We had no sooner anchored, than Taoofa the chief, and several other natives, visited us on board, and seemed to rejoice much at our arrival. This Taoofa[195] had been my _Tayo_, when I was here, during my last voyage; consequently, we were not strangers to each other. In a little time, I went ashore with him, in search of fresh water; the procuring of which, was the chief object that brought me to Eooa. I had been told at Tongataboo, that there was here a stream, running from the hills into the sea; but this was not the case now. I was first conducted to a brackish spring, between low and high water mark, amongst rocks, in the cove where we landed, and where no one would ever have thought of looking for what we wanted. However, I believe the water of this spring might be good, were it possible to take it up, before the tide mixes with it. Finding that we did not like this, our friends took us a little way into the island; where, in a deep chasm, we found very good water; which, at the expence of some time and trouble, might be conveyed down to the shore, by means of spouts or troughs, that could be made with plantain leaves, and the stem of the tree. But, rather than to undertake that tedious task, I resolved to rest contented with the supply the ships had got at Tongataboo. Before I returned on board, I set on foot a trade for hogs and yams. Of the former we could procure but few; but of the latter, plenty. I put ashore, at this island, the ram and two ewes, of the Cape of Good Hope breed of sheep; intrusting them to the care of Taoofa, who seemed proud of his charge. It was fortunate, perhaps, that Mareewagee, to whom I had given them, as before-mentioned, slighted the present. Eooa, not having as yet got any dogs upon it, seems to be a properer place than Tongataboo for the rearing of sheep. As we lay at anchor, this island bore a very different aspect from any we had lately seen, and formed a most beautiful landscape. It is higher than any we had passed, since leaving New Zealand (as Kao may justly be reckoned an immense rock), and from its top, which is almost flat, declines very gently toward the sea. As the other isles of this cluster are level, the eye can discover nothing but the trees that cover them; but here the land, rising gently upward, presents us with an extensive prospect, where groves of trees are only interspersed at irregular distances, in beautiful disorder, and the rest covered with grass. Near the shore, again, it is quite shaded with various trees, amongst which are the habitations of the natives; and to the right of our station, was one of the most extensive groves of cocoa-palms we had ever seen.