154 cook's i-IIlST VOYAGE JUNE, 



and nose, an operation which continued above a 

 quarter of an hour. While this was doing, a hole 

 was made in the ground about a foot deep, in which 

 a fire was kindled, and some small stones placed in 

 layers alternately with the wood to heat ; the dog 

 was then singed, by holding him over the fire, and, 

 by scraping him with a shell, the hair taken off as 

 clean as if he had been scalded in hot water : he was 

 then cut up with the same instrument, and his en- 

 trails, being taken out, were sent to the sea, where, 

 being carefully washed, they w^ere put into cocoa-nut 

 shells, with what blood had come from the body. 

 When the hole was sufficiently heated, the fire was 

 taken out, and some of the stones, which were not so 

 hot as to discolour any thing that they touched, be- 

 ing placed at the bottom, were covered with green 

 leaves. The dog, with the entrails, was then placed 

 upon the leaves, and other leaves being laid upon 

 them, the whole was covered with the rest of the hot 

 stones, and the mouth of the hole close stopped with 

 mould. In somewhat less than four hours it was again 

 opened, and the dog taken out excellently baked, 

 and we all agreed that he made a very good dish. 

 The dogs which are here bred to be eaten taste no 

 animal food, but are kept wholly upon bread-fruit, 

 cocoa-nuts, yams, and other vegetables of the like 

 kind : all the flesh and fish eaten by the inhabitants 

 is dressed in the same way. 



On the 21st we were visited at the fort by a chief, 

 called Oamo, whom we had never seen before, and 

 who was treated by the natives with uncommon re- 

 spect ; he brought with him a boy about seven years 

 old, and a young woman about sixteen : the boy was 

 carried upon a man's back, which we considered as a 

 piece of state, for he was as well able to walk as any 

 present. As soon as they were in sight, Oberea, and 

 several other natives who were in the fort, went out 

 to meet them, having first uncovered their heads and 

 bodies as low as the waist : as they came on, the same 



