Soon after our arrival here, one of the natives, whom the Spaniards had carried with them to Lima, paid us a visit; but, in his external appearance, he was not distinguishable from the rest of his countrymen.  However, he had not forgot some Spanish words which he had acquired, though he pronounced them badly.  Amongst them, the most frequent were, si Sennor; and, when a stranger was introduced to him, he did not fail to rise up and accost him, as well as he could.

We also found here the young man whom we called Oedidee, but whose real name is Heete-heete.  I had carried him from Ulietea in 1773, and brought him back in 1774; after he had visited the Friendly Islands, New Zealand, Easter Island, and the Marqueses, and been on board my ship, in that extensive navigation, about seven months.  He was, at least, as tenacious of his good breeding, as the man who had been at Lima; and yes, Sir, or if you please, Sir, were as frequently repeated by him, as si Sennor was by the other.  Heete-heete, who is a native of Bolabola, had arrived in Otaheite about three months before, with no other intention, that we could learn, than to gratify his curiosity, or, perhaps, some other favourite passion; which are very often the only objects of the pursuit of other travelling gentlemen.  It was evident, however, that he preferred the modes, and even garb, of his countrymen, to ours.  For, though I gave him some clothes, which our Admiralty Board had been pleased to send for his use (to which I added a chest of tools, and a few other articles, as a present from myself), he declined wearing them, after a few days.  This instance, and that of the person who had been at Lima, may be urged as a proof of the strong propensity natural to man, of returning to habits acquired at an early age, and only interrupted by accident.  And, perhaps, it may be concluded, that even Omai, who had imbibed almost the whole English manners, will, in a very short time after our leaving him, like Oedidee, and the visiter of Lima, return to his own native garments.[5]

[Footnote 5:  Captain Cook’s remark has often been exemplified in other instances.  The tendency to revert to barbarism is so strong, as to need to be continually checked by the despotism of refined manners, and all the healthful emulations of civilized societies.  Perhaps the rather harsh observation of Dr Johnson, that there is always a great deal of scoundrelism in a low man, is more strictly applicable to the cases of savages in general, than to even the meanest member of any cultivated community.  But in the case of a superiorly endowed individual situate amongst a mass of ruder beings, to all of whom he is attached by the strongest ties of affection and early acquaintance, another powerfully deranging cause is at work in addition to the natural tendency to degenerate, viz. the necessity of accommodating himself to established customs and opinions.  The former agent alone, we know, has often degraded Europeans.  Is it to be thought wonderful then, that, where both principles operate, a man of Omai’s character should speedily relinquish foreign acquirements, and retrograde into his original barbarity?—­E.]