1779. THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 7 



too with a readiness and volubility that indicated them 

 to be according to some formulary. 



When this ceremony was over, Koah dined with 

 Captain Cook, eating plentifully of what was set be- 

 fore him; but, like the rest of the inhabitants of the 

 islands in these seas, could scarcely be prevailed on 

 to taste a second time our wine or spirits. In the 

 evening, Captain Cook, attended by Mr. Bayly and 

 myself, accompanied him on shore. We landed at 

 the beach, and were received by four men, who car- 

 ried wands tipt with dogs' hair, and marched before 

 us, pronouncing with a loud voice a short sentence, 

 in which we could only distinguish the word Orono. * 

 The crowd, which had been collected on the shore, 

 retired at our approach ; and not a person was to be 

 seen, except a few lying prostrate on the ground, 

 near the huts of the adjoining village. 



Before I proceed to relate the adoration that was 

 paid to Captain Cook, and the peculiar ceremonies 

 with which he was received on this fatal island, it 

 will be necessary to describe the Morai, situated, as 

 I have already mentioned, at the south side of the 

 beach at Kakooa. It was a square solid pile of 

 stones, about forty yards long, twenty broad, and 

 fourteen in height. The top was flat and well paved, 

 and surrounded by a wooden rail, on which were 

 fixed the sculls of the captives, sacrificed on the 

 death of their chiefs. In the centre of the area, 

 stood a ruinous old building of wood, connected with 

 the rail on each side, by a stone wall, which divided 

 the whole space into two parts. On the side next 

 the country, were five poles, upward of twenty feet 



* Captain Cook generally went by this name amongst the natives 

 of Owhyhee ; but we could never learn its precise meaning. Somer 

 times they applied it to an invisible being, who, they said, lived in 

 the heavens. We also found that it was a title belonging to a per- 

 sonage of great rank and power in the island, who resembles pretty 

 much the Delai Lama of the Tartars, and the ecclesiastical emper- 

 or of Japan. 



B 4 



