seeing me in the morning was, that some of his people having stolen a quantity of my clothes which were on shore washing, he was afraid I should demand restitution.  He repeatedly asked me if I was not angry; and when I assured him that I was not, and that they might keep what they had got, he was satisfied.  Towha was alarmed, partly on the same account.  He thought I was displeased when I refused to go aboard his vessel; and I was jealous of seeing such a force in our neighbourhood without being able to know any thing of its design.  Thus, by mistaking one another, I lost the opportunity of examining more narrowly into part of the naval force of this isle, and making myself better acquainted with its manoeuvres.  Such another opportunity may never occur; as it was commanded by a brave, sensible, and intelligent chief, who would have satisfied us in all the questions we had thought proper to ask; and as the objects were before us, we could not well have misunderstood each other.  It happened unluckily that Oedidee was not with us in the morning; for Tee, who was the only man we could depend on, served only to perplex us.  Matters being thus cleared up, and mutual presents having passed between Otoo and me, we took leave and returned on board.

[1] Mr G.F., who was one of the party that went ashore, gives a sketch of the people.  They were a set of stout men, of a dark-brown colour, not disagreeable features, with dark curling hair and beards, perfectly naked, and variously marked on different parts of the body.  They had the New Zealand custom of touching noses as a salutation; and their language seemed a dialect of the Otaheitean.—­E.

[2] The following remarks ought not to be omitted.—­“Besides fish and vegetable food, these people have dogs which live upon fish, and are reckoned excellent meat by the natives of the Society Islands, to whom they are known.  Thus Providence, in its wise dispensations, made even those insignificant narrow ledges rich enough in the productions of nature, to supply a whole race of men with the necessaries of life.  And here we cannot but express our admiration, that the minutest agents are subservient to the purposes of the Almighty Creator.  The coral is known to be the fabric of a little worm, which enlarges its house, in proportion as its own bulk increases.  This little creature, which has scarce sensation enough to distinguish it from a plant, builds up a rocky structure from the bottom of a sea too deep to be measured by human art, till it readies the surface, and offers a firm basis for the residence of man!  The number of these low islands is very great, and we are far from being acquainted with them all.  In the whole extent of the Pacific Ocean, between the tropics, they are to be met with; however, they are remarkably frequent for the space of ten or fifteen degrees to the eastward of the Society Islands.  Quiros, Schouten, Roggewein, Byron, Wallis, Carteret, Bougainville, and Cook, have