn taken from
Matavai could not have been better disposed of.

Goats are frequently offered for sale, but I rather discouraged the
buying of them for fear of injuring the breed. The natives will not eat
them, neither will they taste the milk, and ask with some appearance of
disgust why we do not milk the sows? I endeavoured to prevail on Tinah
and Iddeah to eat the goats milk by mixing it with fruit, but they would
only try one spoonful.

We had begun to make preparations for sailing, and Tinah supplied us with
a sufficient stock of wood by ordering trees to be brought down from the
country. He had frequently expressed a wish that I would leave