any of them seemed not only to wish it, but expressed their surprise at
my forbearance. As he could not be ignorant of this, it was a matter of
wonder to me that he put himself so often in my power. When he visited
us while the ships lay in the cove, confiding in the number of his
friends that accompanied him, he might think himself safe; but his two
last visits had been made under such circumstances, that he could no
longer rely upon this. We were then at anchor in the entrance of the
sound, and at some distance from any shore; so that he could not have
any assistance from thence, nor flatter himself he could have the means
of making his escape, had I determined to detain him. And yet, after his
first fears, on being interrogated, were over, he was so far from
entertaining any uneasy sensations, that, on seeing a portrait of one of
his countrymen hanging up in the cabin, he desired to have his own
portrait drawn; and sat till Mr Webber had finished it, without marking
the least impatience. I must confess I admired his courage, and was not
a little pleased to observe the extent of the confidence he put in me;
for he placed his whole safety in the declarations I had uniformly made
to those who solicited his death, That I had always been a friend to
them all, and would continue so, unless they gave me cause to act
otherwise; that as to their inhuman treatment of our people, I should
think no more of it, the transaction having happened long ago, and when
I was not present; but that, if ever they made a second attempt of that
kind, they might rest assured of feeling the weight of my
resentment.[144]

[Footnote 144: Here Captain Cook acted wisely; and, indeed, throughout
the whole transaction, his conduct merits the highest applause. To
resist the solicitations of envy and revenge, where acquiescence would
have proved so availing to his reputation, and so secure in its display,
implied a conscientious regard to an invisible authority, which must
ever be allowed to constitute a feature of excellence in any man to whom
power is committed. His threatening is not to be considered as any
exception to what is now said in his praise, being, in fact, a
beneficial intimation calculated to secure subjection to a necessary
law. Here it may not be amiss to remark, that savages, little as some
men think of them, are possessed of all the faculties of human nature;
and that conscience, that principle, which, more than reason,
characterizes