Pacific with useful animals and vegetables were not wholly abortive; and so well were the natives assured of his desire to serve them, that they were delighted with his visits, and begged him to repeat them. The strong attachment of the Tahitians to Capt. Cook is well known. His picture, drawn by Webber, was preserved by their King with the greatest care; and the names of succeeding navigators have been inscribed on the back of it. The first visitors after his death, thought proper to conceal the painful fact at Otaheite, forgetting that truth is safer than falsehood: and the mutineers who took possession of the Bounty, when they wanted a stock of cattle for Toobouai, resolving to profit by this deception, made the demand in the name of Captain Cook; a name which operated on the natives like a charm, and made them furnish, in three days, more than was required.
Even in Owhyhee, the chiefs and people still venerate the name of Cook, though they no longer worship his relics; and they deeply regret his death, as having fixed an indelible stigma on their island. "I was once," says Mr. Ellis, "in a house in Oahu, with Karaimoku, and several other chiefs, looking over the plates in the folio edition of Cook's Voyages. They were greatly affected with the print which represented his death, and inquired if I knew the names of those who were slain on that occasion. I perceived Karaimoku more than once wipe the tears from his eyes, while conversing about the melancholy event. He said he recollected Captain Cook's visit, if not also his person, though he was at Maui at the time of his death. More than once, when conversing with us on the length of time the Missionaries had been
