THIRD VOYAGE 387 



for me belonging to Captain Cook. When they came on 

 board, they threw themselves at our feet,- and appeared 

 exceedingly frightened. Luckily neither of them was hurt, 

 notwithstanding the balls of both pieces had gone through 

 the canoe. One of them was the person who constantly 

 attended Captain Cook with the circumstances of ceremony 

 already described : and who, though a man of rank in the 

 island, could scarcely be hindered from performing for him 

 the lowest offices of a menial servant. After lamenting with 

 abundance of tears the loss of the Orono, he told us that 

 he had brought us a part of his body. He then presented 

 to us a small bundle wrapped up in cloth, which he brought 

 under his arm ; and it is impossible to describe the horror 

 which seized us on finding in it a piece of human flesh about 

 nine or ten pounds weight. This, he said, was all that 

 remained of the body ; that the rest was cut to pieces and 

 burnt ; but that the head and all the bones, except what 

 belonged to the trunk, were in the possession of Terreeoboo 

 and the other earees ; that what we saw had been allotted 

 to Kaoo, the chief of the priests, to be made use of in 

 some religious ceremony, and that he had sent it as a proof 

 of his innocence and attachment to us. 



" This afforded an opportunity of informing ourselves 

 whether they were cannibals, and we did not neglect it. 

 They immediately shewed as much horror at the idea as 

 any European would have done, and asked, very naturally, 

 if that was the custom amongst us. They afterwards asked 

 as, with great earnestness and apparent apprehension, 

 " When the Orono would come again, and what he would do 

 to them on his return ? " The same inquiry was frequently 

 made afterwards by others ; and this idea agrees with the 

 general tenor of their conduct towards him, which shewed 

 that they considered him as a being of a superior nature. 



" We pressed our two friendly visitors to remain on board 

 till morning, but in vain. They told us that if this trans- 

 action should come to the knowledge of the king or chiefs 

 it might be attended with the most fatal consequences to 

 their whole society ; in order to prevent which, they had 

 been obliged to come off to us in the dark, and the same 

 precaution would be necessary in returning on shore. They 

 informed us farther that the chiefs were eager to revenge 

 the death of their countrymen, and particularly cautioned 

 us against trusting Koah, who, they said, was our mortal 

 and implacable enemy, and desired nothing more ardently 

 than an opportunity of fighting us. 



" We learned from these men that seventeen of their 

 countrymen were killed in the first action at Kowrowa, of 

 whom five were chiefs ; and that Kaneena and his brother, 



