The first day of our arrival at Annamooka, one of the natives had stolen, out of the ship, a large junk axe.  I now applied to Feenou to exert his authority to get it restored to me; and so implicitly was he obeyed, that it was brought on board while we were at dinner.  These people gave us very frequent opportunities of remarking what expert thieves they were.  Even some of their chiefs did not think this profession beneath them.  On the 9th, one of them was detected carrying out of the ship, concealed under his clothes, the bolt belonging to the spun-yarn winch; for which I sentenced him to receive a dozen lashes, and kept him confined till he paid a hog for his liberty.  After this, we were not troubled with thieves of rank.  Their servants, or slaves, however, were still employed in this dirty work; and upon them a flogging seemed to make no greater impression, than it would have done upon the main-mast.  When any of them happened to be caught in the act, their masters, far from interceding for them, would often advise us to kill them.  As this was a punishment we did not choose to inflict, they generally escaped without any punishment at all; for they appeared to us to be equally insensible of the shame and of the pain of corporal chastisement.  Captain Clerke, at last, hit upon a mode of treatment, which, we thought, had some effect.  He put them under the hands of the barber, and completely shaved their heads; thus pointing them out as objects of ridicule to their countrymen, and enabling our people to deprive them of future opportunities for a repetition of their rogueries, by keeping them at a distance.

Feenou was so fond of associating with us, that he dined on board every day; though, sometimes, he did not partake of our fare.  On the 10th, some of his servants brought a mess, which had been dressed for him on shore.  It consisted of fish, soup, and yams.  Instead of common water to make the soup, cocoa-nut liquor had been made use of, in which the fish had been boiled or stewed; probably in a wooden vessel, with hot stones; but it was carried on board in a plantain leaf.  I tasted of the mess, and found it so good, that I, afterward, had some fish dressed in the same way.  Though my cook succeeded tolerably well, he could produce nothing equal to the dish he imitated.

Finding that we had quite exhausted the island of almost every article of food that it afforded, I employed the 11th in moving off, from the shore, the horses, observatories, and other things that we had landed, as also the party of marines who had mounted guard at our station, intending to sail, as soon as the Discovery should have recovered her best bow anchor.  Feenou, understanding that I meant to proceed directly to Tongataboo, importuned me strongly to alter this plan, to which he expressed as much aversion, as if he had some particular interest to promote by diverting me from it.  In preference to it, he warmly recommended an island, or rather a group of islands, called Hepaee, lying to the N.E.  There, he assured us, we could be supplied plentifully with every refreshment, in the easiest manner; and, to add weight to his advice, he engaged to attend us thither in person.  He carried his point with me; and Hepaee was made choice of for our next station.  As it had never been visited by any European ships, the examination of it became an object with me.