to set no value on the presents given them, and would eat neither bread nor fish, but gladly accepted some birds: it was afterwards found, that shell-fish is a principal part of their food. Capt. Cook brought two pigs ashore, to leave them in the woods to breed: the instant these came near the natives, they seized them, as a dog would have done, by the ears, and wanted to carry them off immediately, apparently with a view to kill them; which of course was prevented.
The Captain making signs to the man with the stick, to know what use he made of it, the latter set up a piece of wood as a mark, and threw the stick at it repeatedly; but proved only a poor marksman. Omai, to shew the superiority of British weapons, fired his musket at it; which so alarmed them, that they ran instantly into the woods, though invited to stay, and one of them dropped an axe and two knives, that had been given him. They next visited the Discovery's watering party; and the officer, not knowing that they came peaceably, fired a musket in the air, which made them run off in terror. While they were wholly out of sight, the Captain took the young boar and sow about a mile into the woods, and left them beside a fresh water brook. He had intended to leave a young bull and cow, with some sheep and goats; but finding that the natives could understand nothing about breeding cattle, he laid aside this design; being sure that, as they must have been left in some open plain, they would soon be discovered and killed. The pigs had a better chance of escaping, being animals that are fond of the thickest cover of the woods.
On the 29th, a party went to cut grass at the
