138 cook's SECOND VOYAGE JUNE, 



ster ; when he told a very lamentable story against 

 Goury, the great dog, (for so they call all the quadru- 

 peds we had aboard), nor could he be reconciled, till 

 his shirt was washed and dried. This story, though ex- 

 tremely trifling in itself, will show how liable we are 

 to mistake these people's meaning, and to ascribe 

 to them customs which they never knew even in 

 thought. 



About nine o'clock, a large double canoe, in which 

 were twenty or thirty people, appeared in sight. Our 

 friends on board seemed much alarmed, telling us 

 that these were their enemies : two of them, the one 

 with a spear, and the other with a stone hatchet in 

 his hand, mounted the arm-chests on the poop, and 

 there, in a kind of bravado, bid those enemies defi- 

 ance ; while the others, who were on board, took to 

 their canoe and went ashore, probably to secure the 

 women and children. 



All I could do, could not prevail on the two that 

 remained to call these strangers along-side ; on the 

 contrary, they were displeased at my doing it, and 

 wanted me to fire upon them. The people in the 

 canoe seemed to pay very little regard to those on 

 board, but kept advancing slowly towards the ship ; 

 and, after performing the usual ceremonies, put along- 

 side : after this the chief was easily prevailed upon 

 to come on board, followed by many others, and 

 peace was immediately established on all sides ; in- 

 deed, it did not appear to me that these -people had 

 any intention to make war upon their brethren ; at 

 least, if they had, they were sensible enough to know 

 that this was neither the time nor place for them to 

 commit hostilities. 



One of the first questions these strangers asked, 

 was for Tupia ; and when I told them he was dead, 

 one or two expressed their sorrow by a kind of lamen- 

 tation, which to me appeared more formal than real. 

 A trade soon commenced between our people and 

 them. It was not possible to hinder the former from 



