m in one of his poems, while he was constantly in the society
of Dr Johnson, Madame d'Arblay, Sir Joseph Banks, Dr Burney, Lord
Sandwich, Lord Mulgrave, Granville Sharpe, and many other illustrious
persons. The power of imitation is strong among his people, and he,
therefore, very quickly copied the manners of the people with whom he
associated, and became, in appearance, a polished gentleman.

He very slowly acquired a knowledge of English; indeed, he always
required the aid of signs and gestures to express himself.

In vain was much trouble expended in trying to teach him to write, by
Mr Sharpe, who also endeavoured, with no better success, to instruct
him in the principles of Christianity. Such was Omai, a dark-minded
savage, amidst civilisation and enlightenment. His great desire seems
to have been to obtain the means of successfully waging war with the men
of Bolabola, of expelling them from Ulietea, and of regaining possession
of his hereditary property. It is with regret that we read this account
of the miserable Omai, when we reflect how eagerly and how thoroughly
many of his fellow-islanders in after years imbibed the principles of
the Christian faith, and how steadfastly they have held to them, in all
simplicity and purity. Had Omai--like the Ethiopian eunuch of other
days--but embraced with all his heart the truths of the Gospel, and
returned to his native land, carrying with him the glad tidings of
salvation to his benighted countrymen, the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God might have been spread throughout the islands of the
Pacific even then.

For two centuries a strong desire had existed in England, among people
interested in navigation, to discover a passage by the north-west, round
the coast of North America into the Pacific, so that China and Japan and
the East Indies might be reached by a route shorter than that by the
Cape of Good Hope. All the early expeditions had been undertaken by
private enterprise, to encourage which, an Act of Parliament was passed
in 1745, securing a reward of 20,000 pounds to any ship belonging to any
of his Majesty's subjects, which should discover the passage. Often was
the attempt made by numerous bold adventurers, from Frobisher, in 1576,
onwards to the time of which we are writing. In the middle of the
century public interest was again awakened by the exertions of Mr
Dobbs, who was strongly impressed with the belief that a north-west
passage could be