d the
ships, like shoals of fish. Few of the voyagers now regretted that they
had been unable to find a north-west passage home in the summer, as they
"thus had it in their power to revisit the Sandwich Islands, and to
enrich the voyage with a discovery which, though the last, seemed in
many respects to be the most important that had hitherto been made by
Europeans throughout the extent of the Pacific Ocean."

This paragraph concludes Captain Cook's journal; they were probably the
last words he ever wrote. Captain King is our chief authority for the
remaining transactions of the voyage.

Among the chiefs who attached themselves to the English was a young man
named Pareea, who introduced himself as an officer of the king of the
island, then gone on a military expedition to Mowee. That he had great
influence among his people was evident, for so large a number of people
had collected on one side of the Discovery that they made her heel over;
Captain Cook pointed out the fact to him, and he immediately cleared the
ship. Another chief, the next day, cleared the Resolution in the same
way; and one man loitering behind, he took him up in his arms and threw
him into the sea. They brought on board a third chief, once a warrior,
now a priest, named Koah, a little old man of emaciated figure, his red
eyes and scaly skin showing he was a hard drinker of cava. Not far from
the shore was a temple, or morai. It was a square, solid pile of
stones, about forty yards long, twenty broad, and fourteen in height.
The top was flat and well-paved, and surrounded by a wooden rail, on
which were fixed the skulls of the victims sacrificed on the death of
their chiefs. At one end was a kind of scaffold, and on the opposite
side, towards the sea, two small houses with a covered communication.
At the entrance were two large wooden images, with features violently
distorted, and on the head of each was a large piece of carved wood, of
a conical form, inverted. The lower part was without form, and wrapped
round with a red cloth. Not far off, in a retired grove by the side of
a pool, was a collection of huts, inhabited by priests who attended this
temple, of which Koah was the chief. There were two villages on the
shores of the bay--one on the north point, called Kowrooa, and at the
bottom of the bay one still larger, called Kakooa.

Our narrative is now drawing near to the tragic scene which terminated
both the labours and life of Captain