they did not fall down, as our friends
at Otaheite constantly did when we first came among them.. For this
difference, however, we can easily account upon other principles; the
people at Huaheine had not seen the Dolphin, those at Otaheite had. In
one, the report of a gun was connected with the idea of instant
destruction; to the other, there was nothing dreadful in it but the
appearance and the sound, as they had never experienced its power of
dispensing death.

While we were on shore, we found that Tupia had commended them beyond
their merit, when he said that they would not steal; for one of them was
detected in the fact. But when he was seized by the hair, the rest,
instead of running away, as the people at Otaheite would have done,
gathered round, and enquired what provocation had been given: But this
also may be accounted for without giving them credit for superior
courage; they had no experience of the consequence of European
resentment, which the people at Otaheite had in many instances purchased
with life. It must, however, be acknowledged, to their honour, that when
they understood what had happened, they showed strong signs of
disapprobation, and prescribed a good beating for the thief, which was
immediately administered.[42]

[Footnote 42: Huaheine or Aheine (a word which signifies woman) is the
eastermost of the Society Isles. It bears some resemblance to Otaheite,
being divided into two peninsulas by an isthmus of low land, having a
stripe of fertile soil next the shore, from which hills of a volcanic
origin arise towards the centre. Since Capt. Cook's time, this island
has been visited by Lieut. Watts, Capt. Bligh, and Capt. Edwards, but
none of these officers has afforded any satisfactory information
respecting its government and history. In the year 1791, it is said to
have acknowledged the sovereignty of Otaheite.--E.]

We now made sail for the island of _Ulietea_, which lies S.W. by W.
distant seven or eight leagues from Huaheine, and at half an hour after
six in the evening we were within three leagues of the shore, on the
eastern side. We stood off and on all night, and when the day broke the
next morning, we stood in for the shore: We soon after discovered an
opening in the reef which lies before the island, within which Tupia
told us there was a good harbour. I did not, however, implicitly take
his word; but sent the master out in the pinnace to examine it: He soon
made the signal for the ship