loth, such as adorned their deities, offered him a pig
in the manner of a sacrifice, and pronounced a long harangue. They
chanted hymns before him, and priests, bearing wands, preceded him
on his landing, while the in habitants prostrated themselves on the
ground, as he walked from the beach to the village."

GEORGE. "But if they held him in such reverence, how was it they
killed him?"

MR. WILTON. "His own imprudence brought about his melancholy end.
Some time after his arrival, it appears, that one of his smaller
boats was stolen by some of the natives, for the sake of the nails
in her, and was broken up the very night it was stolen. Captain
Cook, angry at losing his boat, attempted to get the king on board
his ship, to confine him there, until the boat should be restored.
This caused a tumult, and in the tumult, Captain Cook was slain.
There certainly was no malice in the case,--not the slightest
intention of injuring him; and his body was treated in the same
manner as those of their own chiefs, the bones being assigned to
different Eries (chiefs), who, either from affection, or from an
idea of good luck attending them, desired to preserve them. Long
after Captain Cook's death, the natives believed he would re-appear,
and perhaps punish them for their breach of hospitality."

MR. BARRAUD. "They are a most interesting people; and, to prove to
you how they have advanced in civilization, I will give you two
instances of their mode of living and taking their meals. Forty
years ago, the Rev. Mr. Stewart, being then on a mission, visited a
chief, and, when he entered the apartment, one of his queens was
seated on the ground _a la Turc_, with a large wooden tray in her
lap. Upon this a monstrous cuttle-fish had just been placed, fresh
from the sea, and in all its life and vigor. The queen had taken it
up with both hands, and brought its body to her mouth, and, by a
single application of her teeth, the black blood with which it was
filled gushed over her face and neck, while the long sucking arms of
the fish, in the convulsive paroxysm of the operation, were twisting
and writhing about her head, like the snaky hairs of a Medusa.
Occupied as both hands were, she could only give her visitor a nod.
Mr. Stewart remarks, 'It was the first time I had seen her Majesty,
and I soon took my departure, leaving her, as I found her, in the
full enjoyment of her luxurious luncheon.' Now,--observe the
contrast. In 1841, Sir George Simp