To prevent this, if possible, I advised him to make a proper distribution of some of his moveables to two or three of the principal chiefs, who, being thus gratified themselves, might be induced to take him under their patronage, and protect him from the injuries of others.  He promised to follow my advice; and I heard, with satisfaction, before I sailed, that this very prudent step had been taken.  Not trusting, however, entirely to the operations of gratitude, I had recourse to the more forcible motive of intimidation.  With this view, I took every opportunity of notifying to the inhabitants, that it was my intention to return to their island again, after being absent the usual time; and that, if I did not find Omai in the same state of security in which I was now to leave him, all those whom, I should then discover to have been his enemies, might expect to feel the weight of my resentment.  This threatening declaration; will, probably, have no inconsiderable effect; for our successive visits of late years have taught these people to believe that our ships are to return at certain periods; and while they continue to be impressed with such a notion, which I thought it a fair stratagem to confirm, Omai has some prospect of being permitted to thrive upon his new plantation.

While we lay in this harbour, we carried ashore the bread remaining in the bread-room, to clear it of vermin.  The number of cock-roaches that infested the ship, at this time, is incredible.  The damage they did us was very considerable; and every method devised by us to destroy them proved ineffectual.  These animals which, at first, were a nuisance, like all other insects, had now become a real pest, and so destructive, that few things were free from, their ravages.  If food of any kind was exposed, only for a few minutes, it was covered with them, and they soon pierced it full of holes, resembling a honey-comb.  They were particularly destructive to birds which had been stuffed and preserved as curiosities, and what was worse, were uncommonly fond of ink, so that the writing on the labels fastened to different articles were quite eaten out; and the only thing that preserved books from them was the closeness of the binding, which prevented these devourers getting between the leaves.  According to Mr Anderson’s observations, they were of two sorts, the blatta orientalis and germanica.  The first of these had been carried home in the ship from her former voyage, where they withstood the severity of the hard winter in 1776, though she was in dock all the time.  The others had only made their appearance since our leaving New Zealand, but had increased so fast, that they now not only did all the mischief mentioned above, but had even got amongst the rigging, so that when a sail was loosened, thousands of them fell upon the decks.  The orientates, though in infinite numbers, scarcely came out but in the night, when they made every thing in the cabins seem as if in motion, from the particular noise in crawling about.  And, besides their disagreeable appearance, they did great mischief to our bread, which was so bespattered with their excrement, that it would have been badly relished by delicate feeders.