et
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.

This harbour, or bay, is called by the natives _Oopoa,_ and taken in its
greatest extent, it is capable of holding any number of shipping. It
extends almost the whole length of the east side of the island, and is
defended from the sea by a reef of coral rocks: The southermost opening
in this reef, or channel, into the harbour, by which we entered, is
little more than a cable's l