island on the next day but one, we observed, that a sort of proclamation was immediately made through the villages, to require the people to bring in their hogs, and vegetables, for the king to present to the _Orono_ on his departure. We were this day much diverted, at the beach, by the buffooneries of one of the natives. He held in his hand an instrument of the sort described in the last volume[7]; some bits of sea-weed were tied round his neck; and round each leg, a piece of strong netting, about nine inches deep, on which a great number of dog’s teeth were loosely fastened in rows. His style of dancing was entirely burlesque, and accompanied with strange grimaces, and pantomimical distortions of the face; which, though at times inexpressibly ridiculous, yet, on the whole, was without much meaning, or expression. Mr. Webber thought it worth his while to make a drawing of this person, as exhibiting a tolerable specimen of the natives; the manner in which the _maro_ is tied; the figure of the instrument before mentioned, and of the ornaments round the legs, which, at other times, we also saw used by their dancers. In the evening, we were again entertained with wrestling and boxing matches; and we displayed, in return, the few fireworks we had left. Nothing could be better calculated to excite the admiration of these islanders, and to impress them with an idea of our great superiority, than an exhibition of this kind. Captain Cook has already described the extraordinary effects of that which was made at Hapaee; and though the present was, in every respect, infinitely inferior, yet the astonishment of the natives was not less. I have before mentioned, that the carpenters from both ships had been sent up the country to cut planks, for the head rail-work of the Resolution. This was the third day since their departure; and having received no intelligence from them, we began to be very anxious for their safety. We were communicating our apprehensions to old Kaoo, who appeared as much concerned as ourselves, and were concerting measures with him for sending after them, when they arrived all safe. They had been obliged to go farther into the country than was expected, before they met with trees fit for their purpose; and it was this circumstance, together with the badness of the roads, and the difficulty of bringing back the timber, which had detained them so long. They spoke in high terms of their guides, who both supplied them with provisions, and guarded their tools with the utmost fidelity.