generous liquor, and joked with Towha upon its red
colour, telling him it was blood. The honest
admiral having tasted our grog, which is a mixture
of brandy and water, desired to taste of the brandy
itself, which he called
e vai no Bretannee,
British water, and drank off a small glass full,
without making a wry face. Both he and his Otaheitean
majesty were extremely cheerful and happy, and appeared
to like our way of living, and our cookery of
their own excellent provisions.”—G.F.
[2] Of this day’s date we find
an incident which very strikingly illustrates
the consequences to the morals of the Otaheiteans,
resulting from their acquaintance with strangers.
“That our red feathers had infused a general
and irresistible longing into the minds of all
the people, will appear from the following circumstance.
I have observed, in the former part of this narrative,
that the women of the families of chiefs never
admitted the visits of Europeans; and also that
whatever liberties some unmarried girls might with
impunity allow themselves, the married state had
always been held sacred and unspotted at Otaheite.
But such was the force of the temptation, that a
chief actually offered his wife to Captain Cook, and
the lady, by her husband’s order, attempted
to captivate him, by an artful display of her
charms, seemingly in such a careless manner, as many
a woman would be at a loss to imitate. I
was sorry, for the sake of human nature, that
this proposal came from a man, whose general character
was in other respects very fair. It was Potatow
who could descend to such meanness, from the high
spirit of grandeur which he had formerly shewn.
We expressed great indignation at his conduct, and
rebuked him for his frailty.”—G.F.
From this specimen of frailty, may be
readily inferred the dissoluteness of those females,
who had neither rank nor marriage to render chastity
a virtue. But, alas! one need not visit the South
Seas, to become acquainted with the possible extent
of human infirmity. A cynic might, without
such travel, be tempted to parody the words of
Sir Robert Walpole, and say, that every woman had her
price. The proposition is a harsh one, and
the more so as obviously irrefutable. It
does, however, read this most important lesson, that
there is much greater safety in avoiding temptation,
than in trusting to any power of resistance.
They, it is to be feared, who are least sensible
of this truth, and who feel most indignant at its being
stated, stand most in need of its salutary influence.—E.
[3] Forster the father met with a serious
accident during this excursion. In descending
from the hills, rendered exceedingly slippery from
the recent rains, he had the misfortune to fall, which
both bruised his leg in a very severe manner,
and also occasioned a rupture.—E.
[4] “The number of common women
on board our ships considerably increased, since
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