w and consider in detail the horrible deeds that
are done by our fellow-men in the Cannibal Islands. It is good for us
to be made acquainted with the truth in order that we may be filled with
strong pity for the degraded savages, and in order, also, that our
hearts and hands may be opened towards those noble missionaries who
venture themselves into the midst of such awful scenes for the sake of
souls, and in the name of Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER TEN.

VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND.

Captain Cook left Tahiti after a stay of three months. During the
greater part of this period the sailors and natives had lived together
in the most cordial friendship, and in the perpetual interchange of
kindly acts. It must be borne in mind that, though the unchristianised
natives of the South-Sea Islands are all degraded, cruel, and savage,
all are not equally so. Those inhabiting the Feejee group are generally
reported to be the worst in all respects. Those who inhabited Tahiti,
on the other hand, were, at the time of Cook's visit, said to be
comparatively amiable.

At all events, the departure of the _Endeavour_ called forth a strong
display of tender feeling on the part of the natives of that island. In
writing of this Cook says--

"On the next morning, Thursday, the 13th July, the ship was very early
crowded with our friends, and surrounded by multitudes of canoes, which
were filled with natives of an inferior class. Between eleven and
twelve we weighed anchor, and as soon as the ship was under sail the
Indians on board took their leave, and wept with a decent and silent
sorrow, in which there was something very striking and tender. The
people in the canoes, on the contrary, seemed to vie with each other in
the loudness of their lamentations, which we considered rather as an
affectation than grief. Tupia (a chief who had made up his mind to sail
with us) sustained himself in this scene with a firmness and resolution
truly admirable. He wept, indeed, but the effort that he made to
conceal his tears concurred with them to do him honour. He sent his
last present, a shirt, to a friend on shore, and then went to the
mast-head, where he continued waving to the canoes as long as they were
in sight."

Thus ended the visit of the great navigator to Tahiti, an island which
afterwards became the scene of one of the most romantic incidents that
was ever recorded in the annals of maritime adventure, namely, the
mutiny of the men in H.M.