226 CAPTAIN COOK 



blank, saying that he had no right to attack peo- 

 ple who had not offended him. 



It was before leaving for this warlike expedi- 

 tion that a horrible sacrifice was offered to the 

 god Ooro, one of the native divinities. The 

 bloodthirsty ceremony took place in the moral 

 or cemetery, under the superintendence of Otoo, 

 with a great gathering of priests, chiefs and 

 people. Cook and several of his companions 

 were present. The victim was a man of ripe age 

 and of the lowest class. He had been killed 

 before the sacrifice, in the course of which the 

 priests cut up his head in the most revolting 

 manner. 



Cook could never learn whether this unhappy 

 islander had committed some crime deserving 

 of death. An inquiry which he undertook into 

 these savage customs which were practised in all 

 the Society Islands, as in the Friendly Islands, 

 convinced him that usually the victim was 

 chosen from the criminals or from among the 

 dregs of the people. Those condemned to death 

 were killed suddenly, without previous warning. 

 These sacrifices were frequent, and Cook him- 

 self counted forty-nine human skulls hung up in 

 the morai, most of which belonged to victims 

 recently offered. 



Revolted by what he had seen. Cook asked 

 Omai to tell Otoo that "if he, Otoo, had been in 



