advantages, its possessing a greater quantity of gently rising land, renders it, in some measure, superior to the above favourite islands, as being more capable of improvement. The animals here consist of hogs and dogs. Notwithstanding these people appear to be well skilled in agriculture, yet the general appearance of the island showed that it was capable of much more extensive cultivation, and of maintaining at least three times the number of the inhabitants that were then upon it.

Although these islands lie within the tropic of Cancer, yet all the habitations are perfectly close quite round: they are thatched with long grass, which is laid on slender poles, disposed with some regularity. The figure of these houses is not unlike oblong corn or hay-stacks; or a better idea may perhaps be formed, by supposing the roof of a barn placed on the ground, in such a manner as to form a high acute ridge, with two very low sides, hardly discernible at a distance. The entrance is made indifferently at the end or side, and is an oblong hole, so low that one must rather creep than walk in, and is often shut up by planks fastened together, which serve as a door, but having no hinges, must be removed occasionally. No light enters the house but by this opening. These dwellings, so uncomfortable in a warm climate, are kept remarkably clean; on the floors are spread mats to sit or sleep upon.

From the many weapons which these islanders were possessed of, and from the excellent condition in which they kept them, it was inferred that wars were frequent here; and the information obtained from the natives proved, that even different districts of the same island were accustomed to wage

war with each other, as well as one island against another; which fully accounted for the disproportion between the number of inhabitants and the extent of ground capable of cultivation. But notwithstanding the state of hostility in which these people live, there is no appearance of defence or fortification near any of their villages; and the houses are scattered about without any order, either with respect to their distances from each other, or their position in any particular direction.

As these people do not anoint their bodies, which is the general practice of the southern islanders, their skin is neither soft nor shining. But few instances of corpulency were seen, and these oftener among the women than the men. It was pleasing to see with how much affection mothers treated their infants, and how readily the men lent their assistance to such an affectionate office; thus honourably distinguishing themselves from those savages, who esteem a wife and child as things rather necessary than desirable, or worthy of their notice. These people are vigorous, active, and most expert swimmers they will leave their canoes upon the most trifling occasion, dive under them, and swim to others, though at a great distance. It was very common to see women, with infants at their breasts, when the surf was so high that they could not land in a canoe, leap over board, and, without endangering their little ones, swim to the shore through a sea that looked dreadful. To such amphibious creatures no great mischief can arise from a small canoe being run down by a larger; and to this mischance they are continually exposed: for the contempt in which the lower class of people are held by the chiefs, is equally conspicuous here as at the

southern islands; and one of the chiefs coming off in a double canoe, to pay a visit to captain Clerke on board the Discovery, showed no regard to the small canoes which happened to be in his way, but ran against or over them without the least concern. Nor was it possible for these poor people to avoid him, as they could not manage their canoes, it being a necessary mark of their submission, that they should lie down till he had passed. There were some peculiarities in the behaviour of this chief, which deserve to be noticed. When he entered the ship, his attendants stood round him, holding each other by the hands; nor would they suffer any one to come near him but captain Clerke himself. He was a young man, clothed from head to foot, and accompanied by a young woman, who was supposed to be his wife. His name was said to be Tamahano. Captain Clerke could not prevail upon this great man to go below, nor to move from the place where his attendants had first fixed him. After staying some time in the ship, he was again carried into his canoe, and returned to the island, receiving the same honours from all the natives as when he came on board.

The islands in the Pacific Ocean, which modern navigators have added to the geography of the globe, have been generally found lying in groups or clusters; the single intermediate islands, as yet discovered, being few in proportion to the others, though probably there may be many more still unknown, which serve as steps between the clusters. Of the archipelago which captain Cook now fell in with, we shall have occasion to say more hereafter; at present it is only necessary to add, that the whole group received the name of the Sandwich

Islands, in honour of earl Sandwich. The natives of these islands appeared to be blessed with a frank, cheerful disposition; and," says our author, "were I to draw any comparisons, I should say, that they are equally free from the fickle levity which distinguishes the natives of Otaheite, and the sedate cast observed among many of those of Tongataboo. Except their propensity to thieving, which seems innate to most of the people inhabiting on this ocean, they were exceedingly friendly to their visitors; and it does their sensibility no little credit, without flattering ourselves, that when they saw the various articles of our European manufactures, they could not help expressing their surprise, by a mixture of joy and concern, that seemed to apply the case as a lesson of humility to themselves; and on all occasions they appeared to be deeply impressed with a consciousness of their own inferiority. A behaviour which equally exempts their national character from the preposterous pride of the more polished Japanese, and of the ruder Greenlander." Notwithstanding this humble estimation of themselves, these people discover an uncommon degree of neatness and ingenuity in all their manufactures. They make their cloth in the same manner as the natives of the southern islands; but in colouring or staining it, they display a superiority of taste, by the endless variety of figures which they execute. One would suppose, on seeing a number of these pieces, that they had borrowed their patterns from some mercer's shop, in which the most elegant productions of China and Europe were collected. Their colours, indeed, except the red, are not very bright; but the regularity of the figures and stripes is truly surprising. They seemed to possess the art of var

nishing; for some of their stained gourd-shells are covered with a kind of lacker. Their wooden dishes or bowls, out of which they drink their ava, are out of the etooa-tree or cordia, as neat as if made in our turning-lathe, and perhaps better polished.

The only iron tools, or rather bits of iron, seen among them, and which they had before the arrival of the two ships, were a piece of iron hoop, about two inches long, fitted into a wooden handle; this captain Cook purchased: but he does not admit it to be a proof of any European ship having touched there previous to his arrival, and enters fully into the discussion of that point.

The taboo prevails in Atooi in its full extent, and apparently with much more rigour than at Tongataboo; for the people here always asked with great eagerness, and signs of fear to offend, whether any particular thing which they desired to see, or those on board the ships were unwilling to show, was taboo, or as they pronounced the word, tafoo? The maia rae, or forbidden articles at the Society Islands, though doubtless the same thing, did not seem to be so strictly observed by them, except with respect to the dead, about whom they were thought to be more superstitious than any of the others were.

CHAP. II.

Captain Cook's attempt to discover a northern passage; his return to winter at the Sandwich Islands, and tragical death.

ON the second of February 1778, our navigator quitted the harbour of Oneehow, which lies in lat. 21°56′ N. long. 159° 47′ W. and stood away to the northward with a gentle gale from the east. On