of one bull, some goats, hogs, and dogs, and the male of some other
animal, which we afterward found to be a ram, and, at this time, was
at Bolabola, whither the bull was also to have been transported.

The hogs are of a large kind; have already greatly improved the breed
originally found by us upon the island; and, at the time of our late
arrival, were very numerous. Goats are also in tolerable plenty, there
being hardly a chief of any note who has not got some. As to the dogs
that the Spaniards put ashore, which are of two or three sorts, I
think they would have done the island a great deal more service if
they had hanged them all, instead of leaving them upon it. It was to
one of them that my young ram fell a victim.

When these ships left the island, four Spaniards remained behind. Two
were priests, one a servant, and the fourth made himself very popular
among the natives, who distinguish him by the name of Mateema. He
seems to have been a person who had studied their language; or, at
least, to have spoken it so as to be understood; and to have taken
uncommon pains to impress the minds of the islanders with the most
exalted ideas of the greatness of the Spanish nation, and to make them
think meanly of the English. He even went so far as to assure them,
that we no longer existed as an independent nation; that _Pretane_
was only a small island, which they, the Spaniards, had entirely
destroyed; and, for me, that they had met with me at sea, and, with a
few shot, had sent my ship, and every soul in her, to the bottom;
so that my visiting Otaheite, at this time, was, of course, very
unexpected. All this, and many other improbable falsehoods, did this
Spaniard make these people believe. If Spain had no other views, in
this expedition, but to depreciate the English, they had better have
kept their ships at home; for my returning again to Otaheite was