bly so in the present conjuncture: this gentleman, who had already
made a voyage to the Northwest, could have rendered important services
to the captain and to the company. The preceding days had been days of
apprehension and of uneasiness; this was one of sorrow and mourning.

The following day, the same gentlemen who had volunteered their services
to seek for the missing islander, resumed their labors, and very soon
after they left us, we perceived a great fire kindled at the verge of
the woods, over against the ship. I was sent in a boat and arrived at
the fire. It was our gentlemen who had kindled it, to restore animation
to the poor islander, whom they had at last found under the rocks, half
dead with cold and fatigue, his legs swollen and his feet bleeding. We
clothed him, and brought him on board, where, by our care, we succeeded
in restoring him to life.

Toward evening, a number of the Sandwich-islanders, provided with the
necessary utensils, and offerings consisting of biscuit, lard, and
tobacco, went ashore, to pay the last duties to their compatriot, who
died in Mr. Aikin's boat, on the night of the 24th. Mr. Pillet and I
went with them, and witnessed the obsequies, which took place in the
manner following. Arrived at the spot where the body had been hung upon
a tree to preserve it from the wolves, the natives dug a grave in the
sand; then taking down the body, and stretching it alongside the pit,
they placed the biscuit under one of the arms, a piece of pork beneath
the other, and the tobacco beneath the chin and the genital parts. Thus
provided for the journey to the other world, the body was deposited in
the grave and covered with sand and stones. All the countrymen of the
dead man then knelt on either side of the grave, in a double row, with
their faces to the east, except one of them who officiated as priest;
the latter went to the margin of the sea, and having filled his hat with
water, sprinkled the two rows of islanders, and recited a sort of
prayer, to which the others responded, nearly as we do in the litanies.
That prayer ended, they rose and returned to the vessel, looking neither
to the right hand nor to the left. As every one of them appeared to me
familiar with the part he performed, it is more than probable that they
observed, as far as circumstances permitted, the ceremonies practised in
their country on like occasions. We all returned on board about sundown.

The next day, the 27th, desiro