TAHITI AND THE SOCIETY ISLANDS 129 



Before embarking he had taken on board a 

 young native of seventeen, called Oedidea, who 

 had begged him to take him to England. "His 

 complexion and clothes," writes Cook in his 

 Journal, "caused me to think that he was of good 

 family. I did not at first think him capable of 

 abandoning the easy life led in these islands by 

 people of his rank, and I laughed at the proposi- 

 tion, telling him of the fatigues and troubles to 

 which he would expose himself by leaving his 

 country. I took care to tell him of the rigour 

 of the climate, of the bad quality of food, but 

 nothing could shake his resolve." 



Leaving the hospitable group of the Society 

 Islands, Cook sailed in the direction of the 

 islands which the Dutchmen Schouten and Tas- 

 man had discovered, and which Wallis and 

 Bougainville had sighted in the course of their 

 voyages. 



The welcome which Captain Cook was to re- 

 ceive there was so cordial that he christened 

 them with the charming name of the Friendly 

 Islands. 



