, came alongside
in a sailing canoe, and informed me that they were setting out for
Vavaoo, an island which they said lies about two days sail to the
northward of Hepaee. The object of their voyage, they would have me
believe, was to get for me an additional supply of hogs, and some
red-feathered caps for Omai to carry to Otaheite, where they are in high
esteem. Feenou assured me that he should be back in four or five days,
and desired me not to sail till his return, when he promised he would
accompany me to Tongataboo. I thought this a good opportunity to get
some knowledge of Vavaoo, and proposed to him to go thither with the
ships. But he seemed not to approve of the plan; and, by way of
diverting me from it, told me that there was neither harbour nor
anchorage about it. I therefore consented to wait, in my present
station, for his return, and he immediately set out.

The next day, our attention was for some time taken up with a report,
industriously spread about by some of the natives, that a ship like ours
had arrived at Annamooka since we left it, and was now at anchor there.
The propagators of the report were pleased to add, that Toobou, the
chief of that island, was hastening thither to receive these new comers;
and as we knew that he had actually left us, we were the more ready to
believe there might be some foundation for the story of this unexpected
arrival. However, to gain some farther information, I went on shore with
Omai, in quest of the man who, it was said, had brought the first
account of this event from Annamooka. We found him at the house of
Earoupa, where Omai put such questions to him as I thought necessary;
and the answers he gave were so clear and satisfactory, that I had not a
doubt remaining. But, just about this time, a chief of some note, whom
we well knew, arrived from Annamooka, and declared that no ship was at
that island, nor had been, since our leaving it. The propagator of the
report, finding himself detected in a falsehood, instantly withdrew, and
we saw no more of him. What end the invention of this tale could answer
was not easy to conjecture, unless we suppose it to have been artfully
contrived, to get us removed from the one island to the other.

In my walk on the 25th, I happened to step into a house, where a woman
was dressing the eyes of a young child, who seemed blind, the eyes being
much inflamed, and a thin film spread over them. The instruments she
used were two slender wo