NEW ZEALAND 6i 



Orea was called ^^Cookee" and Cook "Orea." 

 The Englishmen admired the children of 

 Ulietea, "the prettiest and the best grown in the 

 world." They saw in this island a troupe of 

 dancers, composed of two women, six men and 

 three drummers, who for two hours performed 

 curious and suggestive dances, varied by a sort 

 of "dramatic farce." Cook remarked that 

 "neither their music nor their dancing was calcu- 

 lated to please a European." One of the female 

 dancers having a pair of remarkable pearl ear- 

 rings, Banks offered to buy them at the price of 

 four pigs, but she would not hear of parting 

 with them. 



Opooni, the King of Bolabola, presented the 

 English with a quantity of fruit, but the next 

 day he sent three pretty girls on board the En- 

 deavour, with instructions to demand something 

 in return for the presents he had made. Cook 

 and his staff paid him a visit, and Opooni, "a 

 feeble and decrepit old man," offered them a 



pig- 

 On August 9th Cook left the Society Islands 

 and set sail for the south. Four days later he 

 sighted an island, which Tupia told him was 

 called Ohetiroa (Rurutu). He sent a boat 

 ashore, in which were Gore, Banks, and Tupia, 

 who had been invaluable since the departure 

 from Tahiti, The islanders immediately as- 



