io6 
A VOYAGE TO 
1777. to this ftngle difagreeable circumftance, that the advantages 
he received from us, have placed him in a more hazardous 
lituation, with refpeX to his perfonal fafety. Omai, from 
being much careffed in England, loft light of his original 
condition; and never coniidered in what manner his acqui- 
fttions, either of knowledge or of riches, would be eftimated 
by his countrymen, at his return; which were the only 
things he could have to recommend him to them how, 
more than before, and on which he could build either his 
future greatnefs or happinefs. He feemed even to have mif- 
taken their genius in this refpeX; and, in fome meafure, 
to have forgotten their cuftoms; otherwife he muft have 
known the extreme difficulty there would be in getting 
himfelf admitted as a perfon of rank, where there is, per¬ 
haps, no inftance of a man’s being raifed from an inferior 
ftation by the greateft merit. Rank feema to be the very 
foundation of all diftinXion here, and, of its attendant, 
power; and fo pertinacioufly, or rather blindly adhered 
to, that, unlefs a perfon has fome degree of it, he will 
certainly he defpifed and hated, if he aftumes the ap¬ 
pearance of exerciftng any authority. This, was really 
the cafe, in fome meafure, with Omai; though his coun¬ 
trymen were pretty cautious of expreffing their fenti- 
ments while we remained amongft them. Had he made 
a proper ufe of the prefents he brought with him from 
England, this, with the knowledge he had acquired by tra¬ 
velling fo far, might have enabled him to form the moft 
ufeful connexions. But we have given too many inftances, 
in the courfe of our narrative, of his childiih inattention to 
this obvious means of advancing his intereft. His fchemes 
feemed to be of a higher, though ridiculous nature; in¬ 
deed, I might fay, meaner; for revenge, rather than a 
I deiire 
