106 COOK*S FIRST VOYAGE APRIL, 



Upon this he became more cahn, and made Mr. 

 Banks understand that the offender, having taken a 

 fancy to a stone-hatchet which lay in his house, had 

 offered to purchase it of his wife for a nail : that she 

 having refused to part with it upon any terms, he 

 had catched it up, and throwing down the nail, 

 threatened to cut her throat if she made any resist- 

 ance : to prove this charge the hatchet and the nail 

 were produced, and the butcher had so little to say 

 in his defence, that there was not the least reason to 

 doubt of its truth. 



Mr. Banks havings reported this m.atter to me, I 

 took an opportunity, when the chief and his women, 

 with other Indians, were on board the ship, to call 

 up the butcher, and after a recapitulation of the 

 charge and the proof, I gave orders that he should 

 be punished, as well to prevent other offences of the 

 same kind, as to acquit Mr. Banks of his promise : 

 the Indians saw him stripped and tied up to the 

 rigging with a fixed attention, waiting in silent 

 suspense for the event; but as soon as the first stroke 

 was given, they interfered with great agitation, ear- 

 nestly intreating that the rest of the punishment 

 might be remitted : to this, however, for many reasons, 

 I could not consent, and when they found that 

 they could not prevail by their intercession, they 

 gave vent to their pity by tears. 



Their tears, indeed, like those of children, were 

 always ready to express any passion that was strongly 

 excited, and like those of children they also appeared 

 to be forgotten as soon as shed ; of which the follow- 

 ing, among many others, is a remarkable instance. 

 Very early in the morning of the 28th, even before 

 it was day, a great number of them came down to 

 the fort, and Terapo being observed among the 

 women on the outside of the gate, Mr. Banks went 

 out and brought her in ; he saw that the tears then 

 stood in her eyes, and as soon as she entered they 

 began to flow in great abundance : he enquired 



