170 cook's first voyage JULY, 



bones, chiefly ribs and vertebrae. Upon enquiring 

 into the cause of so singular an appearance, we were 

 told, that in the then last month of Owarahew, which 

 answered to our December, I768, about four or five 

 months before our arrival, the people of Tiarrabou, 

 the S. E. peninsula which we had just visited, made 

 a descent at this place, and killed a great number of 

 people, whose bones were those that we saw upon 

 the shore : that, upon this occasion, Oberea, and 

 Oamo, who then administered the government for 

 his son, had fled to the mountains ; and that the con- 

 querors burnt all the houses, which were very large, 

 and carried away the hogs, and what other animals 

 they found. We learnt also, that the turkey and 

 goose, which we had seen when we were with Mathia- 

 bo, the stealer of cloaks, were among the spoils : this 

 accounted for their being found among people with 

 whom the Dolphin had little or no communication ; 

 and upon mentioning the jaw-bones, which we had 

 seen hanging from a board in a long house, we were 

 told, that they also had been carried away as trophies, 

 the people here carrying away the jaw-bones of their 

 enemies, as the Indians of North America do the 

 scalps. 



After having thus gratified our curiosity, we re- 

 turned to our quarters, where we passed the night 

 in perfect security and quiet. By the next evening 

 we arrived at Atahourou, the residence of our friend 

 Tootahah, where, the last time we passed the night 

 under his protection, we had been obliged to leave 

 the best part of our clothes 'behind us. This adven- 

 ture, however, seemed now to be forgotten on both 

 sides. Our friends received us with great pleasure, 

 and gave us a good supper and a good lodging, where 

 we suffered neither loss nor disturbance. 



The next day, Saturday, July the 1st, we got back 

 to our fort at Matavai, having found the circuit of 

 the island, including both peninsulas, to be about 

 thirty leagues. Upon our complaining of the want 



