eine
put a stop to it. The chief had promised to bring the man on board who
first brought the account; but he was either not to be found, or would not
appear. In the morning, the people were divided in their opinions; but in
the afternoon, all said it was a false report. I had sent Mr Clerke, in the
morning, to the farthest part of the island, to make enquiries there; he
returned without learning any thing satisfactory. In short, the report
appeared now too ill founded to authorize me to send a boat over, or to
wait any longer here; and therefore, early in the morning of the 4th, I got
every thing in readiness to sail. Oree the chief, and his whole family,
came on board, to take their last farewell, accompanied by Oo-oo-rou, the
_Earee di hi_, and Boba, the _Earee_ of Otaha, and several of
their friends. None of them came empty; but Oo-oo-rou brought a pretty
large present, this being his first and only visit. I distributed amongst
them almost every thing I had left. The very hospitable manner in which I
had ever been received by these people, had endeared them to me, and given
them a just title to everything in my power to grant. I questioned them
again about the ships at Huaheine; and they all, to a man, denied that any
were there. During the time these people remained on board, they were
continually importuning me to return. The chief, his wife and daughter, but
especially the two latter, scarcely ever ceased weeping. I will not pretend
to say whether it was real or feigned grief they shewed on this occasion.
Perhaps there was a mixture of both; but were I to abide by my own opinion
only, I should believe it was real. At last, when we were about to weigh,
they took a most affectionate leave. Oree's last request was for me to
return; when he saw he could not obtain that promise, he asked the name of
my _Marai_ (burying-place). As strange a question as this was, I
hesitated not a moment to tell him Stepney; the parish in which I live when
in London. I was made to repeat it several times over till they could
pronounce it; then, Stepney _Marai no Toote_ was echoed through an
hundred mouths at once. I afterwards found the same question had been put
to Mr Forster by a man on shore; but he gave a different, and indeed more
proper answer, by saying, no man, who used the sea, could say where he
should be buried. It is the custom, at these isles, for all the great
families to have burial-places of their own, where their remains a