or houses of God, to which carriage-poles were fitted, like that which we had seen at Huaheine.  One of these Mr Banks examined by putting his hand into it, and found a parcel about five feet long and one thick, wrapped up in matts:  He broke a way through several of these matts with his fingers, but at length came to one which was made of the fibres of the cocoa-nut, so firmly plaited together that he found it impossible to tear it, and therefore was forced to desist; especially as he perceived, that what he had done already gave great offence to our new friends.  From hence we went to a long house, not far distant, where among rolls of cloth, and several other things, we saw the model of a canoe, about three feet long, to which were tied eight human jaw-bones:  We had already learnt that these, like scalps among the Indians of North America, were trophies of war.  Tupia affirmed that they were the jaw-bones of the natives of this island; if so, they might have been hung up, with the model of a canoe, as a symbol of invasion, by the warriors of Bolabola, as a memorial of their conquest.

Night now came on apace, but Mr Banks and Dr Solander continued their walk along the shore, and at a little distance saw another Ewharre-no-Eatua, and a tree of the fig kind, the same as that which Mr Green had seen at Otaheite, in great perfection, the trunk, or rather congeries of the roots of which, was forty-two paces in circumference.

On the 21st, having dispatched the master in the long-boat to examine the coast of the south part of the island, and one of the mates in the yawl, to sound the harbour where the ship lay, I went myself in the pinnace, to survey that part of the island which lies to the north.  Mr Banks and the gentlemen were again on shore, trading with the natives, and examining the products and curiosities of the country; they saw nothing, however, worthy notice, but some more jaw-bones, of which they made no doubt but that the account they had heard was true.

On the 22d and 23d, having strong gales and hazy weather, I did not think it safe to put to sea; but on the 24th, though the wind was still variable, I got under sail, and plied to the northward within the reef, with a view to go out at a wider opening than that by which I had entered; in doing this, however, I was unexpectedly in the most imminent danger of striking on the rock:  The master, whom I had ordered to keep continually sounding in the chains, suddenly called out, “Two fathom.”  This alarmed me, for though I knew the ship drew at least fourteen feet, and that therefore it was impossible such a shoal should be under her keel, yet the master was either mistaken, or she went along the edge of a coral rock, many of which, in the neighbourhood of these islands, are as steep as a wall.