THE PACIFIC OCEAN, n 



room to do the necefTary duties of the fliip. On thefe oc- 1 U9- 



cafions, two or three hundred women were frequently made \ v L> 



to jump into the water at once, where they continued fwim- 

 ming and playing about, till they could again procure ad- 

 mittance. 



From the 19th to the 24th, when Pareea and Koah left us Tuefday i 9 . 

 to attend Terreeoboo, who had landed on fome other part 

 of the ifland, nothing very material happened on board. 

 The caulkers were fet to work on the fides of the lTiips, and 

 the rigging was carefully overhauled and repaired. The 

 faking of hogs for fea-flore was alfo a conftant, and one of 

 the principal objects of Captain Cook's attention. As the 

 fuccefs we met with in this experiment, during our prefent 

 voyage, was much more complete than it had been in any 

 former attempt of the fame 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 

 flefh of animals by faking, in tropical climates ; the pro- 

 grefs of putrefaction being fo rapid, as not to allow time 

 for the fait to take (as they exprefs it) before the meat gets 

 a taint, which prevents the effect of the pickle. We do not 

 find that experiments relative to this fubject have been made 

 by the navigators of any nation before Captain Cook. In 

 his firft trials, which were made in 1774, during his fecond 

 voyage to the Pacific Ocean, the fuccefs he met with, though 

 very imperfect, was yet fufheient to convince him of the error 

 of the received opinion. As the voyage, in which he was 

 now engaged, was likely to be protracted a year beyond the 

 time for which the mips had been victualled, he was under 

 the neceflity of providing, by fome fuch means, for the 



C 2 fubfiftence 



