HONOURS PAID TO COOKES REMAINS. 135 
called the fabulous age, was Rono or Orono ; who, 
on some account, became offended with his wife, 
and murdered her ; but afterwards lamented the 
act so much, as to induce a state of mental de¬ 
rangement. In this state he travelled through all 
the islands, boxing and wrestling with every one 
he met. 
He subsequently set sail in a singularly shaped 
canoe for Tahiti, or a foreign country. After his 
departure he was deified by his countrymen, and 
annual games of boxing and wrestling were insti¬ 
tuted to his honour. As soon as Captain Cook 
arrived, it was supposed, and reported, that the 
god Rono was returned ; the priests clothed him 
with the sacred cloth worn only by the god, con¬ 
ducted him to their temples, sacrificed animals to 
propitiate his favour, and hence the people pros¬ 
trated themselves before him as he walked through 
the villages. But when, in the attack made upon 
him, they saw his blood running, and heard his 
groans, they said, “ No, this is not Rono.” Some, 
however, after his death, still supposed him to be 
Rono, and expected he would appear again. 
Some of his bones, his ribs, and breastbone,* were 
* Captain King was led to suppose that the bones of 
the trunk were burnt with the flesh. Part of them pro¬ 
bably were so disposed of, but not the whole. It appears 
that none of them were returned ; for, describing those 
brought to Captain Clarke, which were all they received, 
he says, “ When we arrived at the beach, Eappo came 
into the pinnace, and delivered to the captain the bones, 
wrapped up in a large quantity of fine new cloth, and 
covered with a spotted cloak of black and white feathers. 
We found in it both the hands of Captain Cook entire, 
which were well known, from a remarkable scar on one of 
them, that divided the thumb from the forefinger, the 
whole length of the metacarpal bone ; the skull, but with 
the scalp separated from it, and the bones that form the 
