&50 cook's SECOND VOYAGE NOV, 



frequently expostulated with them against this cus- 

 tom, was, that there could be no harm in killing 

 and eating the man who would do the same by them, 

 if it was in his power. For, said they, " Can there be 

 any harm in eating our enemies, whom we have killed 

 in battle ? Would not those very enemies have done 

 the same to us ?" I have often seen them listen to 

 Tupia with great attention ; but I never found his 

 arguments have any weight with them, or that, with 

 all his rhetoric, he could persuade any one of them 

 that this custom was wrong ; and when Oedidee, 

 and several of our people showed their abhorrence of 

 it, they only laughed at them. 



Among many reasons which I have heard assigned 

 for the prevalence of this horrid custom, the want of 

 animal food has been one ; but how far this is 

 deducible either from facts or circumstances, I shall 

 leave those to find out who advanced it. In every 

 part of New Zealand where 1 have been, fish was in 

 such plenty, that the natives generally caught as 

 much as served both themselves and us. They have 

 also plenty of dogs ; nor is there any want of wild- 

 fowl, which they know very well how to kill. So 

 that neither this, nor the want of food of any kind, 

 can in my opinion be the reason. But whatever it 

 may be, I think it was but too evident that they 

 have a great liking for this kind of food. 



I must here observe that Oedidee soon learnt to 

 converse with these people, as I am persuaded he 

 would have done with the people of Amsterdam, had 

 he been a little longer with them ; for he did not 

 understand the New Zealanders at first any more 

 than, or not so much, as he understood the people of 

 Amsterdam. 



At four o'clock in the morning, on the 24th, we 

 unmoored with an intent to put to sea ; but the wind 

 being at north and north-east without, and blowing 

 strong puffs into the cove, made it necessary for us 

 to lie fast. While we were unmooring, some of our 



