96 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
possessed, according to tlieir ideas^ an amazing mass 
of information, his memory is certainly but lightly 
esteemed by any of his countrymen. He does not, how¬ 
ever, seem to have evinced, either on board the vessels 
in which he sailed, or among the company with which 
he mingled while in England, any latent malignity of 
character or cruelty of disposition, and might perhaps 
have returned with very different sentiments and prin¬ 
ciples, had he fallen into other hands during his visit 
here. 
The spot where Mai’s house stood is still called 
Beritani,* or Britain, by the inhabitants of Huahine. 
A shaddock tree, which the natives say was planted by 
Captain Cook himself while the vessels lay at anchor, 
is still growing on a spot which was once part of his 
garden. The animals, with the exception of the dogs 
and pigs, have all died; and in this instance, the benevo¬ 
lent intentions of the British government, in sending 
out horses, cattle, &c. proved abortive. The helmet, 
and some other parts of his armour, with several cut¬ 
lasses, are still preserved, and displayed on the sides 
of the house now standing on the spot where Mai’s 
dwelling was erected by Captain Cook. A few of the 
trinkets, such as a jack-in-a-hox, a kind of serpent that 
darts out of a cylindrical case when the lid is removed, 
are preserved with care by one of the principal chiefs, 
who at the time of our arrival considered them great 
curiosities, and exhibited them, as a mark of his con¬ 
descension, to. particular favourites. What became of 
the organ and electrical machine, I never knew. Among 
the curiosities preserved by the young chief of Tahaa, 
* See No. 1, in the Engraving, vol. i, p. 414. 
