54 CAPTAIN COOK 



to the sea. It was not thought wise to bury him 

 on shore, for fear lest the funeral rites should 

 wound the superstitions of the natives. The lat- 

 ter had carried into the woods the corpse of 

 the robber who had been killed by the marines. 

 They had wrapped it in a piece of cloth and 

 placed it on a wooden frame supported on posts 

 and covered with a roof. Near him were placed 

 his weapons, fresh water, and some fruit. Thus 

 the Tahitians disposed of their dead. 



Relations between the English and the natives 

 remained cordial, in spite of the numerous thefts 

 which the latter carried out with surprising skill. 

 Cook, however, insisted that scrupulous honesty 

 should be observed by his men, and did not hesi- 

 tate to enforce this by severe examples. One day 

 the ship's butcher had tried to trade with one 

 of Toubourai Tamaide's women. He offered 

 her a nail, demanding in exchange a small stone 

 hatchet. Upon her refusal, he threatened to 

 cut her throat with his knife. Cook waited 

 until Toubourai Tamaide, his women and sev- 

 eral other Indians were on board before pun- 

 ishing the guilty man, who was stripped, tied to 

 the mast and soundly flogged. At the first blow 

 the natives implored Cook to pardon him, and 

 when he refused, they burst into tears. 



Usually barter took place without any trouble. 

 Bread-fruit, coconuts, fowls and pigs were ex- 



