6 
A VOYAGE TO 
1779* proach; and not a perfon was to be feen, except a few lying 
. January.. p ro p. rate on ground, near the huts of the adjoining 
village. 
Before I proceed to relate the adoration that was paid to 
Captain Cook, and the peculiar ceremonies with which he 
was received on this fatal illand, it will be necefiary to de« 
fcribe the Moral , Htuated, as I have already mentioned, at 
the South fide of the beach at Kakooa . It w r as a fquare folid 
pile of Hones, about forty yards long, twenty broad, and 
fourteen in height. The top was flat, and well paved, and 
furrounded by a wooden rail, on which were fixed the fculls 
of the captives, facrificed on the death of their chiefs. In 
the centre of the area, flood a ruinous old building of wood, 
connected with the rail, on each fide, by a Hone wall, which 
divided the whole fpace into two parts. On the fide next 
the country, were five poles, upward of twenty feet high, 
fupporting an irregular kind of fcaffold; on the oppofite 
fide, toward the fea, flood two fmall houfes, with a covered 
communication. 
We were conducted by Koah to the top of this pile by 
an eafy afeent, leading from the beach to the North Weft 
corner of the area. At the entrance, we faw two large 
wooden images, with features violently distorted, and a 
long piece of carved wood, of a conical form inverted, riling 
from the top of their heads; the reft was without form, and 
wrapped round with red cloth. We were here met by a 
tall young man with a long beard, who prefented Captain 
Cook to the images, and after chanting a kind of hymn, 
in which he was joined by Koah, they led us to that end 
of the Moral , where the five poles were fixed. At the 
foot of them were twelve images ranged in a femicir- 
cular form, and before the middle figure flood a high 
Hand 
