Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/166

108 had taken perfectly well. The seeds that Captain Cook sowed have proved so bad that not one has come up, except the mustard; even the cucumbers and melons have failed, owing probably to their having been packed in small bottles sealed down with rosin.

7th. The carpenters were this morning employed in taking down the gates and palisades of our little fortification to make us firewood for the ship, when one of the Indians made shift to steal the staple and hook of the great gate. We were immediately apprised of the theft, to the great affright of our visitors, of whom the bell-tent was full; their fears were, however, presently quieted, and I (as usual) set out on my ordinary occupation of thief-catching. The Indians most readily joined me, and away we set full cry, much like a pack of fox-hounds; we ran and walked, and walked and ran, for, I believe, six miles with as little delay as possible, when we learnt that we had very early in the chase passed our game, who was washing in a brook when he saw us coming, and hid himself in the rushes. We returned to the place, and by some intelligence which some of our people got, found a scraper which had been stolen from the ship and was hid in those very rushes; with this we returned, and Tubourai soon after brought the staple.

12th. This morning Tupia came on board; he had expressed his intention of going with us to England, a circumstance which gives me much satisfaction; he is certainly a most proper man, well born, chief Tahowa or priest of this island, consequently skilled in the mysteries of their religion; but what makes him more than anything desirable is his experience in the navigation of these people and knowledge of the islands in these seas. He has told us the names of above seventy, at most of which he has himself been. The captain refuses to take him on his own account; in my opinion sensibly enough, as the Government will never in all human probability take any notice of him. I therefore have resolved to take him; thank Heaven, I have a sufficiency, and I do not know why I may not keep him as a curiosity as well as my neighbours do lions and tigers at a