tle a time it is fince he left the South Sea islands, where the manners are fo totally different from those of the polished people in Europe.

A few common expreffions he pronounces with fluency, fuch as, "How do you do?" &c. As the whole language of an Otaheitan, which is the fame as that of the natives of Ulateiah, does not exceed a thousand words, he is extremely at a lofs for terms to exprefs the new ideas he has acquired, and objects he has feen in this country. As thefe fouthern people have only three quadrupeds, the dog, the rat, and the hog, he has no term of defcribing a horse, but by that of "a great hog that carries people;" or a cow, by that of "a great hog that gives milk," &c.

The fruits in these southern islands are almoft equally limited in number; and nothing affords Omiah more amufement than a garden, and the fruit on the trees against the walls. The plants and fhrubbery for ornament, he fays, he would take away, and replace them with others that bear fomething to eat.

When he first saw a house, it was matter of aftonithment, as it muft naturally prove to a perfon, who had never feen any thing but fheds, and low covered rooms. Carriages drawn by horfes were alfo wonderful to him once; but now he fees them without any marks of furprise. In the fouthern ifle above-mentioned, no person is buried, but laid to rot above ground in a Morai. The other day Omiah was at a funeral at Hertford; but he was incapable of feeing it finished: he wept upon the occafion, and went from fo painful a scene. When he firft faw the church-yard at Hertford, and was told that people were buried in it, he asked if all the people buried there had died by inoculation.

He evidently has an affable, as well as a tender difpofition; he poffeffes likewife much difcernment and quickness. A mark of fenfibility he fhewed very lately. He was obferving fome anglers fifling near Hertford, and was pleafed to learn in what manner they were employed; but,

+ When prefented to the king, it was in these words Omjah faluted him.

Does not this circumftance evince, that these iflands were peopled, and furnished with their stock of animals, by me veffel formerly wrecked upon these alts ?

when he saw the hooks baited with a live worm, he turned away to avoid a fight fo difagreeable, and declared his antipathy to eat any fish taken by so cruel a method. An inftance of his difcernment and quicknefs he exhibited when he was introduced to the duchefs of Gloucefter, previous to his going to Hertford. The duchefs not being prepared with a present proper for Omiah, it occurred to her, that a pocket handkerchief, embellished with her coronet, might be acceptable to him; it was prefented to him. Omiah immediately kiffed the coronet, and made a moit complaifant bow to the duchefs. As this mark of his attention, politeness, and quickness, was unexpected, it gained him the good graces of all prefent.

Similar to this, Omiah diftinguished himself when he was introduced to Lord Sandwich. He first pointed to the butler, and faid, "He was king of the bottles;" that Capt. Fourneaux " was king of the fhip;" but Lord Sandwich "was king of all the ships."

I mentioned that he had several wives; fome of which, however, he relinquished on account of their fterility. Some he ftill retains; but he intimated, when I enquired of him about the subject, that although he was happy in England, yet he should certainly be happier had he a wife in this country alfo. Capt. Fourneaux took up Omiah from Ŭlateiah; but his father, who is a man of very great confequence, owns large poffeffions in Otaheite, as well as in that island, and Omiah was born at Otaheite, where he had feen Dr. Banks and Solander, and knew them again when he arrived here. He was defigned for the priesthood; and his friends, who entertained the highest efteem for him, used every argument they could fuggeft against his venturing with Capt. Fourneaux; they obferved, that none of their friends had ever been brought back-that they had certainly been killed and eaten in which they

NOTE.

were

It is a melancholy fact, that cannibals exift, When Captains Cook and Fourneaux lay off New Zealand, near Cook's ftraits, which divides this country into two islands, a boat was manned with eleven men, armed by Capt. Fourneaux's veffel, who were fent on shore; but they never returned. The next day another boat was manned, and at a cave near these straits they found fome of the

were confirmed by feeing fome falted beef on board the Englifh fhips; for, as thefe natives had never feen any quadrupedes, except thofe I have enumerated, they were perfuaded the falted meat could not be any of them, and therefore must have been human. They faid likewife, that these ships failed from place to place, and thus the Sailors fupported themselves among the islands, for that they had not any home of their own. But all thefe tremendous fuggeftions had no effect upon Omiah he was refolved to die, or I know the truth for himself.

Perhaps, if the hiftory of his countrymen be confidered, the doubts that muft naturally be prefented to him, and the circumftances of his independence,family, and popularity, there is not in any hiftory of the world a much greater inftance of refolution, intrepidity, and curiofity, if a parallel, to what Omiah has evinced.

A Narrative of the extraordinary Adventures of four Ruffian Sailors, who were caft away on the Defert land of EastSpitzbergen.

Some of our Readers may perhaps confider this Recital in the fame Kind of Light they do the Hiftory of Robinson Crufo: The Truth of thefe Adventures is bowever fufficiently authenticated. When thefe unfortunate Sailors firft arrived at Archangel, they were examined apart by Mr. Klinftadt, Chief Auditor of the Admiralty of that City, who minuted down all the Particulars, which exactly correfponded with each Account. Mr. Le Roy, Profeffor of Hiftory in the Imperial Academy, fome time after, Sent for two of the Men, viz. Alexis Himcof, and Himkof, his Godfon, to Peterfburgh, from whofe Mouths be took the following Narrative, which also agreed with Mr. Klinftadt's Minutes. The original was published in the German Language, at Petersburgh, in the Year 1769, and tranfmitted from thence to the ingenious Mr. Banks, who, with feveral other Members of the Royal Society, were fo well pleafed with the Account, NOT E.

limbs, fhoes, and heads of fome of their murdered and eaten fellow-feamen; but they could never difcover the boat. This fo enraged the furvivors, that they fired upon a large number of natives gathered on the fhore, and killed about eighteen before the reft difperfed.

that they directed a Tranflation of it to be made into English.

IN

N the year 1743, one Jeremiah Okladmkoff, a merchant of Mefen, a town in the province of Jugovia, and in the government of Archangel, fitted out a veffel, carrying fourteen men; fhe was deftined for Spitzbergen, to be employed in the whale or feal fishery. For eight fucceffive days after they had failed, the wind was fair; but on the ninth it changed, fo that, instead of getting to the weft of Spitzbergen, the ufual place of rendezvous for the Dutch fhips, and thofe of other nations annually employed in the whale-fifhery, they were driven eastward of those islands; and after fome days, they found themselves at a fmall diftance from one of them, called EaftSpitzbergen; by the Ruffians, Maloy Broun; that is, little Broun. Having approached this island within almost three fel was fuddenly furrounded by ice, and werfts, or two English miles, their vefthey found themfelves in an extremely dangerous fituation. In this alarming ftate a Council was held; when the mate Alexis Himkof, informed them that he recollected to have heard, that fome of the people of Mefen, fome time before, having formed a refolution of wintering upon this ifland, had accordingly carried from that city timber proper for building a hut, and had actually erected one at fome diftance from the fhore.

This information induced the whole company to refolve on wintering there, if the hut, as they hoped, ftill exifted; for they clearly perceived the imminent danger they were in, and that they muft inevitably perifh if they continued in the fhip. They difpatched therefore four of their crew, in fearch of the hut, or any other fuccour they could meet with. These were Alexis Himkof, the mate; Iwan Himkof, his godfon; Stephen Scharapof, and Feodor Weregin. As the fhore on which they were to land was uninhabited, it was neceffary that they thould make fome provifion for their expedition. They had two miles to travel over loose bridges of ice, which being raised by the waves, and driven against each other by the wind, rendered the way equally difficult and dangerous; prudence therefore forbad their loading themselves too much, left, being over burthened, they might fink in between the pieces of ice and perish.

Rrr 2

Having

Having thus maturely confidered the nature of their undertaking, they provided themselves with a mufket, a powder-horn containing twelve charges of powder, with as many balls, an axe, a Imall kettle, a bag with about twenty pounds of flour, knife, a tinder-box and tinder, a bladder filled with tobacco, and every man his wooden-pipe. Thus accoutered, these four failors quickly arrived on the island, little fufpecting the misfortunes that would befal them. They began with exploring the country; and foon difcovered the hut they were in search of, about an English mile and a half from the shore. It was thirty-fix feet in length, eighteen feet in height, and as many in breadth. It contained a fmall anti-chamber, about twelve feet broad, which had two doors, the one to fhut it up from the outer air, the other to form a communication with the inner room: This contributed greatly to keep the larger room warm, when once heated. In the large room was an earthen ftove, constructed in the Ruffian manner; that is, a kind of oven, without a chimney, which ferves occafionally either for baking, for heating the room, or, as is cuftomary among the Ruffian peafants, in very cold weather, for a place to fleep upon.

They rejoiced greatly at having difcovered the hut, which had however fuffered much from the weather, it having now been built a confiderable time: Our adventurers however contrived to pass the night in it. Early next morning they haftened to the fhore, impatient to inform their comrades of their fuccefs; and alfo to procure from their veffel fuch provifions, ammunition, and other neceffaries, as might better enable them to winter on the ifland. I leave my readers to figure to themselves the aftonishment and agony of mind thefe poor people must have felt, when, on reaching the place of their landing, they faw nothing but an open fea, free from the ice, which, but a day before, had covered the ocean. Á violent ftorm, which had arifen during the night, had certainly been the cause of this difaf

trous event.

But they could not tell whether the ice which had before hemmed in the veffel, agitated by the violence of the waves, had been driven against her, and ttered her to pieces; or whether the

en carried by the current into the

main; a circumftance which frequently happens in thofe feas. Whatever accident had befallen the ship, they saw her no more; and, as no tidings were ever afterwards received of her, it is moft probable that fhe funk, and that all on board of her perished.

This melancholy event depriving the unhappy wretches of all hope of ever being able to quit the island, they returned to the hut from whence they had come, full of horror and despair. Their first attention was employed, as may eafily be imagined, in devifing means of providing fubfiftence, and for repairing their hut. The twelve charges of powder, which they had brought with them, foon procured them as many rein-deer the ifland, fortunately for them, abounding in these animals.

I have before obferved, that the hut which the failors were fo fortunate as to find had fuftained fome damage, and it was this: There were cracks in many places between the boards of the building, which freely admitted the air. This inconveniency was however eafily remedied, as they had an axe, and the beams were still found, (for wood in thofe cold climates continues through a length of years unimpaired by worms or decay) fo it was eafy for them to make the boards join again very tolerably; befides, mofs growing in great abundance all over the ifland, there was more than fufficient to ftop up the crevices, which wooden houses muft always be liable to. Repairs of this kind cost the unhappy men the lefs trouble, as they were Ruffians; for all the Ruffian peafants are good carpenters: They build their own houses, and are very expert in handling the axe. The intense cold, which makes those climates habitable to fo few fpecies of animals, renders them equally unfit for the production of vegetables. No fpecies of tree, or even flirub, is found on any of the islands of Spitzbergen; a circumstance of the most alarming nature to our failors. Without fire it was impoffible to refift the rigour of the climate; and, without wood, how was that fire to be produced, or supported? Providence, however, has fo ordered it, that, in this particular, the fea fupplies the defects of the land. wandering along the beach, they collected plenty of wood, which had been driven afhore by the waves; and which at first confifted of the wrecks of thips,

In

and

and afterwards of whole trees with their roots, the produce of fome more hofpitable, but to them unknown 'climate, which the overflowings of rivers, or other accidents, had fent into the ocean.

Nothing proved of more effential fervice to these unfortunate men, during the first year of their exile, than fome boards they found upon the beach, having a long iron hook, fome nails of about five or fix inches long, and proportionably thick, and other bits of old iron fixed in them; the melancholy relics of fome veffels caft away in those remote parts. These were thrown athore by the waves at a time when the want of powder gave our men reafon to apprehend that they muft fall a prey to hunger, as they had nearly confumed those rein-deer they had killed. This lucky circumstance was attended with another equally fortunate; they found on the fhore, the root of a fir-tree, which nearly approached to the figure of a bow.

As neceffity has ever been the mother of invention, fo they foon fathioned this root to a good bow, by the help of a knife; but till they wanted a ftring and arrows. Not knowing how to procure thefe at prefent, they refolved upon making a couple of lances, to defend themselves against the white bears, by far the molt ferocious of their kind, whofe attacks they had great reafon to dread. Finding they could neither make the heads of their lances, nor of their arrows, without the help of a hammer, they contrived to form the large iron hook mentioned above into one, by heating it, and widening a hole it happened to have about its middle, with the help of one of their largest nails. This received the handle, and a round button at one end of the hook ferved for the face of the hammer. A large pebble fupplied the place of an anvil; and a couple of rein-deers horns made the tongs. By the means of fuch tools, they made two heads of fpears; and, after polifhing and fharpening them on ftones, they tied them as fast as poffible with thongs made of rein-deer-skins, to sticks about the thickness of a man's arm, which they got from fome branches of trees that had been caft on fhore. Thus equipped with fpears, they refolved to attack a white bear; and, after a molt dangerous encounter, they killed the formidable creature, and thereby made a new fupply of provifions. The flesh of this animal

they relifhed exceedingly, as they thought it much refembled beef in tafte and Havour. The tendons they faw with much pleasure could, with little or no trouble, be divided into filaments, of what fineness' they thought fit. This perhaps was the most fortunate discovery thefe men could have made; for, befides other advantages, they were hereby furnished with ftrings for their bow.

The fuccefs of our unfortunate islanders in making the spears, and the use these proved of, encouraged them to proceed, and to forge fome pieces of iron into heads of arrows of the fame fhape, though fomewhat smaller in fize than the fpears above mentioned. Having ground and fharpened thefe like the former, they tied them, with the finews of the white bears, to pieces of fir, to which, by the help of fine threads of the fame, they fastened feathers of fea fowl; and thus became poffeffed of a complete bow and arrows. Their ingenuity, in this refpect, was crowned with fuccefs far beyond their expectation; for, during the time of their continuance upon the island, they with these arrows killed no lefs than two hundred and fifty rein-deer, befides a great number of blue and white foxes. The flesh of these animals ferved them for food, and their skins for cloathing, and other neceffary prefervatives against the intenfe coldness of a climate lo near the Pole.

They killed however only ten white bears in all, and that not without the utmoft danger; for thefe animals, being prodigioully ftrong, defended themfelves with astonishing vigour and fury. The firft our men attacked defignedly; the other nine they flew in defending themfelves from their affaults: For some of these creatures even ventured to enter the outer room of the hut, in order to devour them. It is true, that all the bears did not fhew (if I may be allowed the expreffion) equal intrepidity; either owing to fome being lefs preffed by hunger, or to their being by nature lefs carnivorous than the others: For fome of them, which entered the hut, immediately betook themselves to flight on the first attempt of the failors to drive them away. A repetition, however, of these. ferocious attacks, threw the poor men into great terror and anxiety, as they were in almoft a perpetual danger of being devoured. The three different kinds of animals above mentioned, viz. the rein

dear

deer, the blue and white foxes, and the white bears, were the only food thefe wretched mariners tafted during their continuance in this dreary abode.

In their excurfions through the island, they had met with a flimy loam, or a kind of clay, nearly in the middle of it. Out of this they found means to form an utenfil which might ferve for a lamp; and they propofed to keep it conftantly burning, with the fat of the animals they fhould kill. This was certainly the moft rational scheme they could have thought of; for to be without a light, in a climate where, during winter, darkness reigns for several months together, would have added much to their other calamities. Having therefore fashioned a kind of lamp, they filled it with rein-deer's fat, and stuck in it fome twisted linen, fhaped into a wick. But they had the mortification to find, that, as foon as the fat melted, it not only foaked into the clay, but fairly ran through it on all fides. The thing therefore was to devife fome means for preventing this in conveniency, not arifing from cracks, but from the fubftance of which the lamp was made being too porous. They made therefore a new one, dried it thoroughly in the air, then heated it red-hot, and afterwards quenched it in their kettle, wherein they had boiled a quantity of flour down to the confiftence of thin ftarch. The lamp being thus dried and filled with melted fat, they now found, to their great joy, it did not leak. But, for greater fecurity, they dipped linen rags in their pafte, and with them covered all its outfide. Succeeding in this attempt, they immediately made another lamp, for fear of an accident, that in all events they might not be deftitute of light; and, when they had done fo much, they thought proper to fave the remainder of their flour for fimilar purpofes. As they had carefully collected whatever happened to be caft on fhore, to supply them with fuel, they had found amongst the wrecks of veffels fome cordage, and a fmall quantity of oakum (a kind of hemp ufed for caulking fhips) which ferved them to make wicks for their lamp. When these ftores began to fail, their horts, and their drawers (which are worn by almost all Ruffian peasants) were employed to make good the deficiency. By thefe means they kept their lamp burning without intermiffion, from the day they first made it

(a work they fet about foon after their arrival on the island) until that of their embarkation for their native country.

The neceffity of converting the most effential parts of their cloathing, fuch as their fhirts and drawers, to the ufe above fpecified, exposed them the more to the rigour of the climate. They also found themselves in want of fhoes, boots, and other articles of drefs; and, as winter was approaching, they were again obliged to have recourfe to that ingenuity which neceffity fuggefts, and which feldom fails in the trying hour of distress.

They had fkins of rein-deer and foxes in plenty that had hitherto served them for bedding, and which they now thought of employing in fome more effential fer'vice; but the question was how to tan them. After deliberating on this fubject, they took to the following method: They foaked the fkins for feveral days in fresh water, till they could pull off the hair pretty eafily; they then rubbed the wet leather with their hands till it was nearly dry, when they fpread fome melted reindeer fat over it, and again rubbed it well. By this process the leather became foft, pliant and fupple, proper for anfwering every purpose they wanted it for. Thofe fkins which they defigned for furs they only foaked for one day, to prepare them for being wrought, and then proceeded in the manner before mentioned, except only that they did not remove the hair. Thus they foon provided themselves with the neceffary materials for all the parts of drefs they wanted.

They made a curious needle out of a piece of wire; and the finews of the bear and reindeer, which they fplit into feveral threads, ferved them to few with.

Excepting the uneafinefs which generally accompanies an involuntary folitude, these people, having thus by their ingenuity fo far overcome their wants, might have had reafon to be contented with what Providence had done for them in their diftrefsful fituation. But that melancholy reflection, to which each of thefe forlorn perfons could not help giving way, that perhaps he might furvive his companions, and then perifh for want of fubfiftence, or become a prey to the wild beafts, inceffantly difturbed their minds. The mate, Alexis Himkof,

more particularly fuffered, who, having left a wife and three children behind, forely repined at his being feparated from

them: