Page:Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World in the Years 1791–95, volume 1.djvu/207

'702. |aiiiiuiv. Bounty, fliould liavc become fo infatuated as to facrilire their country, their honor, and their hves, to any li-male attarhinenis at Oiahciie. The ()bjc<:ls of their particular regard, by wlu)tn thi'v h;ive children, ve frccjuently faw. Whatever luperiority they may be eniulcd to from their mental accomphfhments, we had no opportunity of alcertaining ; but witJi refpeft to their pcrfonal attractions, they were certainly not fuch as we (hould have imagined could pollibly have tempted Englilhmen to (b unpardonable a breach of" their duty ; nor were any of" the women they leletk-d, perfons of the leaft power or conlii'quencc in the ifland. The Kuropean animals and plants depofited here by Captain Cook, and other naviirators, with the hope of their future increaie, I have al- ready had occalion to rc<j;ret. had been ahnod intirely dcftrojed in the late conflicts of the C(mtending parties. My concern at this circum- Itance was greativ augmented, not only by my having little in my pow- er with which I could re])lace them, but in the confidence of their now lucceeding could I have ("urnilhed a fupply ; as the recent altera- tion which has taken place in the government, allorded reafonable grounds to believe that, whatever I might have bellowed on the prefent occafion, would have been carefully protected. To the race of animals, I could add but two Ca])e geele and a gander. We planted fome vine cuttings that had llourilhed extremely well on board; with fome orange and lemon trees ; and an affortment of garden feeds; but a; nature has been fo very bountiful in the variety of vegetables llie has bellowed on this country, the natives feem to polTefs little defire for any addition ; and, if a judgment is to be formed, by the deplorable (late in which we found the feveral fpots where foreign plants and feeds had been depo- fited, we had little reafon to be fanguine in the fuccefs of our garden- ing. Nor do I believe fuch attempts will ever fucceed until fome Eu- ropeans lliall remain on the ifland, and, by the force of their example, excite in the inhabitants a defire of cultivating the foil by their manual labour, to which at prefent they are almoft Grangers. The ava, and the cloth plant in a fmall proportion, are the only ve- getables which the Otaheiteans take the lead: trouble to cultivate. Some few indilferent fhaddocks, a little tolerably good maize, a few pods of the caj){icon,