I took Nelson with me to procure some breadfruit plants, one of our stock being dead and two or three others a little sickly. When we landed there were about two hundred people on the beach, most of them women and children. Tepa showed me a large boat-house which he told me we might make use of, thinking we should have a party on shore as our ships had formerly. I went with him in search of water but could find no better place than where Captain Cook had watered, which is a quarter of a mile inland from the east end of the beach. I next walked to the west point of the bay where some plants and seeds had been sown by Captain Cook; and had the satisfaction to see in a plantation close by about twenty fine pineapple plants but no fruit, this not being the proper season. They told me that they had eaten many of them, that they were fine and large, and that at Tongataboo there were great numbers. When I returned to the landing-place I was desired to sit down and a present was brought me which consisted of some bundles of coconuts only. This fell short of my expectations; however I appeared satisfied and distributed beads and trinkets to the women and children near me. Numerous were the marks of mourning with which these people disfigure themselves, such as bloody temples, their heads deprived of most of the hair, and what was worse almost all of them with the loss of some of their fingers. Several fine boys, not above six years old, had lost both their little fingers; and some of the men besides these had parted with the middle finger of the right hand. The chiefs went off with me to dinner, and I found a brisk trade carrying on at the ship for yams; some plantains and breadfruit were likewise brought on board but no hogs. In the afternoon more sailing canoes arrived, some of which contained not less than ninety passengers. We purchased eight hogs, some dogs, fowls, and shaddocks. Yams were in great abundance, very fine and large; one yam weighed above forty-five pounds. Among the people that came this afternoon were two of the name of Tubow, which is a family of the first distinction among the Friendly Islands; one of them was chief of the island Lefooga; with him and Tepa I went on shore to see the wooding place. I found a variety of sizable trees but the kind which I principally pitched upon was the Barringtonia of Forster. I acquainted Tepa with my intention of sending people to cut wood, which meeting with his approbation, we parted. Saturday 25. On the 25th at daylight the wooding and watering parties went on shore. I had directed them not to cut the kind of tree* which, when Captain Cook wooded here in 1777, blinded for a time many of the woodcutters. They had not been an hour on shore before one man had an axe stolen from him and another an adze. Tepa was applied to, who got the axe restored but the adze was not recovered. In the evening we completed wooding.