The place we went to was a village, most delightfully situated on the bank of the inlet, where all, or most of the principal persons of the island reside, each having his house in the midst of a small plantation, with lesser houses, and offices for servants.  These plantations are neatly fenced round; and, for the most part, have only one entrance.  This is by a door, fastened on the inside by a prop of wood, so that a person has to knock before he can get admittance.  Public roads, and narrow lanes, lie between each plantation, so that no one trespasseth upon another.  Great part of some of these inclosures is laid out in grass-plots, and planted with such things as seem more for ornament than use; but hardly any were without the kava plant, from which they make their favourite liquor.  Every article of the vegetable produce of the island abounded in others of these plantations; but these, I observed, are not the residence of people of the first rank.  There are some large houses near the public roads, with spacious smooth grass-plots before them, and uninclosed.  These, I was told, belonged to the king; and probably they are the places where their public assemblies are held.  It was to one of these houses, as I have already mentioned, that we were conducted soon after our landing at this place.

About noon, the next day, this Mareewagee, of whom we had heard so much, actually came to the neighbourhood of our post on shore, and with him a very considerable number of people of all ranks.  I was informed, that he had taken this trouble on purpose to give me an opportunity of waiting upon him; having probably heard of the displeasure I had shewn on my disappointment the day before.  In the afternoon, a party of us, accompanied by Feenou, landed, to pay him a visit.  We found a person sitting under a large tree near the shore, a little to the right of the tent.  A piece of cloth, at least forty yards long, was spread before him, round which a great number of people of both sexes were seated.  It was natural to suppose that this was the great man, but we were undeceived by Feenou, who informed us that another, who sat on a piece of mat, a little way from this chief, to the right hand, was Mareewagee, and he introduced us to him, who received us very kindly, and desired us to sit down by him.  The person who sat under the tree, fronting us, was called Toobou; and, when I have occasion to speak of him afterward, I shall call him old Toobou, to distinguish him from his namesake, Captain Furneaux’s friend.  Both he and Mareewagee had a venerable appearance.  The latter was a slender man, and, from his appearance, seemed to be considerably above threescore years of age; the former was rather corpulent, and almost blind with a disorder of his eyes, though not so old.

Not expecting to meet with two chiefs on this occasion, I had only brought on shore a present for one.  This I now found myself under a necessity of dividing between them; but it happened to be pretty considerable, and both of them seemed satisfied.  After this, we entertained them for about an hour with the performance of two French horns and a drum.  But they seemed most pleased with the firing off a pistol, which Captain Clerke had in his pocket.  Before I took my leave, the large piece of cloth was rolled up, and, with a few cocoa-nuts, presented to me.