TAHITI ^1 



for which they were each given an axe and some 

 beads. 



After this ceremony Cook, the naturalists, the 

 officers and the two Indians went ashore, and 

 were taken to a long hut belonging to the chief, 

 Tootahah. He, having had mats laid out, made 

 his guests sit down, and offered Cook and Banks 

 a cock and a hen, together with a piece of 

 scented cloth. Banks presented the generous 

 native with a silk cravat ornamented with lace 

 and a pocket handkerchief. Tootahah adorned 

 himself with these elegant objects with an ex- 

 pression of great delight. 



After this visit several pretty and smiling 

 women took the strangers into several large huts 

 which, in common with most of the dwellings 

 of this part, were built under trees, and consisted 

 merely of a few posts supporting the roof. The 

 sociable Tahitian ladies seemed delighted with 

 the newcomers, to whom they showed every 

 politeness. 



One delightful thing about them was that they 

 wore their hair short, cut round the ears. As 

 though to maintain the hirsute balance of the 

 country, the men allowed theirs to grow. 



The Englishmen met later a large number of 

 islanders who owned allegiance to another chief 

 called Toubourai Tamaide. The ceremony of 

 the green branches was re-enacted, and, the 



