and made motions with their hands, such as we had been accustomed to see in the dances of the islands we had lately visited.  There was another circumstance in which they also perfectly resembled those other islanders.  At first, on their entering the ship, they endeavoured to steal every thing they came near, or rather to take it openly, as what we either should not resent, or not hinder.  We soon convinced them of their mistake; and if they, after some time, became less active in appropriating to themselves whatever they took a fancy to, it was because they found that we kept a watchful eye over them.

At nine o’clock, being pretty near the shore, I sent three armed boats, under the command of Lieutenant Williamson, to look for a landing-place, and for fresh water.  I ordered him, that if he should find it necessary to land in search of the latter, not to suffer more than one man to go with him out of the boats.  Just as they were putting off from the ship, one of the natives having stole the butcher’s cleaver, leaped overboard, got into his canoe, and hastened to the shore, the boats pursuing him in vain.

The order not to permit the crews of the boats to go on shore was issued, that I might do every thing in my power to prevent the importation of a fatal disease into this island, which I knew some of our men now laboured under, and which, unfortunately, had been already communicated by us to other islands in these seas.  With the same view I ordered all female visitors to be excluded from the ships.  Many of them had come off in the canoes.  Their size, colour, and features did not differ much from those of the men; and though their countenances were remarkably open and agreeable, there were few traces of delicacy to be seen, either in their faces, or other proportions.  The only difference in their dress was their having a piece of cloth about the body, reaching from near the middle to half-way down the thighs, instead of the maro worn by the other sex.  They would as readily have favoured us with their company on board as the men; but I wished to prevent all connection, which might, too probably, convey an irreparable injury to themselves, and, through their means, to the whole nation.  Another necessary precaution was taken, by strictly enjoining, that no person known to be capable of propagating the infection, should be sent upon duty out of the ships.

Whether these regulations, dictated by humanity, had the desired effect or no, time only can discover.  I had been equally attentive to the same object, when I first visited the Friendly Islands, yet I afterwards found, with real concern, that I had not succeeded.  And I am much afraid that this will always be the case in such voyages as ours, whenever it is necessary to have a number of people on shore.  The opportunities and inducements to an intercourse between the sexes are then too numerous to be guarded against; and, however confident we may be of the health of our men, we are