68 CAPTAIN COOK 



decisive argument which made them turn tail 

 immediately. 



In some places, however, Cook was warmly 

 welcomed, and was able to visit the hippos, or 

 fortified villages, built on hills and fortified with 

 ditches and palisades. Cook considered some 

 of these to be impregnable. 



In the districts where the natives showed 

 themselves more sociable the English bought 

 fish, which, with dog, seemed to be the only food 

 of the island. The fish was excellent, however, 

 and the travellers of the Endeavour declared 

 that they had never eaten better mackerel than 

 that found in New Zealand waters. The Eng- 

 lish sailors sometimes made miraculous hauls of 

 fish. One day they caught 300 pounds of bream, 

 and at another time, at the mouth of a stream to 

 which Cook gave the name of Oyster River, they 

 found a great number of perfect oysters, ^*as 

 good as Colchester natives," of which they ate 

 enormously. Tasty lobsters were a welcome ad- 

 dition to the menu, which Banks supplemented 

 sometimes with cormorants which he shot. 



As for the islanders, they graced their table 

 with human flesh, when they could get it. One 

 of them said to Tupia, "We only eat the bodies 

 of enemies killed in battle." This native offered 

 Banks the bone of a human arm from which he 



