sons they made between us and themselves.

"In mental capacity, the Sandwich Islanders do not appear at all
inferior to any other people. Their progress in agriculture, and their
skill in handicrafts, is fully proportionate to their means and
situation. The earnest attention which they paid to the work of our
smiths, and the various means they devised, even before our departure,
to give any required form to the iron they obtained from us, convinced
us at once of their industry and ingenuity.

"Our unfortunate friend Kancena, (he was shot by one of the Englishmen
whom he had always treated with the greatest friendship) had a great
desire for knowledge, an admirable natural understanding and a vivacity
of mind seldom met with amongst uncultivated nations. He made
innumerable inquiries concerning our manners and customs, our King, our
form of government, the population and produce of our country, and the
manner in which our ships and houses were built. He wished to know if we
waged wars, with whom, and for what cause, what God we worshipped, and
many other things; which showed an extensive range of thought."

This testimony of Captain King to the good disposition of the Sandwich
Islanders becomes the more worthy of credit, when we consider that the
English always treated them with great severity, and that Captain Cook
only fell a sacrifice to his own error. King has also defended them from
the imputation of being cannibals, of which Anderson and several of
Cook's companions had accused them.

The propensity to theft was as common among the lower classes here, as
on the other South Sea islands; and this it was which occasioned the
thoughtless severity of Cook, who was always judge in his own cause,
and suffered himself to be hurried into unjustifiable acts of violence.
Had he been a philanthropist, as well as a great navigator, he would not
have lost his life at O Wahi.

The custom of tattooing existed also among the Sandwich Islanders; their
faces were frequently marked with lines crossing each other at right
angles, and some even had their tongues tattooed; pretty drawings were
frequently seen on the hands and arms of the women. The ordinary dress
of both sexes was nothing more than a piece of stuff folded round their
bodies. The females adorned themselves besides with necklaces of
muscle-shells, or little red shining beans, and with bracelets of
various ornamental materials; they sometimes wore collars of beautiful