CHAPTER VI 



THE SANDWICH ISLANDS AND THE WESTERN 

 COAST OF NORTH AMERICA 



Cook steered northwards. He was entering 

 into seas unknown to him. Having taken in a 

 supply of turtles at a little, uninhabited island, 

 which he called Christmas Island, he proceeded, 

 and on January 19th, 1778, he saw three islands 

 one after another. On the following day he 

 landed on the biggest of them, called by the na- 

 tives Atooi. The islanders, who spoke exactly 

 the same language as the Tahitians, seemed also 

 to have the same customs as the latter, whom 

 they resembled in every respect in their thieving 

 ways. They took everything that fell to their 

 hands, without concealment, with a perfectly 

 easy conscience, as if they were performing a 

 perfectly natural action. The Englishmen made 

 them understand that the property of others was 

 worthy of some respect, and this lesson was not 

 lost upon them. From that moment the island- 

 ers of Atooi displayed absolute honesty in their 

 barter, which consisted of pigs and potatoes ex- 

 changed chiefly for nails. They were exceed- 

 ingly polite and amiable. When Cook landed 



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