vied with each other in varying his diversions, in order to raise his ideas of the splendour and gaiety of Britain. He afterwards visited different parts of the country, chiefly under the care of Mr. Banks; who introduced him to a succession of pleasures. On the 2nd of November, he was taken to Cambridge, where he appeared in a military uniform. He was much struck with the dress of the doctors and professors in their robes; and shewed a superstitious dread of every thing which he regarded as sacred. Many, indeed, supposed him to have been a priest in his own country, as Tupia was. A gentleman in the university offering him a pinch of snuff, he politely refused it, saying, that his nose was not hungry.
He appears to have spent most of the winter and spring in town, where he enjoyed an almost continual round of entertainments and shows. He adopted, with facility, the manners, occupations, and amusements of those with whom he associated; and, among other things, became a proficient at the game of chess. In the beginning of June, 1775, when Lord Sandwich began his annual survey of the Royal Navy, Omai accompanied His Lordship, along with Lord Seaford, Sir Hugh Palliser, and Mr. Banks, at the examination of Chatham dock-yard. Mr. Peake, builder's assistant, conducted the Tahitian on board the Victory of 100 guns, then repairing; and he was filled with wonder at her extraordinary size.
About midsummer, he appears to have accompanied Mr. Banks to his seat in Lincolnshire; and in the end of July, or beginning of August, Mr. Banks took him to York races. Here they met with the Hon. Capt. Phipps, and his brother, the
