in our return; and at eight o'clock in the evening of the 9th, it began to blow very hard from the southeast, which obliged us to close reef the topsails; and at two in the morning of the 10th, in a heavy squall, we found ourselves close in with the breakers, that lie to the northward of the west point of Owhyhee. We had just room to haul off, and avoid them, and fired several guns to apprize the Discovery of the danger.

In the forenoon, the weather was more moderate, and a few canoes came off to us, from which we learnt, that the late storms had done much mischief; and that several large canoes had been lost. During the remainder of the day we kept beating to windward, and, before night, we were within a mile of the bay; but not choosing to run on, while it was dark, we stood off and on till day-light next morning, when we dropt anchor nearly in the same place as before.

CHAP. III.

SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOUR OF THE NATIVES, ON OUR RETURN TO

ITS CONSEQUENCES.

THEFT ON BOARD THE DISCOVERY, AND

THE PINNACE ATTACKED, AND THE CREW OBLIGED TO QUIT HER. CAPTAIN COOK'S OBSERVA

TIONS ON THE OCCASION.-ATTEMPT AT THE OBSERVATORY. OF THE DISCOVERY STOLEN.

THE CUTTER MEASURES TAKEN BY CAPTAIN COOK FOR ITS RECOVERY. GOES ON SHORE, TO INVITE THE KING ON BOARD. THE KING, BEING STOPPED BY HIS WIFE AND THE CHIEFS, A CONTEST ARISES. NEWS ARRIVE OF ONE OF THE CHIEFS BEING KILLED BY ONE OF OUR PEOPLE. FERMENT ON THIS OCCASION. ONE OF THE CHIEFS THREATENS CAPTAIN COOK, AND IS SHOT BY HIM. GENERAL ATTACK BY THE NATIVES. DEATH OF

CAPTAIN COOK. ACCOUNT OF THE CAPTAIN'S services, and

A SKETCH OF HIS CHARACTER.

WE

E were employed the whole of the 11th and part of the 12th, in getting out the foremast, and sending it with the carpenters, on shore. Besides the damage which the head of the mast had sustained, we found the heel exceedingly rotten, having a large hole up the middle of it, capable of holding four or five cocoanuts. It was not, however, thought necessary to shorten it; and fortunately, the logs of red toa-wood, which had been cut at Eimeo, for anchor-stocks, were found fit to replace the sprung parts of the fishes. As these repairs were likely to take up several days, Mr. Bayly and myself got the astronomical apparatus on shore, and pitched our tents on the Morai; having with us a guard of a corporal and six marines.

We

renewed our friendly correspondence with the priests, who, for the greater security of the workmen, and their tools, tabooed the place where the mast lay, sticking their wands round it, as before. The sailmakers were also sent on shore, to repair the damages

which had taken place in their department during the late gales. They were lodged in a house adjoining to the Morai, that was lent us by the priests. Such were our arrangements on shore. I shall now proceed to the account of those other transactions with the natives, which led, by degrees, to the fatal catastrophe of the 14th.

Upon coming to anchor, we were surprised to find our reception very different from what it had been on our first arrival; no shouts, no bustle, no confusion; but a solitary bay, with only here and there a canoe stealing close along the shore. The impulse of curiosity, which had before operated to so great a degree, might now indeed be supposed to have ceased but the hospitable treatment we had invariably met with, and the friendly footing on which we parted, gave us some reason to expect, that they would again have flocked about us with great joy, on our return.

;

We were forming various conjectures upon the occasion of this extraordinary appearance, when our anxiety was at length relieved by the return of a boat, which had been sent on shore, and brought us word, that Terreeoboo was absent, and had left the bay under the taboo. Though this account appeared very satisfactory to most of us; yet others were of opinion, or rather, perhaps, have been led, by subsequent events, to imagine, that there was something at this time very suspicious in the behaviour of the natives; and that the interdiction of all intercourse with us, on pretence of the king's absence, was only to give him time to consult with his chiefs in what manner it might be proper to treat us. Whether these suspicions were well founded, or the account given by the natives was the truth, we were never able to ascertain. For though it is not improbable that our sudden return, for which they could see no apparent cause, and the necessity of which we afterward found it very difficult to make them comprehend, might occasion some alarm; yet the unsuspicious conduct of Terree

oboo, who, on his supposed arrival, the next morning, came immediately to visit Captain Cook, and the consequent return of the natives to their former friendly intercourse with us, are strong proofs that they neither meant nor apprehended any change of conduct.

In support of this opinion, I may add the account of another accident, precisely of the same kind, which happened to us on our first visit, the day before the arrival of the king. A native had sold a hog on board the Resolution, and taken the price agreed on, when Pareea passing by, advised the man not to part with the hog without an advanced price. For this he was sharply spoken to, and pushed away; and the taboo being soon after laid on the bay, we had at first no doubt, but that it was in consequence of the offence given to the chief. Both these accidents serve to show how very difficult it is to draw any certain conclusion from the actions of people, with whose customs, as well as language, we are so imperfectly acquainted; at the same time, some idea may be formed from them of the difficulties, at the first view, perhaps, not very apparent, which those have to encounter, who, in all their transactions with these strangers, have to steer their course amidst so much uncertainty, where a trifling error may attended with even the most fatal consequences. However true or false our conjectures may be, things went on in their usual quiet course, till the afternoon of the 13th.

be

Toward the evening of that day, the officer who commanded the watering-party of the Discovery came to inform me, that several chiefs had assembled at the well near the beach, driving away the natives whom he had hired to assist the sailors in rolling down the casks to the shore. He told me, at the same time, that he thought their behaviour extremely suspicious, and that they meant to give him some farther disturbance. At his request, therefore, I sent a ma

rine along with him, but suffered him to take only his side-arms. In a short time the officer returned, and, on his acquainting me that the islanders had armed themselves with stones and were growing very tumultuous, I went myself to the spot, attended by a marine, with his musket. Seeing us approach, they threw away their stones, and, on my speaking to some of the chiefs, the mob were driven away, and those who chose it, were suffered to assist in filling the casks. Having left things quiet here, I went to meet Captain Cook, whom I saw coming on shore, in the pinnace. I related to him what had just passed; and he ordered me, in case of their beginning to throw stones, or behave insolently, immediately to fire a ball at the offenders. I accordingly gave orders to the corporal, to have the pieces of the sentinels loaded with ball, instead of small shot.

Soon after our return to the tents, we were alarmed by a continued fire of muskets from the Discovery, which we observed to be directed at a canoe, that we saw paddling toward the shore in great haste, pursued by one of our small boats. We immediately concluded, that the firing was in consequence of some theft, and Captain Cook ordered me to follow him with a marine armed, and to endeavour to seize the people as they came on shore. Accordingly we ran toward the place where we supposed the canoe would land, but were too late; the people having quitted it, and made their escape into the country before our arrival.

We were at this time ignorant, that the goods had been already restored; and as we thought it probable, from the circumstances we had at first observed, that they might be of importance, were unwilling to relinquish our hopes of recovering them. Having therefore inquired of the natives, which way the people had fled, we followed them till it was near dark, when judging ourselves to be about three miles from the tents, and suspecting that the natives, who