At three o’clock in the afternoon, I weighed, run in nearer to the shore, and anchored in four fathom and an half water, with a soft sandy bottom, the south point of the bay bearing E. distant one mile, and a river which the boats can enter at low water S.S.E. distant a mile and an half.

In the morning, the natives came off again to the ship, and we had the satisfaction to observe that their behaviour was very different from what it had been yesterday: among them was an old man, whom we had before remarked for his prudence and honesty: his name was TOIAVA, and he seemed to be a person of a superior rank; in the transactions of yesterday morning he had behaved with great propriety and good sense, lying in a small canoe, always near the ship, and treating those on board as if he neither intended a fraud nor suspected an injury: with some persuasion this man and another came on board, and ventured into the cabin, where I presented each of them with a piece of English cloth and some spike nails. They told us that the Indians were now very much afraid of us, and on our part we promised friendship if they would behave peaceably, desiring only to purchase what they had to sell upon their own terms.

Voyaging Accounts