134 CAPTAIN COOK 



he wished to put them on again, but an Indian 

 who was standing beside them tore them from 

 his hands and threw them to the crowd. The 

 wretched astronomer could not pursue the thief 

 on his bare feet among the sharp rocks of the 

 beach. He stood motionless and disconcerted, 

 asking fearfully what the learned members of 

 the Royal Society of London would say if they 

 could see him standing thus without shoes and 

 stockings in the middle of a jeering crowd of 

 natives. Atago, upon being informed of the 

 incident, discovered the thief and made him re- 

 turn his precious footwear to the scientist. 



Cook made the acquaintance of all the chief 

 men of the island, and particularly that of an 

 old priest, whose sanctity did not make him par- 

 ticular in the matter of sobriety, for he got drunk 

 every day, with touching regularity, on pepper- 

 water. 



Atago presented Cook to the King of Tonga- 

 tabou. This royal audience did not produce a 

 very respectful impression on the Captain of the 

 Resolution, who described it thus in his Journal : 

 "The king seated himself on a rising ground, 

 about twelve or fifteen yards from us : here we 

 sat facing one another for some minutes. I 

 waited for Atago to show us the way; but, seeing 

 he did not rise. Captain Furneaux and I got up, 

 went and saluted the king and sat down by him. 



