CAPTAIN cook's RECEPTION. 179 



Tabu must not be trodden by any one; nor must 

 a species of animal so declared, be injured or 

 shot until the Tabu was again taken off. Thus 

 Tameamea declared the diamond mountain un- 

 der the Tabu, because an Englishman, finding- 

 there a piece of quartz-crystal, considered it to 

 be diamond ; and the King, finding these were 

 of great value, supposed he possessed in the 

 mountain an inexhaustible treasure, till be dis- 

 covered his mistake, and the Tabu was taken off. 

 The vessels first seen by the Sandwich Island- 

 ers must have been very small, for when Cook's 

 appeared, they took her for a swimming island, 

 and believed that Etua-Rono, for whom they 

 always retained the most profound veneration, 

 had at length fulfilled his promise and returned 

 to them. The joy was universal ; and it was 

 determined to receive the beneficent god, so 

 long absent, who was to restore the Golden 

 Age upon the island, with all possible honours. 

 Neither Cook nor his companion seemed to 

 have had any notion that they were saluted with 

 divine honours ; but they considered the cere- 

 monies enacted by the rejoicing people as marks 

 of distinction commonly bestowed on persons 



