368 CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGES 



board the Resolution, where the crowd being so great as 

 to impede the necessary business of the ship, we were 

 obliged to have recourse to the assistance of Kaneena, 

 another of their chiefs, who had likewise attached himself 

 to Captain Cook. The inconvenience we laboured under 

 being made known, he immediately ordered his countrymen 

 to quit the vessel ; and we were not a little surprised to 

 see them jump overboard without a moment's hesitation. 



" Both these chiefs were men of strong and well propor- 

 tioned bodies, and of countenances remarkably pleasing ; 

 Kaneena, especially, was one of the finest men I ever saw. 

 He was about six feet high, had regular and expressive 

 features, with lively dark eyes ; his carriage was easy, 

 firm, and graceful. 



" The inhabitants had hitherto behaved with great fairness 

 and honesty, but we now found the case exceedingly altered. 

 The immense crowd of islanders which blocked up every 

 part of the ships, not only afforded frequent opportunity 

 of pilfering, without risk of discovery, but our inferiority 

 in number held forth a prospect of escaping with impunity 

 in case of detection. Another circumstance to which we 

 attributed this alteration in their behaviour, was the 

 presence and encouragement of their chiefs ; for generally 

 tracing the booty into the possession of some men of 

 consequence, we had the strongest reason to suspect that 

 these depredations were committed at their instigation. 



" Soon after the Resolution had got into her station, our 

 two friends Pareea and Kaneena brought on board a third 

 chief, named Koah, who, we were told, was a priest, and 

 had been in his youth a distinguished warrior. He was 

 a little old man, of an emaciated figure ; his eyes exceed- 

 ingly sore and red, and his body covered with a white 

 leprous scurf, the effects of an immoderate use of the ava. 

 Being led into the cabin, he approached Captain Cook 

 with great veneration, and threw over his shoulders a piece 

 of red cloth which he had brought along with him. Then 

 stepping a few paces back, he made an offering of a small 

 pig, which he held in his hand, whilst he pronounced a 

 discourse that lasted for a considerable time. 



" When this ceremony was over, Koah dined with Captain 

 Cook, eating plentifully of what was set before 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 

 carried wands tipped with dog's hair, and marched before 

 us, pronouncing with a loud voice a short sentence, in 



