natives would have given him more general fatisfaction by his behaviour among them. "Omai has certainly a very good understanding, quick parts, and honest principles; he is of good natural behaviour, which rendered him acceptable to the best company, and a proper degree of pride, which taught him to avoid the fociety of perfons of inferior rank. He has paffions of the fame kind as other young men, but has judg ment enough not to indulge them in any improper degree. I do not imagine that he has any diflike to liquor, and if he had fallen into company where the person who drank the moft met with the most approbation, I have no doubt, but that he would have endeavoured to gain the applaufe of those with whom he affociated; but, fortunately for him, he perceived that drinking was very little in ufe but among inferior people, and as he was very watchful into the manners and conduct of the perfons of rank who honoured him with their protection, he was fober and modeft, and I never heard that, during the whole time of his ftay in England, which was two years, he ever once was difguifed with wine, or ever fhewed an inclination to go beyond the ftricteft rules of moderation.

"Soon after his arrival in London, the Earl of Sandwich, the first lord of the Admiralty, introduced him to His Majefty at Kew, when he met with a moft gracious reception, and imbibed the strongeft impreffion of duty and gratitude to that great and amiable Prince, which I am perfuaded he will preferve to the latest moment of his life. During his ftay among us, he was careffed by many of the principal nobility, and did nothing to forfeit the esteem of any one of them; but his principal patrons were the Earl of Sandwich, Mr. Banks, and Dr. Solander; the former probably thought it a duty of his office to protect and countenance an inhabitant of that hofpitable country, where the wants and diftreffes of thofe in his department had been alle viated and fupplied in the most ample manner; the others, as a teítimony of their gratitude for the generous reception they had met with during their residence in his country. It is to be obferved, that though Omai lived in the midst of amusements during his refidence in England, his return to his native country was always in his thoughts, and though he was not impatient to go, he expreffed a fatisfaction as the time of his return approached. He embarked with me in the Refolution, when the was fitted out for another voyage, loaded with prefents from his feveral friends, and full of gratitude for the kind reception and treatment he had experienced among

The chief was no fooner gone, than they made fail for Ulietea, where they intended to ftop a few days. The next morning, September 8th, after making a few trips, they gained the harbour, and in the afternoon came to anchor; the natives crowded round them in their canoes, with hogs and fruit. The latter they exchanged for nails and beads; the former they refufed as yet, having already as many on board as they could manage. Several they were, however, obliged to take; as many of the principal people brought off little pigs, pepper, or eavoa-root, and the young plantain trees, and handed them into the fhip. In this manner did thefe good people welcome them to their country.

Next morning they paid a formal vifit to Oreo, the chief of this part of the ifle, carrying with them the neceffary prefents. He was feated in his own house, which flood near the water-fide, where he and his friends received them with great cordiality. He expreffed much fatisfaction at feeing Captain Cook again, and defired that they might exchange names, which he accordingly agreed to: this is the strongest mark of friendship they can fhew to a ftranger. He inquired after Tupia, and all the gentlemen, by name, who were with him when he firft vifited the inland. After they had

made the chief and his friends the neceffary prefents, they went on board with a hog and fome fruit, received from him in return; and in the afternoon he gave them another hog, ftill larger, without afking for the leaft acknowledgment.

After breakfast, on the 10th, Captain Furneaux and Captain Cook paid the chief a vifit; and they were entertained by him with fuch a comedy, or dramatic heava, as is generally acted in these ifles. The mufic confifted of three drums; the actors were feven men, and one woman, the chief's daughter. The only entertaining part of the drama, was a theft committed by a man and his accomplice, in fuch a masterly manner, as fufficiently difplayed the genius of the people in this vice. The theft is discovered before the thief has time to carry off his prize; then a fcuffle enfues with those set to guard it, who, though four to two, are beat off the stage, and the thief and his accomplice bear away their plunder in triumph. Captain Cook fays, "I was very attentive to the whole of this part, being in full expectation that it would have ended very differently. For I had before been informed that Teto (that is, the thief,) was to be acted, and had understood that the thief was to be punished with death, or a good tiparrahying (or beating), a punishment, we are told, they inflict on fuch as are guilty of this crime. Be this as it may, strangers are certainly excluded from the protection of this law; them they rob with impunity, on every occafion that offers."

After dinner, on the 11th, Captain Cook had a vifit from Oo-oorou, the principal chief of the ifle. He was introduced by Oreo, and had brought with him as a prefent a large hog, for which he had a handsome reurn. Oreo employed himself in buying hogs, and he made good bargains.

On the 16th, Captain Cook was told that his Otaheitan young man, Poreo, had taken a refolution to leave him, and was actually gone; having met with a young woman, for whom he had contracted a friendship, he went away with her, and he faw him no

more.

Having now got on board a large fupply of refreshments, the captain determined to put to fea the next morning, and made the fame known to the chief, who promifed to fee him again before he departed. At four o'clock they began to unmoor, and as foon as it was light, Oreo, his fon, and fome of his friends, came on board. Many canoes alfo came off with fruit and hogs; the latter they even begged of them to take from them, calling out Tiyo boa atoi. "I am your friend, take my hog, and give me an But the decks were already fo full of them, that they could hardly move; having on board both fhips between three and four hundred. By the increase of their ftock, together with what they had falted and consumed, it appeared that they got at this island four hundred, or upwards. Many indeed were only roafters; others again weighed one hundred pounds, or upwards; but the general run was from forty to fixty. It is not eafy to fay how many they might have got, could they have found room for all that were offered them.

axe.

The chief and his friends did not leave them till they were under fail; and before he went away, pressed them much to know if they would not return, and when? Questions which were daily put by many of these islanders. The Otaheitean youth's leaving Captain Cook proved of no confequence, as many young men of this island voluntarily offered to come away with them: he thought proper to take on board one, who was about seventeen or eighteen years of age, named Oedidee, a native of Bolabola, and a near relation of the great Opoony, chief of that island.

Soon after their arrival at Otaheite, they were informed that a ship, about the size of the Refolution, had been in at Owhairurua harbour, near the fouth-east end of the island, where the remained about three weeks; and had been gone about three months. They

were told also that four of the natives were gone away in her, whofe names were Debededea-Paoodou-Tanadooee-and Opahiah.-At this time, they conjectured this was a French fhip, but on their arrival at the Cape of Good Hope, they learned that she was a Spaniard, which had been fent out from America. The Otaheiteans complained of a disease communicated to them by the people in this fhip, which they said affected the head, throat, and stomach, and at length killed them. They feemed to dread it much, and were continually enquiring if they had it.-This fhip they diftinguished by the name of Pabai no Pep-pe, (fhip of Peppe) and called the difeafe Apa no Pep-pe, just as they call the venereal difeafe Apa no Pretane, (English disease), though they, to a man, fay it was brought to the ifle by M. de Bougainville; but they thought M. de Bougainville came from Pretane, as well as every other ship which has touched at

the isle.

The island of Otaheite, which in the year 1767 and 1768, as it were, fwarmed with hogs and fowls, was now fo ill fupplied with these animals, that hardly any thing could induce the owners to part with them.

The people here feem to be as happy as any under heaven; and well they may, for they poffefs not only the neceffaries; but many of the luxuries of life in the greatest profufion. As Captain Cook had some reason to believe, that amongst their religious customs, human facrifices were fometimes confidered as neceffary, he went one day to a Marai in Matavia, in company with Captain Furneaux; having with them, as they had upon all other occafions, one of their own men who spoke their language tolerably well, and feveral of the natives, one of whom appeared to be an intelligent fenfible man. In the Marai was a Tupapow, on which lay a dead corpfe and fome viands. He began with afking questions relating to the feveral objects before him; if the plantains, &c. were for the Eatua? If they facrificed to the Éatua, hogs, dogs, fowls, &c. To all of which

he answered in the affirmative.

The man of whom he made these enquiries, as well as fome others, took fome pains to explain this custom to them; but they were not mafters enough of their language to understand them. He has fince learnt from Omai, that they offer human facrifices to the Supreme Being. According to his account, what men fhall be fo facrificed, depends on the caprice of the high priest, who, when they are affembled on any folemn occafion, retires alone into the house of God, and stays there fome time. When he comes out, he informs them that he has feen and converfed with their great God, (the high prieft alone having that privilege,) and that he has asked for a human facrifice, and tells them that he has defired fuch a perfon, naming a man present, whom most probably the priest has an antipathy againft. He is immediately killed, and fo falls a victim to the priest's resentment, who, no doubt (if neceffary) has address enough to perfuade the people that he was a bad man.

Great injustice has been done to the women of Otaheite and the Society Ifles, by those who have represented them, without exception, as ready to grant the last favour to any man who will come up to their price. But this is by no means the cafe; the favours of married women, and alfo the unmarried of the better fort, are as difficult to be obtained here as in any other country whatever. Neither can the charge be understood indifcriminately of the unmarried of the lower clafs, for many of these admit of no fuch familiarities. That there are prostitutes here as well as in other countries, is very true, perhaps more in proportion, and fuch were those who came on board the fhips, and frequented the poft the people had on fhore. By feeing these mix indifcriminately with thofe of a different turn, even of the first rank, one is, at firft, inclined to think that they are all difpofed the fame way, and that the only difference is in the price.

But

But the truth is, the woman who becomes a prostitute, does not seem, in their opinion, to have committed a crime of fo deep a dye as to exclude her from the esteem and society of the community in general. On the whole, a ftranger who vifits England, might with equal justice, draw the characters of the women there, from those which he might meet with on board the ships in one of the naval ports, or in the purlieus of CoventGarden and Drury-Lane. It must, however, be allowed that they are completely verfed in the art of coquetry, and that very few of them fix any bounds to their converfation. It is, therefore, no wonder that they have obtained the character of libertines. After leaving Ulietea on the 17th of September 1773, they steered to the weft, and at two o'clock P. M. on the 1ft of October, they faw the island of Middleburg, bearing weft-fouth-weft. As they approached the fhore, two canoes, each conducted by two or three men, came boldly along-fide, and fome of them entered the ship without hesitation. This mark of confidence gave Captain Cook a good opinion of these islanders, and determined him to vifit them if poffible. They found good anchorage, and came to in twenty-five fathoms water. They had fcarcely got to an anchor, before they were furrounded by a great number of canoes full of people, who had brought with them cloth and other curiofities, which they exchanged for nails, &c. Among them was one, whom, by the authority he seemed to have over the others, was found to be a chief; and accordingly the captain made him a prefent of a hatchet, fpikenails, and several other articles, with which he was highly pleased. Thus he obtained the friendship of this chief, whofe name was Tioony.

Soon after, a party of them embarked in two boats, in company with Tioony, who conducted them to a little creek formed by the rocks, right abreast of the fhips, where landing was extremely eafy, and the boats fecure against the furf. Here they found an immenfe crowd of people, who welcomed them on fhore with loud acclamations. Not one of them had fo much as a stick, or any other weapon in his hand; an indubitable fign of their pacific intentions. They thronged fo thick round the boats with cloth, matting, &c. to exchange for nails, that it was fome time before they could get room to land. They feemed to be more defirous to give than receive; for many who could not get near the boats, threw into them, over the others heads, whole bales of cloth, and then retired without either asking or waiting to get any thing in return. The chief conducted us to his house, about three hundred yards from the fea, at the head of a fine lawn, and under the fhade of fome fhaddock trees. The fituation was most delightful. In front was the fea, and the ships at anchor; behind, and on each fide, were plantations, in which were fome of the richest productions of nature. The floor was laid with mats, on which they were placed, and the people feated themselves in a circle round them on the outfide. Having the bagpipes with them, Captain Cook ordered them to be played; and, in return, the chief directed three young women to fing a fong, which they did with a very good grace; and having made each of them a prefent, this immediately fet all the women in the circle a finging. Their fongs were mufical and harmonious. After fitting here fome time, they were conducted into one of the adjoining plantations, where the chief had another house, into which they were introduced. Bananoes and cocoanuts were set before them to eat, and a bowl of liquor prepared in their presence of the juice of eava for them to drink. But Captain Cook was the only one who tafted it; the manner of brewing it having quenched the thirst of every one else. The bowl was, however, foon emptied of its contents, of which both men and women partook.

Before they had well viewed the plantation it was noon, and they returned on board to dinner, with the chief in their company. He fat at table but eat nothing; which, as they had fresh pork roasted, was a little extraordinary. Near fome of the houses, and

in the lanes that divided the plantations, were running about fome hogs and very large fowls, which were the only domeftic animals they faw; and these they did not feem willing to part with, which determined them to leave this place.

The evening brought every one on board, highly delighted with the country, and the very obliging behaviour of the inhabitants, who feemed to vie with each other in doing what they thought would give pleasure. After making the chief a prefent, confifting of various articles, and an affortment of garden-feeds, Captain Cook gave him to underftand that they were going away, at which he seemed not at all moved. While he was in the fhip, or in the boat, he continued to change fifh-hooks for nails, and engroffed the trade in a manner wholly to himfelf; but when on fhore, he did not offer to make the leaft exchange.

As foon as the captain was on board, they made fail down to Amfterdam. Three men belonging to Middleburg, who, by fome means or other, had been left on board the Adventure, now quitted her, and fwam to the fhore; not knowing that they intended to stop at this ifle, and having no inclination, as may be fuppofed, to go away

with them.

As foon as they opened the weft fide of the ifle, they were met by feveral canoes, each conducted by three or four men. They came boldly alongfide, prefented them with fome Eava root, and then came on board, without farther ceremony, inviting them by all the friendly figns they could make to go to their island, and pointing to the place where they should anchor; at least they fo understood them. After a few boards they anchored in Van Diemen's Road, little more than a cable's length from the breakers which line the coaft.

After breakfast Captain Cook landed, accompanied by Captain Furneaux, Mr. Forster, and feveral of the officers; having along with them a chief, or perfon of fome note, whofe name was Attago, who had attached himself to the captain from the first moment of his coming on board, which was before they anchored.

As foon as they were landed, all the gentlemen fet out into the country, accompanied by fome of the natives. But the most of them remained with Captain Furneauxand Captain Cook, who amused themselves fome time in distributing prefents amongst

the natives.

After walking a little way into the country they returned to the landing-place, and there found Mr. Wales in a laughable though diftreffed fituation. The boats which brought them on fhore not being able to get near the landing-place, for want of a fufficient depth of water, he pulled of his fhoes and ftockings to walk through; and as foon as he got on dry land, he put them down between his legs to put on again, but they were inftantly fnatched away by a person behind him, who immediately mixed with the crowd. It was impoffible for him to follow the man bare-footed over the fharp coral rocks which compose the fhore, without having his feet cut to pieces. The boat was put back to the ship, his companions had each made his way through the crowd, and he left in this condition alone. The chief foon found out the thief, and recovered his fhoes and stockings. The old chief probably thinking they might want water on board, he conducted them to a plantation hard by, and fhewed them a pool of fresh water, though they had not made the leaft enquiry after any.

From hence they were conducted down to the fhore of Maria Bay, or north-eaft fide of the isle; where, in a boat-house, was fhewn a fine large double canoe not yet launched. The chief did not fail to make them fenfible it belonged to himself,

Mr. Forster and his party spent the day in the country botanifing, and several of the officers were out shooting. All of them were very civilly treated by the natives. A

boat