much reason to deplore, had known them in this respect, he would not have misnamed them friendly; for, in fact, they had deliberately planned a conspiracy against him, and which would infallibly have been put in execution, if the chiefs who planned it had not disputed about the exact mode and time of making the assault. Finow (at that time tributary chief of the Hapai islands, Toogoo Ahoo being king), was not the designer of this conspiracy, but he gave counsel and advice, respecting it. The other chiefs proposed to invite the captain and his officers to a grand bo-méë (a night dance by torch-light), and at a signal to massacre him, his officers, and all the marines; but Finow (the late king's father), objected to this, as the darkness of the night would be unfavourable to their operations in taking the two vessels, and proposed rather that it should be done by day, and that they should seize the opportunity of making the attack on the occasion of a grand entertainment which was shortly to be given to him in honour of his arrival, and after they were all destroyed, the men, who would naturally come in search of him, were to be conducted to the further part of the island under pretence that he was there, and they were then to be destroyed in like manner: and thus

the two ships, their crews being so weakened, might be taken (as they supposed), with ease. The entertainment was prepared, and Captain Cook and several officers being invited were present; it happened, however, a little before the appointed time when the signal was to be given, that most of the chiefs still expressed their opinion that the night-time would have been better than the day, and Finów, finding that the majority were of this opinion, was much vexed; and immediately forbad it to be done at all. Thus, no signal being given, the amusements went on without interruption, and Captain Cook and his officers were much pleased with their entertainment, acknowledging it to be far better than any other that they had received at the Friendly islands. (See his third voyage.) Mr. Mariner had this information at different times from several chiefs who were present, and in particular from Finow himself, (the father of the present king, and son of the chief who was at the head of the conspiracy.)

As every information must be interesting which regards the history or fate of this great and good man, to whom society owes so much, we cannot omit mentioning some circumstances, subsequent to his death, upon which the above anecdote so naturally leads the mind

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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 Owhyhee 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 extraor dinary 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