THE SOCIETY ISLANDS 223 



abundance of coconuts, a fruit from which an ex- 

 cellent drink can be obtained, he intended to 

 restrict as far as possible the consumption of 

 alcohol. In formally suppressing the favourite 

 drink of his men, he risked provoking among 

 them discontent which might lead to mutiny. 

 He therefore assembled his sailors, and ex- 

 plained to them the object of the voyage and the 

 extent of the operations which still remained. 

 He recalled to them the reward offered by Par- 

 liament to subjects of His Britannic Majesty who 

 should discover a northern passage between the 

 two oceans. He made them see that the way was 

 still long and that they would suffer terribly if it 

 was necessary to reduce their rum ration in the 

 cold climate of the northern seas. "For these 

 very substantial reasons," he says in his Journal, 

 "I submitted to them, whether it would not be 

 better to be prudent in time, and rather than to 

 run the risk of having no spirits left, when such a 

 cordial would be most wanted, to consent to be 

 without their grog now, when we had so excel- 

 lent a liquor as that of cocoanuts to substitute 

 in its place; but that, after all, I left the determi- 

 nation entirely to their own choice. I had the 

 satisfaction to find, that this proposal did not re- 

 main a single moment under consideration; be- 

 ing unanimously approved of, immediately, 

 without any objection. I ordered Captain Gierke 



