AMAZEMENT ON COOk’s FIRST VISIT. 3 
minds of Captain Cook and his companions, and 
in every respect correct, so far as their partial ob¬ 
servation extended. A residence of eight years in 
the Society and Sandwich Islands has afforded me 
an opportunity of becoming familiar with many of 
the scenes and usages described in their voyages, 
and I have often been struck with the fidelity with 
which they are uniformly portrayed. In the in¬ 
ferences they draw, and the reasons they assign, 
they are sometimes mistaken; but in the descrip¬ 
tion of what they saw and heard, there is through¬ 
out a degree of accuracy, seldom if ever exceeded 
in accounts equally minute and extended. Still 
their acquaintance with the islands and the people 
was superficial, and the state of society which 
they witnessed was different from what generally 
existed. 
An event so important and surprising as their 
arrival,—the ships and the foreigners,—the colour, 
dress, arms, language, manners, &c. of the latter, 
whom they regarded at first as superior beings, so 
powerfully affected the minds of the natives, that 
the ordinary avocations of life were for a time sus¬ 
pended. The news of such an event rapidly spread 
through the islands, and multitudes flocked from 
every quarter to see the return of Orono, or the 
motus, (islands,) as they called their ships. The 
whole island was laid under requisition, to supply 
their wants, or contribute to their satisfaction. 
Hence the immense quantity of provisions pre¬ 
sented by Taraiopu ; the dances, &c. with which 
they were entertained. The effect also produced 
on the minds of those early visitors, by what they 
saw during their transient stay among the islands, 
was heightened by all the attractions of novelty, 
and all the complacency which such discoveries 
ii 2 
