This latter custom moreover appeared to have been a religious superstition of the country, such as at Otaheite, or in Britain in the time of the Druids, and to have had nothing to do with the Slave Trade[B].

PLYMOUTH TO OTAHEITE.

Captain Wallis returned from his voyage round the world about this time, and in consequence of his report, the Island of Georgeland, afterwards called by Cook Otaheite and now Tahiti, was fixed upon by the Royal Society as the most desirable place for the observations, and the Admiralty were requested to issue the proper orders, notifying at the same time that Mr. Charles Green and Lieutenant James Cook had been appointed observers.

PLYMOUTH TO OTAHEITE.

In order to diminish the risk of disappointment through local atmospheric disturbance, Cook sent a party to Eimeo (York Island), and a second one to the south-east of Otaheite, as far to the east of Point Venus as possible.

He was also successful in his botanical enquiries, obtaining several plants he had not seen in Otaheite.

The main object of their stay at Otaheite having been attained, steps were taken for further prosecution of the voyage; the ship was careened, her bottom scraped and found free from worm, but the boats had suffered, particularly the long-boat, which had to have a new bottom.

Jarvis, in his History of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands, says that with Cook "a silence in regard to the maritime efforts of his predecessors is observable throughout his Journals"; and as a proof that he traded on the knowledge of others, he remarks that at Otaheite he made enquiries if there were any islands to the north; and afterwards evinced no surprise when he discovered them.

They soon understood the value of iron, and readily took spike nails when trading, and greatly preferred "Kersey and Broadcloth to the Otaheite cloth, which show'd them to be a more sensible people than many of their neighbours," says Cook.

" With which he vanished into infinite space, and was only heard of by occasional letters dated from the Rocky Mountains, the Spanish West Indies, Otaheite, Singapore, the Falkland Islands, and all manner of unexpected places, sending home valuable notes, zoological and botanical.

The principal is called Otaheite, or more properly, Tahiti; which is often styled the 'Queen of the Pacific.'

Otaheite is a fine place, but not so important a commercial station as Oahu, in the Sandwich Islands.

* Sir Joseph Banks used to tell a story of his being at Otaheite with Capt. Cook, when it was accidentally discovered to be the king's birth-day, on which it was suddenly agreed to have a jollification; every soul on board got fuddled, except three men who were on duty.

On the eighteenth day, after we had passed the island of Otaheite, a hurricane blew our ship at least one thousand leagues above the surface of the water, and kept it at that height till a fresh gale arising filled the sails in every part, and onwards we traveled at a prodigious rate; thus we proceeded above the clouds for six weeks.

E.) ay' toon CAERLEON, kahr le' on CHEYENNE, shi en' DUQUESNE, du kayn' FROUDE, frood GALAHAD, gal' a had GHENT, gent GRANTMESNIL, groN ma neel' GUINEVERE, gwin' e veer HOUYHNHNMS, hoo' in 'ms LEIODES, le o' deez MARACAIBO, mahr ah ki' bo OTAHEITE, o tah he' te POITIERS, pwaht ya' SEINE, sayn SIOUX, soo SKALD, skawld E

In the torpidity produced by an utter exhaustion of sensual enjoyment, the Arreoi Club of Otaheite is recorded to have found a miserable excitement, by swallowing the most revolting filth; and the jaded intellectual appetites of more civilized communities will sometimes seek a new stimulus in changes almost as startling.

This is living to some purpose; one day dining on barbecued pigs in Otaheite; the next in danger of perishing amidst the snows of Terra del Fuego; then to have a lion cross my path in the heart of Africa; to run for my life from a wounded rhinoceros, and sit, by mistake, on a sleeping boa-constrictor;this, this, said I, is life!

" Cook put it down as Otaheite, pronounced by him Otahytee.

Some yet undiscovered Otaheite, where witless, unapprehensive savages shall innocently pronounce the ill-fated sounds, and think them not inharmonious.

419; Literary Club, i. 479; iii. 365, 368; proposed expedition, ii. 147, 148; iii. 454; accompanies Captain Cook, v. 328, n. 2, 392, n. 6; account of Otaheite, v. 246.

DOGS attack butchers, ii. 232; eaten in China and Otaheite, ib.; have not power of comparing, ii. 96.

Bligh and the Bounty; hie narrative of the voyage to Otaheite with an account of the mutiny and of his boat journey to Timor.

We arrived at Otaheite just in time to witness the funeral ceremonies of the pious chief Omaree.

Sunday, January 18th, 1778, Captain Cook, after seeing birds every day, and turtles, saw two islands, and the next day a third one, and canoes put off from the shore of the second island, the people speaking the language of Otaheite.

A statute was passed in England in 1817 authorizing the trial and punishment of persons guilty of murder and other crimes in certain savage and disturbed countries, amongst which were specified New Zealand, Otaheite, and Honduras.