12 A VOYAGE TO .TAX. 



were frequently made to jump into the water at once, 

 where they continued swimming and playing about, 

 till they could again procure admittance. 



From the 19th to the 24th, when Pareea and 

 Koah left us to attend Terreeoboo, who had landed 

 on some other part of the island, nothing very ma- 

 terial happened on board. The caulkers were set 

 to work on the sides of the ships, and the rigging 

 was carefully overhauled and repaired. The salting 

 of hogs for sea-store was also a constant, and one of 

 the principal objects of Captain Cook's attention. 

 As the success we met with in this experiment, 

 during our present voyage, was much more complete 

 than it had been in any former attempt of the same 

 kind, it may not be improper to give an account of 

 the detail of the operation. 



It has generally been thought impracticable to 

 cure the flesh of animals by salting, in tropical 

 climates ; the progress of putrefaction being so 

 rapid, as not to allow time for the salt to take (as 

 they express it) before the meat gets a taint, which 

 prevents the effect of the pickle. We do not find 

 that experiments relative to this subject have been 

 made by the navigators of any nation before Captain 

 Cook. In his first trials, which were made in 1774, 

 during his second voyage to the Pacific Ocean, the 

 success he met with, though very imperfect, was yet 

 sufficient to convince him of the error of the received 

 opinion. As the voyage, in which he w 7 as now en- 

 gaged, was likely to be protracted a year beyond 

 the time for which the ships had been victualled, he 

 was under the necessity of providing, by some such 

 means, for the subsistence of the crews, or of relin- 

 quishing the further prosecution of his discoveries. 

 He therefore lost no opportunity of renewing his 

 attempts, and the event answered his most sanguine 

 expectations. 



The hogs, which we made use of for this purpose, 



