6 14 CAPTAIN COOK’S SECOND VOYAGE.
vvifp of ftraw, which hung by a firing from his middle. They had an opportunity offeeing this a£ted another time, when it was obferved, that the moment they had got holdof the fellow who reprefented the child, they flatted or preffed his nofe. From thisthey judged, that they do fo by their children when bom, which may be the reafonwhy all in general have flat nofes.' This part of the play, from its newnefs, and theludicrous manner in which it was performed, gave- them, the firft time time they fawit, fome entertainment, and caufed a loud laugh, which might be the reafon why theyacted it fo often afterwards. But this, like all their other pieces, could entertain themno more than once.
Sunday the 29th, they found feveral articles had been ftolen out of the boats whichlay near the fhip ; and the chief not only knew they were ftolen, but by tvhorn,and where they were ; and he went immediately with the captain in his boat, in purfuitof them. After proceeding a good way along fhore, the chief ordered them to landnear fome houfes, where they did not wait long before all the articles were brought tothem, except the pinnace’s iron tiller, which he was told was ftill farther off j this wasnever recovered.
On the 30th, one of the chiefs made the captain a prefent of two pigs; he invitedthe donor to dinner, and ordered one of the pigs to be killed and drefled, and attendedhimfelf to the firft part of the operation, which was as follows : They firangled thehog, which was done by three men ; the hog being placed on his back, two of themlaid a pretty flrong flick acrofs his throat, and prefled w'ith all their weight on eachend ; the third man held his hind legs, kept him on his back, and plugged up hisfundament with grafs, to prevent any air from pafling or repafling that way. In thismanner they held him for about ten minntes before he was quite dead. The hog-weighed about fifty pounds. It was baked in their ufual manner. Some parts aboutthe ribs were thought overdone, but the more flefhy parts were excellent; and thefkin, which by the European way of drefling can hardly be eaten, had, by this method,an excellent flavour.
The people knowing that they fhould fail foon, began on the 31 ft to bring on boardfruit more than ufual. Amongft thofe who came was a young man who meafured fixfeet four inches and fix-tenths; and his fifter, younger than him, meafured five feetten inches and a half. A brifk trade for hogs and fruit continued till the 3d of June.
The captain fixed on the next day, June 4th, for failing, when Oreo, the chief, andhis whole family, came on board, to take their laft farewel, accompanied by Oo-oo-rou,the earee de Hi, and Boba the earee of Otaha, and feveral of their friends. Nonecame empty; but Oo-oo-rou brought a pretty large prefent, this being his firft andonly vifit. The captain diftributed amongft them almoft every thing he had left. Thevery hofpitable manner in which he had ever been received by thefe people, hadendeared them to him, and given them a juft title to every thing in his power togrant.
' Oree prefled him to return ; when the captain declined making any promifes onthat head, he afked the name of his morai (burying-place). As ftrange a queftion asthis was, he hefitated not a moment to tell him Stepney: the parifh in which he lived whenin London . He was requefled to repeat it feveral times over till they could pronounceit; then, “ Stepney marai no toote” was echoed through an hundred mouths at once.What greater proof could they have of thefe people efteeming them as friends, thantheir wifhing to remember them even beyond the period of their lives ? They hadbeen repeatedly told that they fhould fee them no more j they then wanted to knowwhere they were to mingle with their parent duft.