the foot.

On the way back to the ship Cook called on Towha, who had supplied the
victim. He was anxious to ascertain Cook's opinion of the affair, and was
not pleased to learn that Cook thought such a proceeding was more likely
to offend the Deity than to please him. He then enquired if the English
ever practised such ceremonies, and was very angry when he was informed
that if the greatest chief in England killed one of his men he would be
hanged; and Cook says they left him "with as great a contempt for our
customs as we could possibly have for theirs." The servants evidently
listened to Omai with great interest and a different opinion on the
subject than that of their master.

They went to inspect the body of a chief who had been embalmed; they were
not allowed to examine it very closely, but it was so well done that they
were unable to perceive the slightest unpleasant smell, though the man
had been dead some months. All chiefs who died a natural death were
preserved in this manner, and from time to time were exposed to public
view, the intervals between the exposures gradually extending till at
length they were hardly ever seen. The method of preservation was not
ascertained, and was probably a secret of the priests.

EQUESTRIAN EXERCISE.

Cook and Clerke astonished the natives by riding the horses that had been
brought out; their progress through the country was always watched with
great interest, and Cook thought that this use of the animals impressed
the people more than anything else done by the whites. Omai tried his
powers on several occasions, but as he was always thrown before he got
securely into the saddle, his efforts only produced entertainment for the
spectators. It is curious to note that forty years afterwards the people
had so thoroughly lost even the tradition of such use of the horse that
Mr. Ellis relates how, when one was landed for the use of Pomare, the
natives assisted to get it ashore, but when once landed they ran away and
hid in fear of the "man-carrying pig." About this time Cook suffered from
a bad attack of rheumatism in the legs, and was successfully treated by
Otoo's mother, three sisters, and eight other women. The process he
underwent, called Romy, consisted of squeezing and kneading from head to
foot, more especially about the parts affected. Cook says he was glad to
escape from their ministrations after about a quarter of an hour, but he
felt relief, and, after submitting to f