The women in these canoes, and some of the men, had a head-dress which we had not before seen.  It consisted of a bunch of black feathers, made up in a round form, and tied upon the top of the head, which it entirely covered, and made it twice as high, to appearance, as it was in reality.

After dinner, I went in the pinnace with Mr Banks, Dr Solander, Tupia, and some others, into another cove, about two miles distant from that in which the ship lay:  In our way we saw something floating upon the water, which we took for a dead seal, but upon rowing up to it, found it to be the body of a woman, which to all appearance had been dead some days.  We proceeded to our cove, where we went on shore, and found a small family of Indians, who appeared to be greatly terrified at our approach, and all ran away except one.  A conversation between this person and Tupia soon brought hack the rest, except an old man and a child, who still kept aloof, but stood peeping at us from the woods.  Of these people, our curiosity naturally led us to enquire after the body of the woman, which we had seen floating upon the water:  And they acquainted us, by Tupia, that she was a relation, who had died a natural death; and that, according to their custom, they had tied a stone to the body, and thrown it into the sea, which stone, they supposed, had by some accident been disengaged.

This family, when we came on shore, was employed in dressing some provisions:  The body of a dog was at this time buried in their oven, and many provision baskets stood near it.  Having cast our eyes carelessly into one of these as we passed it, we saw two bones pretty cleanly picked, which did not seem to be the bones of a dog, and which, upon a nearer examination, we discovered to be those of a human body.  At this sight we were struck with horror, though it was only a confirmation of what we had heard many times since we arrived upon this coast.  As we could have no doubt but the bones were human, neither could we have any doubt that the flesh which covered them had been eaten.  They were found in a provision basket; the flesh that remained appeared manifestly to have been dressed by fire, and in the gristles at the end, were the marks of the teeth which had gnawed them:  To put an end, however, to conjecture, founded upon circumstances and appearances, we directed Tupia to ask what bones they were; and the Indians, without the least hesitation, answered, the bones of a man:  They were then asked what was become of the flesh, and they replied that they had eaten it; but, said Tupia, why did you not eat the body of the woman which we saw floating upon the water:  The woman, said they, died of disease; besides, she was our relation, and we eat only the bodies of our enemies, who are killed in battle.  Upon enquiry who the man was whose bones we had found, they told us, that about five days before, a boat belonging to their enemies came into the bay, with many persons on board, and that this man was one of seven whom