the house itself,
which had suffered no hurt from the weather, a shed having been built
over it. There were scuttles all around, which served as air holes;
and, perhaps, they were also meant to fire from with muskets, if ever
this should have been found necessary. At a little distance from the
front stood a wooden cross, on the transverse part of which was cut
the following inscription:

_Christus vincit._

And on the perpendicular part (which confirmed our conjecture that the
two ships were Spanish),

_Carolus_ III. _imperat._ 1774.

On the other side of the post I preserved the memory of the prior
visits of the English, by inscribing,

_Georgius Tertius Rex,
Annis_ 1767,
1769, 1773, 1774, & 1777.

The natives pointed out to us, near the foot of the cross, the grave
of the commodore of the two ships, who had died here while they lay in
the bay the first time. His name, as they pronounced it, was Oreede.
Whatever the intentions of the Spaniards in visiting this island might
be, they seemed to have taken great pains to ingratiate themselves
with the inhabitants, who, upon every occasion, mentioned them with
the strongest expressions of esteem, and veneration.

I met with no chief of any considerable note on this occasion,
excepting the extraordinary personage above described. Waheiadooa, the
sovereign of Tiaraboo (as this part of the island is called), was now
absent; and I afterward found that he was not the same person, though
of the same name with the chief whom I had seen here during my last
voyage; but his brother, a boy of about ten years of age, who had
succeeded upon the death of the elder Waheiadooa, about twenty months
before our arrival. We also learned that the celebrated Oberea was
dead; but that Otoo and all our other friends were living.

When I returned from viewing the house and cross erected by the
Spaniards, I found Omai holding forth to a large company; and it was
with some difficulty that he could be got away to accompany me on
board, where I had an important affair to settle.

As I knew that Otaheite, and the neighbouring islands, could furnish
us with a plentiful supply of cocoa-nuts, the liquor of which is an
excellent _succedaneum_ for any artificial beverage, I was desirous of
prevailing upon my people to consent to be abridged, during our stay
here, of their stated allowance of spirits to mix with water. But as
this stoppage of a favourite article, without assigning some