to reflect. The people of the Tonga islands behaved towards Cook with every external demonstration of friendship, whilst they secretly meant to kill him; and the people of the Sandwich islands, although they actually did kill him, have paid, and still continue to pay him, higher honours than any other nation of the earth; they esteem him as having been sent by the gods to civilize them, and one to whom they owe the greatest blessings they enjoy. His bones (the greater part of which they have still in their possession!) they devoutly hold sacred; they are deposited in a house consecrated to a god, and are annually carried in procession to many other consecrated houses, before each of which they are laid on the ground, and the priest returns thanks to the gods for having sent them so great a man. When the Port au Prince was at Woahoo (one of the Sandwich islands), Mr. Mariner was informed of the above circumstances by an Englishman (or perhaps an American), who was a resident there: his name was

Harebottle; he seemed a man of some information and respectability, and was formerly the mate of an American vessel that touched there, but, in consequence of some disagreement with the captain, he chose to remain at those islands,

and acted in the capacity of harbour-master to the king, and pilot to all ships that arrived, from each of which he demanded five or six dollars for his services. This person informed Mr. Mariner that the natives of Owyhee returned very few of the bones of Captain Cook, but chiefly substituted the bones of some other Englishman that was killed on that melancholy occasion; and that those of Cook were carried annually in procession as above related. When Mr. Mariner afterwards understood the Tonga language, he conversed upon the subject with the natives of Owhyhee, who were with him at Vavaoo; they corroborated every thing that Harebottle had said, and stated, moreover, that the natives had no idea that Cook could possibly be killed, as they considered him a supernatural being, and were astonished when they saw him fall. The man who killed him was a carpenter, and his immediate motive was, either the apprehension that Captain Cook was, at that moment, ordering his men to increase their fire, or, that he struck him, not knowing him to be the extraordinary being of whom he had heard so much, for he lived a considerable distance up the country, and was not personally acquainted with him. The flesh

of their illustrious victim was shared out to different gods, and afterwards burnt; whilst the bones were disposed of as before related. Among the natives of Owhyhee, from whom Mr. Mariner heard this, one was a chief of a middling rank, the rest were of the lower order, but they all agreed in the same statement; they had not been eye-witnesses, however, of that melancholy transaction (for they were all young men), but they spoke of these things as being universally known at the Sandwich islands, and beyond all doubt. They stated, moreover, that the king and principal chiefs were exceedingly sorry for the death of their extraordinary benefactor, and would have made any sacrifices in their power rather than so melancholy an accident should have occurred. It is related in Cook's Voyages, that, as soon as he received his wound, the natives were seen to snatch the dagger (by which his death was effected), from each other's hands, displaying a savage eagerness to join in his destruction. In all probability, however, this eagerness to seize the dagger was prompted in each by the wish to be possessed of an instrument which had become consecrated, as it were, by the 'death of so great a man; at least, this is pre

sumed, from what would have been the sentiment, had the accident happened at the Tonga islands.

At length the Favourite arrived at the island of Pau (one of the Fiji islands), and anchored, off a place called Vooiha, famous for sandalwood, for which the captain soon began to treat with the natives, and, before the ship's departure, laid in several tons. In the mean time, Mr. Mariner went several times on, shore, and had opportunities of receiving con-, firmations of what he had heard from Cow Mooala (see Chap. X.). The natives appeared. to be a race considerably inferior to the Tonga, people, partaking rather of the negro cast of countenance and form, at least in a small, degree. As far as Mr. Mariner had opportunities of observing, their domestic comforts appeared much inferior to those of the people he had just left. They do not oil themselves,, and to this he attributes the coarseness and harshness of skin, which is so different from that of the Tonga people. Their hair was somewhat more curly, and rather disposed to be woolly. Their whole external character, taking it generally, seemed fierce and warlike, rather than brave and noble. Their only dress was the mahi (see Vol. I. p. 340), and this naked-.

ness of appearance serves at once to sink them in á degree of civilization below the natives of Tonga, and the Society islands. It is to be lamented that Mr. Mariner had not opportunities of seeing more of the natives of these islands than he did, with a view of drawing a juster comparison between them and the people whose manners he was so well acquainted with; but the apprehension that some accident might again detain him just on the eve of his return to civilized society, prevented him from going on shore so often, or so far, as he otherwise might have done. He was curious to discover what opinion they had of the natives of Tonga, and found, uniformly, that they considered the latter to be a very treacherous race; whilst these, às already related, accuse the Fiji people of possessing the same bad character; but, in all probability, there is not much difference between them in this respect. From all that he has seen, and all that he has heard, however, he is disposed to believe that the Fiji people fight with more fary and animosity than the Tonga people, but that the latter, where they have been seriously injured, harbour sentiments of revenge for a longer time. Mr. Mariner witnessed no instance of cannibalism among them, but they