The house was no doubt the Fare-hau, or Council-house, of the district of Haapape, and the princess, as Wallis called her, who did not belong to Haapape but to quite another part of the island, was herself a guest, whose presence there was due to her relationship with the chief.

"As soon as we entered the house, she made us sit down, and then calling four young girls, she assisted them to take off my shoes, draw down my stockings, and pull off my coat, and then directed them to smooth down the skin and gently chafe it with their hands. Having continued it for about half an hour, they dressed us again, but in this they were, as may easily be imagined, very awkward. I found great benefit, however, from the chafing, and so did the lieutenant and the purser. After a little time our generous benefactress ordered some bales of Indian cloth to be brought out, with which she clothed me and all that were with me, according to the fashion of the country. At first I declined the acceptance of this favor, but being unwilling not to seem pleased with what was intended to please me, I acquiesced. When we went away, she ordered a very large sow, big with young, to be taken down to the boat, and accompanied us thither herself. She had given directions to her people to carry me, as they had done when I came, but as I chose rather to walk, she took me by the arm, and whenever we came to a plash of water or dirt, she lifted me over with as little trouble as it would have cost me to have lifted over a child if I had been well."

From this time Captain Wallis as well as his sailors became bewitched with the island, and especially by the women, who, according to

Indigenous Histories