to give a general description of the rich and spontaneous gifts which
Nature has lavished on this once 'happy island;'--of the simple and
ingenuous manners of its natives,--and of those allurements which were
supposed, erroneously however, to have occasioned the unfortunate
catastrophe alluded to;--to glance at

The nymphs' seducements and the magic bower,

as they existed at the period of the first intercourse between the
Otaheitans and the crews of those ships, which carried to their shores,
in succession, Wallis, Bougainville, and Cook.

The first communication which Wallis had with these people was
unfortunately of a hostile nature. Having approached with his ship close
to the shore, the usual symbol of peace and friendship, a branch of the
plantain tree, was held up by a native in one of the numerous canoes
that surrounded the ship. Great numbers, on being invited, crowded on
board the stranger ship, but one of them, being butted on the haunches
by a goat, and turning hastily round, perceived it rearing on its hind
legs, ready to repeat the blow, was so terrified at the appearance of
this strange animal, so different from any he had ever seen, that, in
the moment of terror, he jumped overboard, and all the rest followed his
example with the utmost precipitation.

This little incident, however, produced no mischief; but as the boats
were sounding in the bay, and several canoes crowding round them, Wallis
suspected the islanders had a design to attack them, and, on this mere
suspicion, ordered the boats by signal to come on board, 'and at the
same time,' he says, 'to intimidate the Indians, I fired a nine-pounder
over their heads.' This, as might have been imagined, startled the