PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 159 



rocks would allow, to offer terms of reconciliation ; 

 but our overtures were answered only by showers 

 of stones. This conduct, which we now began to 

 think was only a part of their general character, 

 rendered it extremely difficult, nay almost impossi- 

 ble, to have any dealings with them without getting 

 into disputes. No time, place, or example, made 

 any difference in the indulgence of their insatiable 

 propensity to theft. Explanations and threats, 

 which in some instances will prevent the necessity 

 of acting, were unfortunately not at our command, 

 in consequence of our ignorance of their language, 

 and the only option left us was to yield up our 

 goods unresistingly, or to inflict a more severe chas- 

 tisement than the case might deserve. Captain 

 Cook, who managed the natives of these seas better 

 than any other navigator, pursued a system which 

 generally succeeded, though in the end it cost him 

 his life. It was rigid, but I am certain it was bet- 

 ter adapted to preserve peace than the opposite plan 

 adopted by Perouse, at Easter Island, who, though 

 one of the most enlightened navigators, was, of all, 

 the most unfortunate. 



To seize one of the natives, or upon something 

 that was of more value to them than the goods they 

 had stolen, was the most effectual way of recovering 

 what was lost, and by at once adopting this mode of 

 proceeding might prevent a recurrence of such a 

 circumstance ; I consequently took away a net and 

 some rafts that were lying upon the shore. The net 

 was about forty feet in length, made with the bark 

 of the porou tree {hibiscus tiliaceus), precisely in the 

 same manner as our seins are, but weighted with 

 stones and rounded pieces of coral instead of lead. 



