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The nearest relations take it in turn to assume the dress, and perform the office which have already been particularly described in the account of Tubourai Tamaide's having acted as chief mourner to an old woman, his relation, who died while we were in the island.
Two knives had been lost on shore, one of them belonging to Mr Banks, who taxed a man named Tubourai Tamaide, whom he suspected, with the theft. The man denied it stoutly, but upon Mr Banks saying firmly that, no matter who had taken it, he was determined to have it back, another native, feeling alarmed for his own safety, stepped forward and produced a rag in which three knives were tied up.
As it was of the utmost importance to recover the men, and to do it speedily, it was intimated to several of the chiefs who were in the fort with the women, among whom were Tubourai Targaide, Tomio, and Oberea, that they would not be to leave it till the fugitives were returned; and the lieutenant had the pleasure of observing, that they received the intimation with very little indications of alarm, and with assurances, that his people should be secured and sent back as soon as possible.
The natives had by this time completely recovered from their alarm, and an abundance of provisions was offered for sale. Their friend Tubourai Tamaide even brought his wife and family to the fort, and did not hesitate to throw himself down and sleep on Mr Banks's bed. The voyagers were gradually gaining an insight into the manners and customs of the people.
Accordingly, on Thursday the 1st of June, he dispatched Mr. Gore in the long boat to Eimeo, a neighbouring island, together with Mr. Monkhouse and Mr. Sporing, a gentleman belonging to Mr. Banks. They were furnished by Mr. Green with proper instruments. Mr. Banks himself chose to go upon this expedition, in which he was accompanied by Tubourai Tamaide and Tomio, and by others of the natives.
Being disappointed, his suspicions increased, and thinking it not safe, when the night approached, to let the persons whom he had detained as hostages continue at the fort, he ordered Tubourai Tamaide, Oberea, and some others, to be taken on board the Endeavour; a circumstance which excited so general an alarm, that several of them, and especially the women, expressed their apprehensions with great emotion and many tears.
The dress of the natives was formed from cloth made of the bark of the paper-mulberry tree. Captain Cook, Mr Banks, and others accompanied these chiefs on shore, where they met another chief, Tubourai Tamaide, and formed a treaty of friendship with him. He invited them to his house, and gave them a feast of fish, bread-fruit, cocoanuts, and plantains, dressed after the native fashion.
Tubourai Tamaide, and several more of the principal friends to the English, had fallen in this battle, together with a large number of the common people. A peace subsisted, at present, between the two grand divisions of the island. On the 20th, one of the natives carried off a musket belonging to the guard onshore.
Owhaw, indeed, intimated by signs that the English would begin to fire their guns in four days. Notwithstanding this, Tubourai Tamaide and other chiefs, with their wives, came into the fort and ate without showing any signs of fear. Again the commander's patience was tried by the misconduct of one of his own people.
One belonged to Dr Solander, another to Captain Cook; the owner of the third was not known. Mr Banks continued to charge Tubourai Tamaide with the theft of his knife, and the poor man continued to deny it indignantly. Not long after, it was discovered to have been mislaid by Mr Banks's own servant, who at length found it.
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