1774* ROUND THE WORLD. 369 



both ; but were I to abide by my own opinion only, 

 I should believe it was real. At last, when we were 

 about to weigh, they took a most affectionate leave. 

 Oreo's last request was for me to return ; when he 

 saw he could not obtain that promise, he asked the 

 name of my Marat (burying-place.) As strange a 

 question as this was, I hesitated not a moment to tell 

 him Stepney ; the parish in which I live, when in 

 London. I was made to repeat it several times over 

 till they could pronounce it : then, Stepney, Marat 

 no Toote, was echoed through an hundred mouths at 

 once. I afterwards found the same question had 

 been put to Mr. Forster by a man on shore ; but he 

 gave a different, and, indeed, more proper answer, by 

 saying, no man, who used the sea, could say where 

 he should be buried. It is the custom at these isles 

 for all the great families to have burial-places of their 

 own, where their remains are interred. These go 

 with the estate to the next heir. The Marat at Opar- 

 ree at Otaheite, when Tootaha swayed the sceptre, 

 was called Marat no Tootaha ; but now it is called 

 Marai no Otoo. What greater proof could we have 

 of these people esteeming us as friends, than their 

 wishing to remember us, even beyond the period of 

 our lives ? They had been repeatedly told that we 

 should see them no more ; they then wanted to know 

 where we were to mingle with our parent dust. 



As I could not promise, or even suppose, that more 

 English ships would be sent to those isles, our faithful 

 companion Oedidee chose to remain in his native 

 country. But he left us with a regret fully demon- 

 strative of the esteem he bore to us ; nor could any 

 thing, but the fear of never returning, have torn him 

 from us. When the chief teased me so much about 

 returning, I sometimes gave such answers as left them 

 hopes. Oedidee would instantly catch at this, take 

 me on one side, and ask me over again. In short, I 

 have not words to describe the anguish which appeared 

 in this young man's breast, when he went away. He 



VOL. III. B B 



