brother, and several more of his attendants. To all of them I made presents; and, after breakfast, took the king, his sister, and as many more as I had room for, into my boat, and carried them home to Oparree. I had no sooner landed than I was met by a venerable old lady, the mother of the late Toutaha. She seized me by both hands, and burst into a flood of tears, saying, Toutaha Tiyo no Toutee matty Toutaha-(Toutaha, your friend, or the friend of Cook, is dead). I was so much affected with her behaviour, that it would have been impossible for me to have refrained mingling my tears with hers, had not Otoo come and taken me from her. I, with some difficulty, prevailed on him to let me see her again, when I gave her an axe and some other things. Captain Furneaux, who was with me, presented the king with two fine goats, male and female, which, if taken care of, or rather if no care at all is taken of them, will no doubt multiply.

DANCING AND COMEDY.

On another occasion, I entertained him and his people with the bagpipes (of which music they are very fond), and dancing by the seamen. He, in return, ordered some of his people to dance also, which consisted chiefly of contortions. There were, however, some who could imitate the seamen tolerably well, both in country dances and hornpipes.

In their theatre we were entertained with a dramatic heava, or play, in which were both dancing and comedy. The performers were five men, and one woman, who was no less a person than the king's sister. The music consisted of three drums only; it lasted about an hour and a half, or two hours; and, upon the whole, was well conducted. It was not possible for us to find out the meaning of the play. Some part seemed

adapted to the present time, as my name was frequently mentioned. Other parts were certainly wholly unconnected with us. The dancing-dress of the lady was more elegant than any I saw there, by being decorated with long tassels, made of feathers, hanging from the waist downward.

Mr. Pickersgill, on a visit to Attahourou, to which place 1 had sent him, had seen old Oberea. She seemed much altered for the worse, poor, and of little consequence. The first words she said were Earee mataou ina boa-Earee is frightened; you can have no hogs. By this it appeared that she had little or no property, and was herself subject to the Earee; which I believe was not the case when I was here before.

HUMAN SACRIFICES.

As I had some reason to believe that amongst their religious customs human sacrifices were sometimes considered as necessary, I went one day to a Marai in Matavai, in company with Captain Furneaux; having with us, as I had upon all other occasions, one of my men who spoke their language tolerably well, and several of the natives, one of whom appeared to be an intelligent, sensible man. In the Marai was a Tupapow, on which lay a corpse and some viands; so that everything promised success to my inquiries. I began with asking questions relating to the several objects before me-If the plantains, etc., were for the Eatua? If they sacrificed to the Eatua, hogs, dogs, fowls, etc.? to all of which he answered in the affirmative. I then asked, If they sacrificed men to the Eatua? he answered, Taata eno; that is, Bad men they did, first Tiparrahy, or beating them till they were dead. I then asked him, If good men were put to death in this manner? his answer was, No, only Taata eno. I asked him,

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If any Earees were? he said, they had hogs to give to the Eatua; and again repeated Taata eno. I next asked him, If Towtows, that is, servants or slaves, who had no hogs, dogs, or fowls, but yet were good men, if they were sacrificed to the Eatua? His answer was, No, only bad men. I asked him several more questions, and all his answers seemed to tend to this one point, that men for certain crimes were condemned to be sacrificed to the gods, provided they had not wherewithal to redeem themselves. This, I think, implies that, on some occasions, human sacrifices are considered as necessary; particularly when they take such men as have, by the laws of the country, forfeited their lives, and have nothing to redeem them; and such will generally be found among the lower class of people.

The man of whom I made these inquiries, as well as some others, took some pains to explain the whole of this custom to us; but we were not masters enough of their language to understand them. I have since learnt from Omai, that they offer human sacrifices to the Supreme Being. According to his account, what men shall be so sacrificed depends on the caprice of the high-priest, who, when they are assembled on any solemn occasion, retires alone into the house of god, and stays there some time. When he comes out he informs them, that he has seen and conversed with their great god (the high-priest alone having that privilege), and that he has asked for a human sacrifice, and tells them that he has desired such a person, naming a man present, whom most probably the priest has an antipathy against. He is immediately killed, and so falls a victim to the priest's resentment; who, no doubt (if necessary), has address enough to persuade the people that he was a bad man.

On the 1st September we put to sea, and left Otaheite.

Some hours before we got under sail, a young man, whose name was Poreo, came and desired I would take him with me. I consented, thinking he might be of service to us on some occasion. Many more offered themselves, but I refused to take them. This youth asked me for an axe and a spike-nail for his father, who was then on board. He had them accordingly, and they parted just as we were getting under sail, more like two strangers than father and son. This raised a doubt in me whether it was so; which was farther confirmed by a canoe, conducted by two men, coming alongside, as we were standing out of the bay, and demanding the young man in the name of Otoo. I now saw that the whole was a trick to get something from me; well knowing that Otoo was not in the neighbourhood, and could know nothing of the matter. Poreo seemed, however, at first undetermined whether he should go or stay; but he soon inclined to the former. I told them to return me the axe and nails, and then he should go (and so he really should), but they said they were ashore, and so departed. Though the youth seemed pretty well satisfied, he could not refrain from weeping, when he viewed the land astern.

HUAHEINE.

As soon as we were clear of the bay, and our boats in, I directed my course for the island of Huaheine, where I intended to touch. We made it the next day, and spent the night making short boards under the north end of the island. At daylight in the morning of the 3d September, we made sail for the harbour of Owharre; in which the "Resolution" anchored. As the wind blew out of the harbour, I chose to turn in by the southern channel, it being the widest. The "Resolution" turned in very well, but the "Adventure," missing stays, got ashore on the north