A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16Kerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
On the 26th, I had a piece of ground cleared for a garden, and planted
it with several articles, very few of which, I believe, the natives,
will ever look after. Some melons, potatoes, and two pine-apple
plants, were in a fair way of succeeding before we left the place. I
had brought from the Friendly Islands several shaddock trees. These I
also planted here; and they can hardly fail of success, unless their
growth should be checked by the same premature curiosity, which
destroyed a vine planted by the Spaniards at Oheitepeha. A number of
the natives got together to taste the first fruit it bore; but, as
the grapes were still sour, they considered it as little better than
poison, and it was unanimously determined to tread it under foot.
In that state, Omai found it by chance, and was overjoyed at the
discovery. For he had a full confidence, that, if he had but grapes,
he could easily make wine. Accordingly, he had several slips cut off
from the tree, to carry away with him; and we pruned and put in order
the remains of it. Probably, grown wise by Omai's instructions, they
may now suffer the fruit to grow to perfection, and not pass so hasty
a sentence upon it again.
We had not been eight and forty hours at anchor in Matavai Bay, before
we were visited by all our old friends, whose names are recorded in
the account of my last voyage. Not one of them came empty-handed; so
that we had more provisions than we knew what to do with. What was
still more, we were under no apprehensions of exhausting the island,
which presented to our eyes every mark of the most exuberant plenty,
in every article of refreshment.
Soon after our arrival here, one of the natives, whom the Spaniards
had carried with them to Lima, paid us a visit; but, in his
external appearance, he was not distinguishable from the rest of his
countrymen. However, he had not forgot some Spanish words which he
had acquired, though he pronounced them badly. Amongst them, the most
frequent were, _si Sennor_; and, when a stranger was introduced to
him, he did not fail to rise up and accost him, as well as he could.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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