Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/175

Rh also a trough for making Poe poe, or sour paste, carved out of hard black stone such as their hatchets are made of; it was 2 feet 7 inches long and 1 foot 4 broad, very thick and substantial, and supported by four short feet, the whole neatly finished and perfectly polished, though quite without ornaments. To-day, as well as yesterday, every one of us who walked out saw many jaw-bones fixed up in houses, as well as out-of-doors, which confirmed what we had been told of their taking these bones instead of scalps.

24th. The captain attempted to go out of the reef by another passage situated between the two islets of Opourourou and Taumou. Whilst the ship was turning to windward within the reef she narrowly escaped going ashore; the quartermaster in the chains called out two fathoms, but as the ship drew at least fourteen feet, it was impossible that such a shoal could be under her keel, so that either the man was mistaken, or the ship went along the edge of a coral rock, many of which are here as steep as a wall.

Soon after this we came to an anchor, and I went ashore, but saw nothing except a small marai, ornamented with two sticks about five feet long, each hung with as many jaw-bones as possible, and one having a skull stuck on its top.

28th. Dr. Solander and I went ashore on the island of Otahah. We went through a large breach in the reef situate between two islands called Toahattu and Whennuaia, within which we found very spacious harbours, particularly in one bay, which was at least three miles deep. The inhabitants as usual, so that long before night we had purchased three hogs, twenty-one fowls, and as many yams and plantains as the boat would hold; indeed, of these last we might have had any quantity, and a more useful refreshment they are to us, in my opinion, even than the pork. They have been for this week past boiled, and served instead of bread; every man in the ship is fond of them, and with us in the cabin they agree much better than the bread-fruit did. But what makes any refreshment of this kind more acceptable is that our bread is at present so full of vermin that, notwithstanding all possible care, I have sometimes had