f bananas and cocoanuts in abundance, and some pigs and fowls.

Proper arrangements having been made for conducting the trade, the
captains landed under the guidance of a chief, Attago, who had at once
singled out Captain Cook as the principal person, and offered him the
usual presents. Cook and Attago also exchanged names, the custom of so
doing being practised at the Friendly as well as at the Society Islands.
The friendly chief pointed out a creek into which the boats could run,
and on landing the visitors were seated under the shade of a tree, the
people forming a circle round them; but no one attempted to push
forward, as was the habit of the Otaheiteans. The officers then begged
Attago to show them the country. This, without hesitation, he at once
signified his readiness to do.

The first visit was paid to a sort of temple in an open green, raised on
the top of an artificial mound, about seventeen feet above the level
ground. The mound was of an oblong form, enclosed by a wall, and the
building, which differed little from the ordinary dwelling-houses of the
people, was of the same shape. On approaching this temple the people
seated themselves on the grass, about fifty yards off, when three
venerable-looking priests appeared and addressed the strangers, with
whom, as soon as their speech was finished, they came and sat down, when
some presents were made to them. After this, Attago signified that the
strangers were welcome to examine the temple. In the interior were some
images, but when Cook inquired if they were Etuas, or gods, Attago
kicked them over without any ceremony, to show that he did not look upon
them with reverence. Neither Omai nor Oedidee understood the language
spoken by the natives of Tonga, consequently it was difficult to
ascertain the exact object of the building.

It appears extraordinary to us at the present day, and it is painful to
narrate, that Captain Cook should have conceived it right, as he said he
did, to make an offering at the altar. He and his companions,
therefore, laid down some blue pebbles, coins, nails, and other
articles, as presents to the gods of these poor heathens. Unhappily,
this proceeding was in accordance with the customs of our countrymen,
and even of the English Government in India, who, to a much later
period, furnished a money grant to the temple of Juggernaut (one of the
principal gods of the Hindoos), and it was only in comparatively modern
times that