e. They brought with them various
articles (curiosities), which they exchanged for Otaheitean cloth, &c. At
first, the exchanges were very much in our favour, till an old man, who was
no stranger to us, came and assisted his countrymen with his advice; which,
in a moment, turned the trade above a thousand per cent, against us.[6]

After these people were gone, I took four hogs (that is, three sows and one
boar), two cocks and two hens, which I landed in the bottom of the West
Bay; carrying them a little way into the woods, where we left them with as
much food as would serve them ten or twelve days. This was done with a view
of keeping them in the woods, lest they should come down to the shore in
search of food, and be discovered by the natives; which, however, seemed
not probable, as this place had never been frequented by them; nor were any
traces of them to be seen near it. We also left some cocks and hens in the
woods in Ship Cove; but these will have a chance of falling into the hands
of the natives, whose wandering way of life will hinder them from breeding,
even suppose they should be taken proper care of. Indeed, they took rather
too much care of those which I had already given them, by keeping them
continually confined, for fear of losing them in the woods. The sow pig we
had not seen since the day they had her from me; but we were now told she
was still living, as also the old boar and sow given them by Captain
Furneaux; so that there is reason to hope they may succeed. It will be
unfortunate, indeed, if every method I have taken, to provide this country
with useful animals, should be frustrated. We were likewise told, that the
two goats were still alive, and running about; but I gave more credit to
the first story than this. I should have replaced them, by leaving behind
the only two I had left, but had the misfortune to lose the ram soon after
our arrival here, in a manner we could hardly account for. They were both
put ashore at the tents, where they seemed to thrive very well; at last,
the ram was taken with fits bordering on madness. We were at a loss to tell
whether it was occasioned by any thing he had eaten, or by being stung with
nettles, which were in plenty about the place; but supposed it to be the
latter, and therefore did not take the care of him we ought to have done.
One night, while he was lying by the centinel, he was seized with one of
these fits, and ran headlong into the sea; but soon came out