THE SOCIETY ISLANDS 227 



England, and had killed a man as he had just 

 done in Tahiti, his royal dignity would not have 

 prevented him dying by the rope." 



Apart from the nightmare which the horrible 

 spectacle they had seen had been for the Eng- 

 lishmen, nothing happened to disturb the se- 

 renity of their relations with the Tahitians, 

 who showed themselves more hospitable than 

 ever. 



Cook suffered for some time from sciatica, 

 which caused him acute pain. Learning of the 

 illness of the great ^'Toote" — as he was thus 

 called by the natives — a whole cortege of women 

 came on board the Resolution with the object of 

 curing the illustrious invalid. Among these 

 nurses were the mother and the three sisters of 

 Otoo. Cook was at first alarmed at seeing the 

 procession of native lady doctors, but at their 

 affectionate insistence he submitted to their 

 treatment, not without commending his soul to 

 God. The twelve women made him lie down 

 among them. Then they rubbed him with their 

 hands from head to foot, and above all on the 

 affected side, until his bones seemed broken and 

 his flesh completely pulped. This first massage, 

 which lasted for a quarter of an hour, so much 

 diminished the pain that Cook allowed it to be 

 done a second time before he went to bed in the 

 evening. On the next day two bouts of massage 



