HTSTORY OF THE SEA. 



know whether he had been killed, and whether he had been 

 buried or eaten. 



Before leaving the island, potatoes, turnips, carrots, and 

 parsnips were planted in spots favorable to their growth, and 

 the natives were made to understand their value as esculent 

 roots. A ewe and ram were sent ashore from the Resolution, — 

 the last pair of the large stock put on board at the Cape of 

 Good Hope; but they probably ate a poisonous plant during 

 the night, for they were found dead in the morning. The 

 Adventure put ashore a boar and two sows, in the hope that 

 they would multiply and replenish the island. 



The two ships sailed in company from New Zealand on the 

 7th of June, their purpose being to proceed to the eastward in 

 search of land as far as longitude 140° West, between the lati- 

 tudes of 41° and 46° South. Diiring a long cruise, Cook saw 

 nothing which induced in him the belief that they were in the 

 neighborhood of any continent between the meridian of New 

 Zealand and America. A fact which militated against it was, 

 that they had, as is usual in all great oceans, large billows from 

 every direction in which the wind blew a fresh gale. These bil- 

 lows never ceased with the cause which first put them in motion > 

 — a sure indication that no land was near. They constantly 

 passed low and half-submerged islands, — now consisting of coral 

 shoals fretting the waves into foam, and now of islets clothed 

 with verdure. On the 17th of August they arrived at Tahiti,, 

 after an entirely fruitless voyage. 



The thieving and cheating propensities of the natives , ap- 

 peared in bold relief during the sojourn of the English 

 upon their coast. The latter sometimes paid in advance for 

 promised supplies of hogs and fowls, in which case they were 

 sure never to get them, — the wary trader making off with his 

 axe, shirt, or nails, and dispensing with the necessfty of fulfill- 

 ing %iis engagement. The practice of overreaching was not 

 confined to the underlings of society, but extended even to the 



