It has been already mentioned, that, during our long cruise off this island, the inhabitants had always behaved with great fairness and honesty in their dealings, and had not shewn the slightest propensity to theft, which appeared to us the more extraordinary, because those with whom we had hitherto held any intercourse, were of the lowest rank, either servants or fishermen.  We now found the case exceedingly altered.  The immense crowd of islanders, which blocked up every part of the ships, not only afforded frequent opportunity of pilfering without risk of discovery, but our inferiority in number held forth a prospect of escaping with impunity in case of detection.  Another circumstance, to which we attributed this alteration in their behaviour, was the presence and encouragement of their chiefs; for, generally tracing the booty into the possession of some men of consequence, we had the strongest reason to suspect that these depredations were committed at their instigation.

Soon after the Resolution had got into her station, our two friends, Pareea and Kaneena, brought on board a third chief, named Koah, who, we were told, was a priest, and had been in his youth a distinguished warrior.  He was a little old man, of an emaciated figure, his eyes exceedingly sore and red, and his body covered with a white leprous scurf, the effects of an immoderate use of the ava.  Being led into the cabin, he approached Captain Cook with great veneration, and threw over his shoulders a piece of red cloth, which he had brought along with him.  Then stepping a few paces back, he made an offering of a small pig which he held in his hand, whilst he pronounced a discourse that lasted for a considerable time.  This ceremony was frequently repeated during our stay at Owhyhee, and appeared to us, from many circumstances, to be a sort of religious adoration.  Their idols we found always arrayed with red cloth, in the same manner as was done to Captain Cook, and a small pig was their usual offering to the Eatooas.  Their speeches, or prayers, were uttered too with a readiness and volubility that indicated them to be according to some formulary.

When this ceremony was over, Koah dined with Captain Cook, eating plentifully of what was set before him, but, like the rest of the inhabitants of the islands in these seas, could scarcely be prevailed on to taste a second time our wine or spirits.  In the evening, Captain Cook, attended by Mr Bayly and myself, accompanied him on ashore.  We landed at the beach, and were received by four men, who carried wands tipt with dog’s hair, and marched before us, pronouncing with a loud voice a short sentence, in which we could only distinguish the word Orono.[3] The crowd, which had been collected on the shore, retired at our approach; and not a person was to be seen, except a few lying prostrate on the ground, near the huts of the adjoining village.

[Footnote 3:  Captain Cook generally went by this name amongst the natives of Owhyhee, but we could never learn its precise meaning.  Sometimes they applied it to an invisible being, who, they said, lived in the heavens.  We also found that it was a title belonging to a personage of great rank and power in the island, who resembles pretty much the Delai Lama of the Tartars, and the ecclesiastical emperor of Japan.]