honour of being Omai's tayo, for the sake of such treasures, which he thoughtlessly lavished among persons who could do him no service, notwithstanding the kind and repeated admonitions of the Captain. His meeting with his sister, however, who came on board to see him, was marked with expressions of the most tender affection; as was also his first interview with his mother's sister on shore.
Before the ships were moored, Captain Cook learned, that since his last visit, in 1774, two ships, which were found to have been Spanish, had been twice in this bay; and had left a bull, and some hogs, dogs, and goats. They came from a place which the natives called Reema, being no doubt Lima, in Peru. At their first visit, they built a house, the frame work of which appeared to have been brought with them; and left here two priests, a servant boy, and a person named Mateema. Their Commodore, whom the natives named Oreede, died, and was buried near the house. At their departure, they took with them four natives, two of whom died at Lima; the other two returned with them at their second visit, which was after the lapse of about ten months; when they made a short stay, and then took away their own people, leaving the house and the cattle. Captain Cook, soon after he landed, visited the house, which was divided into two rooms, and contained a table, a bench, and other articles; which the natives had taken great care of, and of the house itself, over which they had built a shed, to protect it. At the grave, in front of the house, stood a wooden cross, on the transverse part of which were cut these words, Christus vincit; and on the perpendicular
