The next morning, our friend Tubourai Tamaide made Mr. Banks a visit at the tent, and brought with him not only his wife and family, but the roof of a house, and several materials for setting it up, with furniture and implements of various kinds, intending, as we understood him, to take up his residence in our neighbourhood: this instance of his confidence and good-will gave us great pleasure, and we determined to strengthen his attachment to us by every means in our power. Soon after his arrival, he took Mr. Banks by the hand, and leading him out of the line, signified that he should accompany him into the woods. Mr. Banks readily consented, and having walked with him about a quarter of a mile, they arrived at a kind of awning which he had already set up, and which seemed to be his occasional habitation. Here he unfolded a bundle of his country cloth, and taking out two garments, one of red cloth, and the other of very neat matting, he clothed Mr. Banks in them, and without any other ceremony, immediately conducted him back to the tent. His attendants soon after brought him some pork and bread-fruit, which he eat, dipping his meat into salt water instead of sauce: after his meal he retired to Mr. Banks’s bed, and slept about an hour. In the afternoon, his wife Tomio brought to the tent a young man about two and twenty years of age, of a very comely appearance, whom they both seemed to acknowledge as their son, though we afterwards discovered that he was not so. In the evening, this young man and another Chief, who had also paid us a visit, went away to the westward, but Tubourai Tamaide and his wife returned to the awning in the skirts of the wood.

Voyaging Accounts