Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/175

] He knew the animal perfectly well, which he called boakka toote, and told us, there were none now at Tongataboo, but there were at Hapaee. Several of the natives, however, assured us, imitating at the same time tolerably well their lowing, that there were some at Tongataboo, though others denied it. Thus we were unable to learn what had become of the bull and cow, which Captain Cook had left on the island; and it was the same with regard to the horse and mare, which he had given to Feenou. Perhaps they were afraid that we should require some of these animals from them.

Quitting the assembly, we walked toward the east, ascending a gentle slope. At first we passed along paths bordered with palisadoes; but we soon reached the end of these, and came to fields of yams fully cropped. Farther on, the ground, recently turned up, exhibited every appearance of fertility.

We soon reached a delightful spot on the top of a little hill, where the natives had formed a sort of rotunda, about four yards wide, with palisades, and some shrubs cut with art. Under this rotunda we still saw the remains of kava roots, that had been chewed; and round it were twenty-four small huts, constructed in a circle of fifteen or sixteen yards diameter. These huts were all