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Georges Island
June 1769
here the Hills rise directly from the shore. at the Southernmost part of the Island the shore is again cover'd by a Reef & there forms a very good Harbour & the land about it very fertile at this place we saw a Goose & a Turkey left at Royal Bay by the Dolphin they were in possession of a Chief who came along with us in the Boat & remain'd with us the remainder of the day & conducted us over the Shoals we here meet with, & for this piece of Service we lent him a Cloak to Sleep in in the night but we had not been laid down above 10 Minutes before he thought proper to move off with it. but Mr Banks & I pursued him so close that he was obliged to relinquish his prize & we saw no more of him when we returned to our Lodgings we found the House in which were not less than 2 or 300 people when we went away, intirely deserted so that we had one of the largest & best houses on the Island wholy to ourselves, but when they found that we meant them no harm the Chief & his Wife with some others came & slept by us the remainder of the night this place is situated on the SW side of Tiareboo the SEn district of the Island & about 5 Miles SE from the Isthmus here is a large safe & Commodious Harbour inferior to none on the whole Island & the land about it Rich in Produce we found that the people of this district had had little or no communication with us, yet we was everywhere very well received by them we found all this part of the Island very fertile & the Natives numerous & had a great many large Double Canoes built & Ornamented uniformly. they were all halled ashore & appeared to be going to decay for want of use. their Mories or Burial places stood generally upon these points of Land that projected into the Sea & were both better built & Ornamented than those about Royal Bay Tottaha's excepted. In general this district appear'd to be in a more flourishing state than the other altho it is not above one fourth part as big cannot contain nothing near the Number of inhabitants --------------
Thursday 29th. Squally wear with Showers of rain. This morning we left Tiarraboo & entered upon that of Opooreonoo the NW district of the Island the first thing we met, with worthy of note was a one of their Mories, where lay the Small bones of 26 Hogs & 6 Dogs these all lay near to, & under one of their Altars. These Animals must have been offer'd as a Sacrifice to their Gods either all at once or at different times, but on what account we could not learn. The next day we meet with an Effigy or Figure of a Man made of Basket work & covered with white & Black feathers placed in such an order as to represent the Colour of their Hair, & Skins when Tattooed or Painted it was 71/2 feet high & the whole made in due proportion on its head were 4 Nobs not unlike the stumps of large Horns 3 stood in indecipherable] stone behind we were notable to learn what use they made of this Monster it did not at all appear to us that they paid it the least Homage as a God they were not the least Scrupulous of letting us examine every part of it I am inclinable to think that it is only used by way of diversion at their Hava's or public entertainments as Punch is in a Puppet show --------- We next passed through a Harbour which is the only one on the So side of Opooreonoo fit for Shipping it is siuated about 5 Miles to the Westward of the ISthmus between 2 Small Islands that lay near the Shore & a Mile from each other. In this Harbour is 11 & 12 fam water & good Anchorage. About a League & a half to the Westward of this Harbour is the Morie of Oamo or Obaria for some told us it belong'd to the one & some to the other, it far exceeds everything of this Kind upon the whole Island it is a long square of Stone work built Pyramidically, its base is 267 feet by 87 at the