SECOND VOYAGE 171 



acted it afterwards. But this, like all their other pieces, 

 could entertain them no more than once. 



On the 30th, one of the chiefs made the Captain a present 

 of two pigs ; he invited the donor to dinner, and ordered 

 one of the pigs to be killed and dressed, and attended 

 himself to the first part of the operation, which was as 

 follows : they strangled the hog, which was done by three 

 men ; the hog being placed on his back, two of them laid 

 a pretty strong stick across his throat, and pressed with 

 all their weight on each end ; the third man held his hind 

 legs, and kept him on his back. In this manner they held 

 him for about ten minutes before he was quite dead. The 

 hog weighed about fifty pounds. It was baked in their 

 usual manner. It ate well, and had an excellent flavour. 



Captain Cook having fixed on the 4th of June, George the 

 Third's birthday, for sailing, Oreo, the chief, and his whole 

 family, came on board to take their last farewell, accom- 

 panied by Oo-oo-rou and several of their friends. None 

 came empty ; but Oo-oo-rou brought a pretty large present, 

 this being his first and only visit. The Captain distributed 

 amongst them almost every thing he had left. The very 

 hospitable manner in which he had ever been received by 

 these people had endeared them to him, and given them 

 a just title to everything in his power to grant. 



Oreo pressed him to return ; when the Captain declined 

 making any promises on that head, he asked the name 

 of his morai (burying-place). As strange a question as 

 this was, he hesitated not a moment to tell him Stepney, 

 the parish in which he lived when in London. He was 

 requested to repeat it several times over till they could 

 pronounce it ; then, " Stepney Morai no toote," was echoed 

 through a hundred mouths at once. What greater proof 

 could they have of these people esteeming them as friends, 

 than their wishing to remember them even beyond the 

 grave ? They had been repeatedly told that they should 

 see them no more ; they then wanted to know where they 

 were to mingle with their parent dust. 



As they could not promise, or even suppose, that more 

 English ships would be sent to those isles, their faithful 

 companion Oedidee, chose to remain in his native country. 

 But he left the ship with a regret fully demonstrative of 

 the esteem he had for them. Just as Oedidee was going 

 out of the ship, he asked the Captain to " tatou parou " 

 for him, in order to show the commanders of other ships 

 which might stop here. He complied with his request, 

 gave him a certificate of the time he had been with them, 

 and recommended him to the notice of those who might 

 touch at the island after them. 



