To what has been said of Otaheite, in the accounts of the successive voyages of Captain Wallis, Monsieur de Bougainville, and Captain Cook, it would at first sight, seem superfluous to add any thing; as it might be supposed, that little could be now produced, but a repetition of what has been told before. I am, however, far from being of that opinion; and will venture to affirm, though a very accurate description of the country, and of the most obvious customs of its inhabitants, has been already given, especially by Captain Cook, that much still remains untouched; that, in some instances, mistakes have been made, which later and repeated observation has been able to rectify; and that, even now, we are strangers to many of the most important institutions that prevail amongst these people. The truth is, our visits, though frequent, have been but transient; many of us had no inclination to make inquiries; more of us were unable to direct our inquiries properly; and we all laboured, though not to the same degree, under the disadvantages attending an imperfect knowledge of the language of those from whom alone we could receive any information. The Spaniards had it more in their power to surmount this bar to instruction; some of them having resided at Otaheite much longer than any other European visitors. As, with their superior advantages, they could not but have had an opportunity of obtaining the fullest information on most subjects relating to this island, their account of it would, probably, convey more authentic and accurate intelligence than, with our best endeavours, any of us could possibly obtain. But as I look upon it to be very uncertain, if not very unlikely, that we shall ever have any communication from that quarter, I have here put together what additional intelligence about Otaheite and its neighbouring islands I was able to procure, either from Omai while on board the ship, or by conversing with the other natives while we remained amongst them.