MAl’s VISIT. 
365 
not only of Huahine, but of the several adjacent 
clusters of islands. In September, 1773, when 
Captains Cook and Furneux left Huahine, the 
latter was accompanied by a native, who had inti¬ 
mated his desire to proceed in the ship on a visit 
to Britain. He was a Raiatean; who, after a 
defeat which his countrymen had sustained in an 
engagement with the daring and warlike natives of 
Borabora, had taken shelter in Huahine. His 
inducement to undertake a voyage, of the inci¬ 
dents and exposures of which he could form no 
idea, does not appear to have resulted so much 
from a wish to gratify a restless and ardent 
curiosity, as from the desire to obtain the means of 
avenging his country, and regaining the hereditary 
possessions of his family, which were now occupied 
by the victors. 
The name of this individual was Mai, usually 
called Omai , from the circumstance of the o being 
prefixed in the native language to nouns in the 
nominative case. Mai is the name of the present 
king of Borabora, though I am not certain of his 
having descended from the same family. The 
Mai who accompanied Captain Furneux does not 
appear to have been connected by birth or rank 
with the regal or sacerdotal class, although, among 
other accounts circulated respecting him while in 
England, it was stated that he was a priest of the 
sun, an office and title unknown in his native 
islands. He represented himself as a hoa, friend 
or attendant, on the king. In person he was tall 
and thin, easy and engaging in his manners, and 
polite in his address ; but in symmetry of form, 
expression of countenance, general outline of 
feature, and shade of complexion, inferior to the 
majority of his countrymen. His conversation 
