hollow or cavity in the inside, the whole being filled up with stones.  The outside was faced partly with hewn stones, and partly with others, and these were placed in such a manner as to look very agreeable to the eye.  Some of the hewn stones were 4 feet 7 inches by 2 feet 4 inches, and 15 inches thick, and had been squared and polished with some sort of an edge tool.  On the east side was, enclosed with a stone wall, a piece of ground in form of a square, 360 feet by 354, in this was growing several cypress trees and plantains.  Round about this Morie were several smaller ones, all going to decay, and on the Beach, between them and the sea, lay scattered up and down, a great quantity of human bones.  Not far from the Great Morie, was 2 or 3 pretty large altars, where lay the scull bones of some Hogs and Dogs.  This monument stands on the south side of Opooreanoo, upon a low point of land about 100 yards from the sea.  It appeared to have been built many years and was in a state of decay, as most of their Mories are. "

They were quite unable to gain information as to the history of these remains, nor of the religious belief of the islander, though they appeared to have some vague notions of a future life.

An excursion inland.

When the party returned to Point Venus, they found the refitting nearly complete, but the anchor stocks all had to be renewed owing to the ravages of the sea worms, so Banks and Monkhouse made an excursion up the river on which the camp was situated.  In about nine miles the precipitous banks had completely closed them in, and further advance was blocked by a cliff, at least 100 feet high, over which the river fell.  The natives with them said they had never been further, so the expedition returned.  Charles Darwin, in 1835, made an attempt to ascend the same river, and though he penetrated some distance further, he describes the country as extremely difficult; he saw several places where two or three determined men could easily hold at bay many times their own number.

Gardens had been laid out during their stay, and European seeds were planted which were very fairly successful; except some brought out by Cook in carefully sealed bottles, none of which turned out well.

Some of the sailors were either enticed away, or attempted to desert, so Cook seized one or two of the chiefs as hostages, and the runaways were quickly returned.  Some of the natives were anxious to go away with them, and Banks persuaded Cook to let him take Tupia, a man supposed to be of priestly rank, who had proved himself very useful on several occasions, and he was allowed to take with him a boy as servant.  Cook records, on leaving, that during the three months’ stay they had been on very good terms with the natives, and the few misunderstandings that did occur rose either from the difficulty of explaining matters to each other, or else from the inveterate habits of theft on the part of the natives—­iron in any shape being simply irresistible.