the future, I found no difficulty in bringing the natives back, and in restoring every thing to its usual tranquillity. Hitherto, the attention of Otoo and his people had been confined to us; but, next morning, a new scene of business opened, by the arrival of some messengers from Eimeo, or (as it is much oftener called by the natives) Morea, with intelligence, that the people in that island were in arms; and that Otoo's partizans there had been worsted, and obliged to retreat to the mountains. The quarrel between the two islands, which commenced in 1774,. as mentioned in the account of my last voyage, had, it seems, partly subsisted ever since. The formida ble armament which I saw, at that time, and described, † had sailed soon after I then left Otaheite; but the malcontents of Eimeo had made so stout a resistance, that the fleet had returned without effecting much; and now another expedition was necessary. On the arrival of these messengers, all the chiefs, who happened to be at Matavai, assembled at Otoo's house, where I actually was at the time, and had the honour to be admitted into their council. One of the messengers opened the business of the assembly, in a speech of considerable length. But I understood little of it, besides its general purport, which was to explain the situation of affairs in Eimeo; and to excite the assembled chiefs of Otaheite to arm on the occasion. This opinion was combated by others who were against commencing hostilities; and the debate was carried on with great order; no more than one man speaking at a time. At last, they became very noisy, and I expected *Morea, according to Dr. Forster, is a district in Eimeo. See his Observations, p. 217. + See Cook's Voyage, vol. i. p. 347, &c. that our meeting would have ended like a Polish diet. But the contending great men cooled as fast as they grew warm, and order was soon restored. At length, the party for war prevailed; and it was determined, that a strong force should be sent to assist their friends in Eimeo. But this resolution was far from being unanimous. Otoo, during the whole debate, remained silent; except that, now and then, he addressed a word or two to the speakers. Those of the council, who were for prosecuting the war, applied to me for my assistance; and all of them wanted to know what part I would take. was sent for to be my interpreter; but, as he could not be found, I was obliged to speak for myself, and told them, as well as I could, that as I was not thoroughly acquainted with the dispute, and as the people of Eimeo had never offended me, I could not think myself at liberty to engage in hostilities against them. With this declaration they either were, or seemed, satisfied. The assembly then broke up; but, before I left them, Otoo desired me to come to him in the afternoon, and to bring Omai with me. Omai Accordingly, a party of us waited upon him at the appointed time; and we were conducted by him to his father, in whose presence the dispute with Eimeo was again talked over. Being very desirous of devising some method to bring about an accom. modation, I sounded the old chief on that head. But we found him deaf to any such proposal, and fully determined to prosecute the war. He repeated the solicitations which I had already resisted, about giving them my assistance. On our inquiring into the cause of the war, we were told, that, some years ago, a brother of Waheiadooa, of Tiaraboo, was sent to Eimeo, at the request of Maheine, a popular chief of that island, to be their king; but that he had not been there a week before Maheine, having caused him to be killed, set up for himself, in opposition to Tierataboonooe, his sister's son, who became the lawful heir; or else had been pitched upon, by the people of Otaheite, to succeed to the government on the death of the other. Towha, who is a relation of Otoo, and chief of the district of Tettaha, a man of much weight in the island, and who had been commander-in-chief of the armament fitted out against Eimeo in 1774, happened not to be at Matavai at this time; and, consequently, was not present at any of these consultations. It, however, appeared that he was no stranger to what was transacted; and that he entered with more spirit into the affair than any other chief. For, early in the morning of the 1st of September, a messenger arrived from him to acquaint Otoo that he had killed a man to be sacrificed to the Eatooa, to implore the assistance of the god against Eimeo. This act of worship was to be performed at the great Morai at Attahooroo; and Otoo's presence, it seems, was absolutely necessary on that solemn occasion. That the offering of human sacrifices is part of the religious institutions of this island, had been mentioned by Mons. de Bougainville, on the authority of the native whom he carried with him to France. During my last visit to Otaheite, and while I had opportunities of conversing with Omai on the subject, I had satisfied myself that there was too much reason to admit that such a practice, however inconsistent with the general human ity of the people, was here adopted. But as this was one of those extraordinary facts, abqut which many are apt to retain doubts, unless the relater himself has had ocular proof to confirm what he had heard from others, I thought this a good opportunity of obtaining the highest evidence of its certainty, by being present myself at the solemnity; and, accordingly, proposed to Otoo that I might be allowed to accompany him. To this he readily consented; and we immediately set out in my boat, with my old friend Potatou, Mr. Anderson, and Mr. Webber; Omai following in a canoe. In our way we landed upon a little island, which lies off Tettaha, where we found Towha and his retinue. After some little conversation between the twe chiefs, on the subject of the war, Towha addressed himself to me, asking my assistance. When I excused myself, he seemed angry; thinking it strange, that I, who had always declared myself to be the friend of their island, would not now go and fight against its enemies. Before we parted, he gave to Otoo two or three red feathers, tied up in a tuft; and a lean half-starved dog was put into a canoe that was to accompany us. We then embarked again, taking on board a priest who was to assist at the solemnity. As soon as we landed at Attahooroo, which was about two o'clock in the afternoon, Otoo expressed his desire that the seamen might be ordered to remain in the boat; and that Mr. Anderson, Mr. Webber, and myself might take off our hats, as soon as we should come to the morai, to which we immediately proceeded, attended by a great many men, and some boys; but not one woman. We found four priests, and their attendants, or assistants, waiting for us. The dead body, or sacrifice, was in a small canoe that lay on the beach, and partly in the wash of the sea, fronting the morai. Two of the priests, with some of their attendants, were sitting by the canoe; the others at the morai. Our company stopped about twenty or thirty paces from the priests. Here Otoo placed himself; we, and a few others, standing by him; while the bulk of the people remained at a greater distance. The ceremonies now began. One of the priest's attendants brought a young plantain-tree, and laid it down before Otoo. Another approached with a small tuft of red feathers, twisted on some fibres of the cocoa-nut husk, with which he touched one of the king's feet, and then retired with it to his companions. One of the priests, seated at the morai, facing those who were upon the beach, now began a long prayer; and, at certain times, sent down young plantain-trees, which were laid upon the sacrifice. During this prayer, a man, who stood by the officiating priest, held in his hands two bundles, seemingly of cloth. In one of them, as we afterward found, was the royal maro; and the other, if I may be allowed the expression, was the ark of the Eatooa. As soon as the prayer was ended, the priests at the morai, with their attendants, went and sat down by those upon the beach, carrying with them the two bundles. Here they renewed their prayers; during which the plaintain-trees were taken, one by one, at different times, from off the sacrifice; which was partly wrapped up in cocoa leaves and small branches. I was now taken out of the canoe, and laid upon the beach, with the feet to the sea. The priests placed themselves around it, some sitting and others standing; and one, or more of them, repeated sentences for about ten minutes. The dead body was now uncovered, by removing the leaves and branches, and laid in a parallel direction with, the sea-shore. One of the priests then standing at the feet of it, pronounced a long prayer, in which he was, at times, joined by the others; each holding in his hand a tuft of red feathers. In the course of this prayer, some hair was pulled off the head of the sacrifice, and the left eye taken out; both which were presented to Otoo, wrapped up in a green leaf. He did not, however, touch it; but gave, to the man who presented it, the tuft of feathers, which he had received from Towha. This, with the hair and eye, was carried back to the priests. Soon after, Otoo sent to them another piece of feathers, which he had given me in the morning to keep in my pocket. During some part of this last ceremony, |