COOK'S SECOND VOYAGE 47 



" This also broke in the first ten miles of our journey, 

 whereat the Philosopher to whom it belonged was the 

 only person who lost his Philosophy." Their progress 

 was much retarded by Banks's indefatigable botanizing : 

 " We never saw a tree with an unusual branch, or a strange 

 weed, or anything singular in the vegetable world, but a 

 halt was immediately ordered : out jumped Mr. Banks, 

 out jumped the boys and the Otaheitan . . . many 

 articles, all a-blowing, all a-growing, which seemed to me 

 no better than thistles, and which would not have sold for 

 a farthing in Co vent Garden Market, were pulled up by the 

 roots, and stowed carefully in the coach as rareties." 



Arriving at Scarborough, young Colman saw the sea 

 for the first time. He was making his maiden plunge 

 from a bathing-machine, when Omai appeared before 

 him, wading. " The early sunbeams shot their lustre 

 upon the tawny Otaheitan and heightened the cutaneous 

 gloss which he had already received from the water. 

 He looked like a specimen of pale moving mahogany 

 highly varnished tattowed with striped arches, brown 

 and black, according to the fashion of his country. 

 He hailed me with the salutation of Tosh / which was his 

 pronunciation of George," 1 and proposed to take a swim 

 with George on his back. The boy consented, and was 

 delighted with the result. " I made my way as smoothly 

 as Arion upon his Dolphin. I could not indeed touch the 

 Lyre, nor had I any musical instrument to play upon, 

 unless it were the comb which Omai carried in one hand, 

 and which he used while swimming to adjust his harsh 

 black locks hanging in profusion over his shoulders. . . . 

 My father looked a little grave at my having been so 

 venturous. The noble Captain and the Philosopher 

 laughed heartily, and called me a tough little fellow ; 

 and Omai and I henceforth were constant companions." 



1 Omai's address to the King, on being introduced by Lord Sand- 

 wich, was " How do King Tosh ! " (Note by R. B. Peake.) 



