e thought
worth preserving; and the following particulars are added, to complete
the view of his domestic establishment. He had picked up at Otaheite
four or five _toutous_; the two New Zealand youths remained with him;
and his brother, and some others, joined him at Huaheine; so that
his family consisted already of eight or ten persons, if that can be
called a family to which not a single female as yet belonged, nor I
doubt was likely to belong, unless its master became less volatile.
At present, Omai did not seem at all disposed to take unto himself a
wife.

The house which we erected for him was twenty-four feet by eighteen,
and ten feet high. It was composed of boards, the spoils of our
military operations at Eimeo; and, in building it, as few nails as
possible were used, that there might be no inducement, from the love
of iron, to pull it down. It was settled, that, immediately after our
departure, he should begin to build a large house after the fashion of
his country, one end of which was to be brought over that which we had
erected, so as to enclose it entirely for greater security. In this
work, some of the chiefs promised to assist him; and, if the intended
building should cover the ground which he marked out, it will be as
large as most upon the island.

His European weapons consisted of a musket, bayonet, and cartouch-box,
a fowling-piece, two pair of pistols, and two or three swords or
cutlasses. The possession of these made him quite happy, which was
my only view in giving him such presents. For I was always of opinion
that he would have been happier without fire-arms, and other European
weapons, than with them, as such implements of war, in the hands of
one, whose prudent use of them I had some grounds for mistrusting,
would rather increase his dangers than establish his superiority.
After he had got on shore every thing that belonged to him, and was
settled in his house, he had most of the officers of both ships, two
or three times, to dinner; and his table was always well supplied with
the very best provisions that the island produced.

Before I sailed, I had the following inscription cut upon the outside
of his house:--

_Georgius Tertius, Rex, 2 Novembris, 1777._
_Naves { Resolution, Jac. Cook, Pr._
_{ Discovery, Car. Clerke, Pr._

On the 2d of November, at four in the afternoon, I took the advantage
of a breeze which then sprung up at E., and sailed out of the harbour.
Most of our