Before I sailed, I had the following inscription cut upon the outside of his house:—­

  Georgius Tertius, Rex, 2 Novembris, 1777.
  Naves { Resolution, Jac.  Cook, Pr.
        _{ Discovery, Car.  Clerke, Pr._

On the 2d of November, at four in the afternoon, I took the advantage of a breeze which then sprung up at E., and sailed out of the harbour.  Most of our friends remained on board till the ships were under sail; when, to gratify their curiosity, I ordered five guns to be fired.  They then all took their leave, except Omai, who remained till we were at sea.  We had come to sail by a hawser fastened to the shore.  In casting the ship, it parted, being cut by the rocks, and the outer end was left behind, as those who cast it off did not perceive that it was broken, so that it became necessary to send a boat to bring it on board.  In this boat, Omai went ashore, after taking a very affectionate farewell of all the officers.  He sustained himself with a manly resolution till he came to me.  Then his utmost efforts to conceal his tears failed; and Mr King, who went in the boat, told me, that he wept all the time in going ashore.

It was no small satisfaction to reflect, that we had brought him safe back to the very spot from which he was taken.  And yet, such is the strange nature of human affairs, that it is probable we left him in a less desirable situation than he was in before his connection with us.  I do not by this mean, that because he has tasted the sweets of civilized life, he must become more miserable from being obliged to abandon all thoughts of continuing them.  I confine myself to this single disagreeable circumstance, that the advantages he received from us have placed him in a more hazardous situation, with respect to his personal safety.  Omai, from being much caressed in England, lost sight of his original condition; and never considered in what manner his acquisitions, either of knowledge or of riches, would be estimated by his countrymen at his return, which were the only things he could have to recommend him to them now, more than before, and on which he could build either his future greatness or happiness.  He seemed even to have mistaken their genius in this respect, and, in some measure, to have forgotten their customs, otherwise he must have known the extreme difficulty there would be in getting himself admitted as a person of rank, where there is, perhaps, no instance of a man’s being raised from an inferior station by the greatest merit.  Rank seems to be the very foundation of all distinction here, and, of its attendant, power; and so pertinaciously, or rather blindly adhered to, that, unless a person has some degree of it, he will certainly be despised and hated, if he assumes the appearance of exercising any authority.  This was really the case, in some measure, with Omai, though his countrymen were pretty cautious of expressing their sentiments while we remained amongst them.