100 cook's first voyage APRIL, 



see it. I found the shed under which his body lay, 

 close by the house in which he resided when he was 

 alive, some others being not more than ten yards dis- 

 tant ; it w^as about 15 feet long, and 11 broad, and 

 of a proportionable height : one end was wholly open, 

 and the other end, and the two sides, were partly 

 enclosed with a kind of wdcker v/ork. The bier on 

 which the corpse was deposited, was a frame of wood 

 like that in which the sea-beds, called cotts, are 

 placed, with a matted bottom, and supported by four 

 posts, at the height of about five feet from the ground. 

 The body was covered first with a mat, and then with 

 white cloth ; by the side of it lay a wooden mace, 

 one of their weapons of war, and near the head of it, 

 which lay next to the close end of the shed, lay two 

 cocoa-nut shells, such as are sometimes used to carry 

 water in ; at the other end a bunch of green leaves, 

 with some dried twigs, all tied together, were stuck 

 in the ground, by which lay a stone about as big as a 

 cocoa-nut : near these lay one of the young plantain 

 trees, which are used for emblems of peace, and close 

 by it a stone axe. At the open end of the shed also 

 hung, in several strings, a great number of palm- 

 nuts, and without the shed was stuck upright in the 

 ground the stem of a plantain tree about five feet 

 high, upon the top of which v/as placed a cocoa-nut 

 shell full of fresh water : against the side of one of 

 the posts hung a small bag, containing a few pieces 

 of bread-fruit ready roasted, which were not all put 

 in at the same time, for some of them were fresh, 

 and others stale. I took notice that several of the 

 natives observed us with a mixture of solicitude and 

 jealousy in their countenances, and by their gestures 

 expressed uneasiness when we went near the body, 

 standino; themselves at a little distance while we were 

 making our examination, and appearing to be pleased 

 when we came away. 



Our residence on shore would by no means have 

 been disagreeable if we had not been incessantly tor- 



