ruit upon the trees, I cannot tell,
except the season in which they ripen varies.

At our return, our Indian friends crowded about us and none of them came
empty-handed. Though I had determined to restore the canoes which had
been detained to their owners, it had not yet been done; but I now
released them as they were applied for. Upon this occasion I could not
but remark with concern, that these people were capable of practising
petty frauds against each other, with a deliberate dishonesty, which
gave me a much worse opinion of them than I had ever entertained from
the robberies they committed, under the strong temptation to which a
sudden opportunity of enriching themselves with the inestimable metal
and manufactures of Europe exposed them.

Among others who applied to me for the release of a canoe, was one
_Potattow_, a man of some consequence, well known to us all. I
consented, supposing the vessel to be his own, or that he applied on the
behalf of a friend: He went immediately to the beach, and took
possession of one of the boats, which, with the assistance of his
people, he began to carry off. Upon this, however, it was eagerly
claimed by the right owners, who, supported by the other Indians,
clamorously reproached him for invading their property, and prepared to
take the canoe from him by force. Upon this, he desired to be heard, and
told them, that the canoe did, indeed, once belong to those who claimed
it; but that I, having seized it as a forfeit, had sold it to him for a
pig. This silenced the clamour, the owners, knowing that from my power
there was no appeal, acquiesced; and Potattow would have carried off his
prize, if the dispute had not fortunately been overheard by some of our
people, who reported it to me. I gave orders immediately that the
Indians should be undeceived; upon which the right owners took
possession of their canoe, and Potattow was so conscious of his guilt,
that neither he nor his wife, who was privy to his knavery, could look
us in the face for some time afterwards.

SECTION XV.

_An Expedition of Mr Banks to trace the River: Marks of Subterraneous
Fire: Preparations for leaving the Island: An Account of Tupia._

On the 3d, Mr Banks set out early in the morning with some Indian
guides, to trace our river up the valley from which it issues, and
examine how far its banks were inhabited. For about six miles they met
with houses, not far distant from each other, on each side of the