Their natural capacity seems, in no respect, below the common standard of mankind. Their improvements in agriculture, and the perfection of their manufactures, are certainly adequate to the circumstances of their situation, and the natural advantages they enjoy. The eager curiosity with which they attended the armourer's forge, and the many expedients they had invented, even before we left the islands, for working the iron they had procured from us, into such forms as were best adapted to their purposes, were strong proofs of docility and ingenuity. Our unfortunate friend, Kaneena, possessed a degree of judicious curiosity, and a quickness of conception, which was rarely met with amongst these people. He was very inquisitive after our customs and manners, asked after our king, the nature of our government, our numbers, the method of building our ships, our houses, the produce of our country, whether we had wars, with whom, and on what occasions, and in what manner they were carried on, who was our God, and many other questions of the same nature, which indicated an understanding of great comprehension. We met with two instances of persons disordered in their minds; the one a man at Owhyhee, the other a woman at Oneeheow. It appeared, from the particular attention and respect paid to them, that the opinion of their being inspired by the Divinity, which obtains among most of the nations of the east, is also received here. Though the custom of eating the bodies of their enemies be not known, by positive evidence, to exist in any of the South Sea islands, except New Zealand, yet it is extremely probable, that it was originally prevalent in them all. The sacrificing human victims, which seems evidently to be a relic of this horrid practice, still obtains universally amongst these islanders; and it is easy to conceive, why the New Zealanders should retain the repast, which was probably the last act of these shocking rites, longer than the rest of their, tribe, who were situated in more mild and fruitful climates. As the inhabitants of the Sandwich islands certainly bear a nearer resemblance to those of New Zealand, both in their persons and disposition, than to any other people of this family, so it was strongly suspected by Mr. Anderson, that, like them, they still continue to feast on human flesh. The evidence on which he founds this opinion, has been stated very fully in the tenth section of the third chapter; but, as I always entertained great doubts of the justice of his conclusions, it may not be improper to take this occasion of mentioning the grounds on which I venture to differ from him. With respect to the information derived from the natives themselves, I shall only observe, that great pains were taken, by almost every officer on board, to come at the knowledge of so curious a circumstance; and that except in the two instances mentioned by Mr. Anderson, we found them invariably denying the existence of any such custom amongst them.