[12] After seeing as much of the place as our limited time
would allow, we drove over to Faataua, where we found the children and
maids. The grand piano, every table, and the drawing-room floor, were
spread with the presents we were expected to take away with us. There
were bunches of scarlet feathers, two or three hundred in number, from
the tail of the tropic bird, which are only allowed to be possessed
and worn by chiefs, and which are of great value, as each bird
produces only two feathers; pearl shells, with corals growing on them,
red coral from the islands on the Equator, curious sponges and
sea-weed, _tapa_ cloth and _reva-reva_ fringe, arrowroot and palm-leaf
hats, cocoa-nut drinking vessels, fine mats plaited in many patterns,
and other specimens of the products of the island.
[Footnote 12: We paid a brief visit to Point Venus, whence Captain
Cook observed the transit of Venus on November 9th, 1769, and we saw
the lighthouse and tamarind tree, which now mark the spot. The latter,
from which we brought away some seed, was undoubtedly planted by
Captain Cook with his own hand.]
[Illustration: Tropic Feathers]
All the members of the royal family at present in Tahiti had been
invited to meet us, and arrived in due course, including the
heir-apparent and his brother and sister.
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