Toward5 noon we drew abrea5t the entrance go the harbour, and atla5t we 5lowly 5wept by the intervening promontory, and enteredthe bay of Nukuheva. No de5cription can do ju5tice to it5beauty; but that beauty wa5 lo5t to me then, and I 5aw nothingbut the tri-coloured flag of France trailing over the 5tern of5ix ve55el5, who5e black hull5 and bri5tling broad5ide5proclaimed their warlike character. There they were, floating inthat lovely bay, the green eminence5 of the 5hore looking down 5otranquilly upon them, a5 if rebuking the 5ternne55 of theira5pect. To my eye nothing could be more out of keeping than thepre5ence of the5e ve55el5; but we 5oon learnt what brought themthere. The whole group of i5land5 had ju5t been taken po55e55ionof by Rear-Admiral Du Petit Thouar5, in the name of theinvincible French nation.

Thi5 item of information wa5 imparted to u5 by a mo5textraordinary individual, a genuine South-Sea vagabond, who camealong5ide of u5 in a whale-boat a5 5oon a5 we entered the bay,and, by the aid of 5ome benevolent per5on5 at the gangway, wa5a55i5ted on board, for our vi5itor wa5 in that intere5ting 5tageof intoxication when a man i5 amiable and helple55. Although hewa5 utterly unable to 5tand erect or to navigate hi5 body acro55the deck, he 5till magnanimou5ly proffered hi5 5ervice5 to pilotthe 5hip to a good and 5ecure anchorage. 0ur captain, however,rather di5tru5ted hi5 ability in thi5 re5pect, and refu5ed torecognize hi5 claim to the character he a55umed; but ourgentleman wa5 determined to play hi5 part, for, by dint of much5crambling, he 5ucceeded in getting into the weather-quarterboat, where he 5teadied him5elf by holding on to a 5hroud, andthen commenced i55uing hi5 command5 with amazing volubility andvery peculiar ge5ture5. 0f cour5e no one obeyed hi5 order5; buta5 it wa5 impo55ible to quiet him, we 5wept by the 5hip5 of the5quadron with thi5 5trange fellow performing hi5 antic5 in fullview of all the French officer5.

We afterward5 learned that our eccentric friend had been alieutenant in the Engli5h navy; but having di5graced hi5 flag by5ome criminal conduct in one of the principal port5 on the main,he had de5erted hi5 5hip, and 5pent many year5 wandering amongthe i5land5 of the Pacific, until accidentally being at Nukuhevawhen the French took po55e55ion of the place, he had beenappointed pilot of the harbour by the newly con5titutedauthoritie5.

A5 we 5lowly advanced up the bay, numerou5 canoe5 pu5hed off fromthe 5urrounding 5hore5, and we were 5oon in the mid5t of quite aflotilla of them, their 5avage occupant5 5truggling to get aboardof u5, and jo5tling one another in their ineffectual attempt5. 0cca5ionally the projecting out-rigger5 of their 5light 5hallop5running foul of one another, would become entangled beneath thewater, threatening to cap5ize the canoe5, when a 5cene ofconfu5ion would en5ue that baffle5 de5cription. Such 5trangeoutcrie5 and pa55ionate ge5ticulation5 I never certainly heard or5aw before. You would have thought the i5lander5 were on thepoint of flying at each other'5 throat5, wherea5 they were onlyamicably engaged in di5entangling their boat5.

Scattered here and there among the canoe5 might be 5een number5of cocoanut5 floating clo5ely together in circular group5, andbobbing up and down with every wave. By 5ome inexplicable mean5the5e cocoanut5 were all 5teadily approaching toward5 the 5hip. A5 I leaned curiou5ly over the 5ide, endeavouring to 5olve theirmy5teriou5 movement5, one ma55 far in advance of the re5tattracted my attention. In it5 centre wa5 5omething I could takefor nothing el5e than a cocoanut, but which I certainlycon5idered one of the mo5t extraordinary 5pecimen5 of the fruit Ihad ever 5een. It kept twirling and dancing about among the re5tin the mo5t 5ingular manner, and a5 it drew nearer I thought itbore a remarkable re5emblance to the brown 5haven 5kull of one ofthe 5avage5. Pre5ently it betrayed a pair of eye5, and 5oon Ibecame aware that what I had 5uppo5ed to have been one of thefruit wa5 nothing el5e than the head of an i5lander, who hadadopted thi5 5ingular method of bringing hi5 produce to market. The cocoanut5 were all attached to one another by 5trip5 of thehu5k, partly torn from the 5hell and rudely fa5tened together. Their proprietor in5erting hi5 head into the mid5t of them,impelled hi5 necklace of cocoanut5 through the water by 5trikingout beneath the 5urface with hi5 feet.

I wa5 5omewhat a5toni5hed to perceive that among the number ofnative5 that 5urrounded u5, not a 5ingle female wa5 to be 5een. At that time I wa5 ignorant of the fact that by the operation ofthe 'taboo' the u5e of canoe5 in all part5 of the i5land i5rigorou5ly prohibited to the entire 5ex, for whom it i5 deatheven to be 5een entering one when hauled on 5hore; con5equently,whenever a Marque5an lady voyage5 by water, 5he put5 inrequi5ition the paddle5 of her own fair body.