I50 CAPTAIN COOK 



nificent race, with statuesque figures and pure 

 and regular features. Their language resembled 

 that of the Tahitians. The Englishmen saw only 

 very few women, the rest being seemingly hid- 

 den by their lords and masters from the corrupt- 

 ing glances of the strangers. Those who did 

 appear, however, were of a provoking but mer- 

 cenary sociability. 



On leaving the Marquesas, Cook set sail for 

 Tahiti, meaning to explore the islands which he 

 met with en route and to fix exactly their posi- 

 tion. He saw several, among others the island 

 of Tiookea, whose inhabitants bore carved on 

 their bodies the figure of a fish, emblematic of 

 their manner of living. 



Cook discovered, near the Islands of St. 

 George, four new islands, which he called the 

 Palliser Islands, in honour of the great sailor 

 who had always been his protector and friend. 

 At last, on April 22nd, the Resolution arrived 

 once more at Tahiti, in the hospitable Bay 

 of Matavai. Every face radiated happiness at 

 the sight of the green island whose enchantments 

 the English had often recalled during the deadly 

 hours of their voyaging among the southern ice, 

 and which they found now more beautiful, more 

 flowery and more scented than when they had 

 left it eight months earlier. 



