268 cook's voyage to april, 



men under such restraint, and for using every art to 

 prolong their continuance amongst them. 



It has been mentioned, that Omai was sent upon 

 this expedition ; and, perhaps, his being Mr. Gore's 

 interpreter was not the only service he performed 

 this day. He was asked by the natives a great 

 many questions concerning us, our ships, our coun- 

 try, and the sort of arms we used; and, according 

 to the account he gave me, his answers were not a 

 little upon the marvellous. As, for instance, he told 

 them, that our country had ships as large as their 

 island; on board which were instruments of war (de- 

 scribing our guns), of such dimensions, that several 

 people might sit within them; and that one of them 

 was sufficient to crush the whole island at one shot. 

 This led them to inquire of him, what sort of guns 

 we actually had in our two ships, He said, that 

 though they were but small, in comparison with those 

 he had just described, yet, with such as they were, 

 we could, with the greatest ease, and at the distance 

 the ships were from the shore, destroy the island, 

 and kill every soul in it. They persevered in their 

 inquiries, to know by what means this could be done; 

 and Omai explained the matter as well as he could. 

 He happened luckily to have a few cartridges in his 

 pocket. These he produced; the balls, and the gun- 

 powder which was to set them in motion, were sub- 

 mitted to inspection ; and to supply the defects of 

 his description, an appeal was made to the senses of 

 the spectators. It has been mentioned above, that 

 one of the chiefs had ordered the multitude to form 

 themselves into a circle. This furnished Omai with 

 a convenient stage for his exhibition. In the centre 

 of this amphitheatre, the inconsiderable quantity of 

 gunpowder, collected from his cartridges, was pro- 

 perly disposed upon the ground, and, by means of a 

 bit of burning wood from the oven, where dinner 

 was dressing, set on fire. The sudden blast, and loud 

 report, the mingled flame and smoke, that instantly 





