oth paddled toward us. They stopt short, however,
as if afraid to approach, until Omai, who addressed them in the Otaheite
language, in some measure quieted their apprehensions. They then came
near enough, to take some beads and nails, which were tied to a piece of
wood, and thrown into the canoe. They seemed afraid to touch these
things, and put the piece of wood aside without untying them. This,
however, might arise from superstition; for Omai told us, that when they
saw us offering them presents, they asked something for their _Eatooa_,
or god. He also, perhaps improperly, put the question to them, Whether,
they ever ate human flesh? which they answered in the negative, with a
mixture of indignation and abhorrence. One of them, whose name was
Mourooa, being asked how he came by a scar on his forehead, told us that
it was the consequence of a wound he had got in fighting with the people
of an island, which lies to the north-eastward, who, sometimes came to
invade them. They afterward took hold of a rope. Still, however, they
would not venture on board; but told Omai, who understood them pretty
well, that their countrymen on shore had given them, this caution, at
the same time directing them to enquire, from whence our ship came, and
to learn the name of the captain. On our part, we enquired the name of
the island, which they called _Mangya_ or _Mangeea_; and sometimes added
to it _Nooe, nai, naiwa_. The name of their chief, they said, was
Orooaeeka.

Mourooa was lusty and well-made, but not very tall. His features were
agreeable, and his disposition seemingly no less so; for he made several
droll gesticulations, which indicated both good-nature and a share of
humour. He also made others which seemed of a serious kind, and repeated
some words with a devout air, before he ventured to lay hold of the rope
at the ship's stern; which was probably to recommend himself to the
protection of some Divinity. His colour was nearly of the same cast with
that common to the most southern Europeans. The other man was not so
handsome. Both of them had strong, straight hair, of a jet colour, tied
together on the crown of the head with a bit of cloth. They wore such
girdles as we had perceived about those on shore, and we found they were
a substance made from the _Morus papyrifera_, in the same manner as at
the other islands of this ocean. It was glazed like the sort used by the
natives of the Friendly Islands; but the cloth, on their he