COOK'S SECOND VOYAGE 4* 



entirely new sensation, in the shape of a real live Otaheitan. 

 Furneaux had taken on board a young native chief, by 

 name Omai. When Cook reached England in the following 

 summer, he found Omai a darling of Society. Under the 

 auspices of Lord Sandwich and Mr. Banks, the untutored 

 one was received everywhere with gratification. It must 

 be said that Omai justified his entrance into the world 

 of Lords and Ladies by his natural dignity of manner, 

 and by his adaptability to some of the inevitable veneer- 

 ing. Polish cannot be acquired by the stupid ; and 

 Omai was far from that. As Miss Burney says, " his 

 manners are so extremely graceful, and he is so polite, 

 attentive, and easy, that you would have thought he 

 came from some foreign Court." 1 Dr. Johnson was also 

 struck by his good manner, on meeting him at the 

 Streatham dinner-table. 



This forgotten episode is often the subject of gossip 

 and pleasantry in the chronicles of the time. Fanny 

 Burney is very entertaining on the topic. The following 

 (unpublished) memorandum of Sir John Cullum is clear 

 and precise, and as good as anything that was ever printed 

 of Omai. And it is worth introducing here as an example 

 of the baronet's charming style. " (3 Dec., 1774). I 

 have had opportunity this week of being twice in company 

 with Omai, a native of Waietea, brought into England 

 this year ; of whom, from observation and enquiry, I 

 collected the following notices. He is about 30 years old, 

 rather tall and slender, with a genteel make ; his nose is 

 somewhat flat, and his lips thick, but on the whole 

 his face is not disagreeable. His ears are bored with a 

 large hole at the tip ; his complexion swarthy ; his hair 

 of considerable length, and perfectly black. The backs 

 of his hands are tattowed with transverse lines, and his 

 fingers with round ones ; the lines are not continuous, 

 but consist of distinct bluish spots ; his posteriors are 



1 Early Diary of Frances Burney, I, 334 et seq. 



