OTAHEITE., 
It is a circumftance, which we fhall here mention, that the 
people of Otaheite are extremely fond of red feathers, 
efteeming them no lefs valuable than jewels are ai Seat in 
Europe; and by a certain arrangement they are 
ufed as Gable of the ‘* Eatuas,” or dimes in all their 
religious ceremonies. 
In Auguft 1777, Capt. Cook again vifited Otaheite and 
took Omai with him. But his conduét was fo imprudent, 
that he foon forfeited the friendfhip of Otoo, and of every 
other perfon of note in the a d. He affociated with ae 
hofe fole views were 
h 
ai bay, befor 
vifited by all their old ess a none of lok cam 
apt. 
one of their public folemnities. He 
has particularly oe the m 
conducted i 
was one of the loweft clafs of the people, and he had been 
to fuffer, in order to 
form this bloody aét of worfhip, are never apprifed of their 
fall upon him oe ae pit him to death with a : club, 
or by ftoning him. g is next acquainted with it, 
the fole Sane that follow is abfolutely 
The folemnity itfelf is called «* Poore E 
fo} 
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owards the top, 
a {quare area on each fide, loofely cave with pebble 
ftones, under which the bones of the chiefs are burie d, At 
a little diftance from the end neareft the fea is the place 
where the facrifices are offered, which, for a pear e ae 
paved. Here is a very large {caffald, 
the offerings of fruits and other a are 
But on 
of platform at one fide are laid the 
fkulls of all the human fackifices, which are taken up after 
' by feeds brought pia fers nouuian and the 
they have been feveral months under ‘ und. It cannot 
facrifices are not the only barbarous cutom that is fill oe 
valent among this benevolent, humane 
after a battle in which they have been victors, they colleet 
all the dead that have fallen into their hands, and bring them 
to the morai, where, with much peso they dig a hole, 
and bury them all in it, as fo many oe to the gods ; 
but their fkulls are never after taken u 
Having fettled Omai in the ifland of Aa and having 
eee 4a comfortable habitation with fuitable accommoda- 
ey were 
his great good-nature and docile cifpttion. 
in S. lat. 17° 30! tor ong 
Matavai point hes sn lat. 7° 294! g 
Meigs of the compafs 5° 34! E. Di ip of the needle 29° 
Mr. Ande leis ‘ba furnmifhed feveral particulars of in- 
lance with re to Otaheite, which form a diftin® 
chapter in the fec an volume of Cook’s third voyage. Ex. 
tended as this article is, we fhall here fele& a few of them. 
ati “ he fays, {carcely a {pot in the univerfe, that affords 
more luxuriant profpeé than the art of Otaheite. 
The hills are high and fteep, and in ‘many places craggy. 
ut they are conceed to the very fummits with trees and 
towards the rid ai "the interjacet eli, teem with 
various productions which gro moft exuberant 
vigour. Nature has been no lefs liberal i in eabae rivu- 
lets, which are found in every valley, and which, as they 
approach the fea, divide into two or three branches, ferti- 
lizing the fiat lands through which they run. The habita- 
tions of the bec are fcattered without order upon thefe 
flats, and m them appearing toward the fhore, pacies 
a delightful ce to the fhips in the harbour. It is ing 
to the fertility of the country, combined with the mildne 
and ferenity of the climate, that the natives are fo carelefs 
in their aie ati . a a many places the {malleft traces 
of it cannot be ob me hs h plant, which is raifed 
ava,””? or 
= pepper, which they defend from the fun when 
ery young, by covering them with leaves of the bread- 
fo tree, are almoft the only things to which they feem to 
any attention; and thefe they keep very clean. Not- 
withtanding the fertility of the ait a famine ra ae 
n which, it is faid, erifh. mal 
Ral little falls to the fhare of the 1 lower clafs of people 
and then it is either fifh, feaeggs, or other marine pro- 
eucuones for the feldom, or ever, eat pork. It is alfa 
among the better fort that the “ava” is chiefly ufed. The 
women not only eat by themfelves, but are excluded from 
a fhare in moft of the better forts of food. 
One of the greateft natural curiofities he the country is 
a pond or lake of frefh water, at the of one of the 
higheft mountains, aang we for its ioe and for its sa 
