Those who are conversant in naval history need not be told at how dear a rate the advantages which have been sought through the medium of long voyages at sea have always been purchased. That dreadful disorder which is peculiar to this service, and whose ravages have marked the tracks of discoverers with circumstances almost too shocking to relate, must, without exercising an unwarrantable tyranny over the lives of our seamen, have proved an insuperable obstacle to the prosecution of such enterprizes. It was reserved for Captain Cook to show the world, by repeated trials, that voyages might be protracted to the unusual length of three or even four years, in unknown regions, and under every change and rigour of climate, not only without affecting the health, but even without diminishing the probability of life in the smallest degree. The method he pursued has been fully explained by himself in a paper which was read before the Royal Society, in the year 1776[8]; and whatever improvements the experience of the present voyage has suggested, are mentioned in their proper places. With respect to his professional abilities, I shall leave them to the judgment of those who are best acquainted with the nature of the services in which he was engaged. They will readily acknowledge, that to have conducted three expeditions of so much danger and difficulty, of so unusual a length, and in such a variety of situation, with uniform and invariable success, must have required not only a thorough and accurate knowledge of his business, but a powerful and comprehensive genius, fruitful in resources, and equally ready in the application of whatever the higher and inferior calls of the service required. Having given the most faithful account I have been able to collect, both from my own observation, and the relations of others, of the death of my ever-honoured friend, and also of his character and services; I shall now leave his memory to the gratitude and admiration of posterity; accepting, with a melancholy satisfaction, the honour, which the loss of him hath procured me, of seeing my name joined with his; and of testifying that affection and respect for his memory, which, whilst he lived, it was no less my inclination, than my constant study, to show him. CHAP. IV. TRANSACTIONS AT OWHYHEE SUBSEQUENT TO THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN COOK.—GALLANT BEHAVIOUR OF THE LIEUTENANT OF MARINES.—DANGEROUS SITUATION OF THE PARTY AT THE MORAI.—BRAVERY OF ONE OF THE NATIVES.—CONSULTATION RESPECTING FUTURE MEASURES.—DEMAND OF THE BODY OF CAPTAIN COOK.— EVASIVE AND INSIDIOUS CONDUCT OF KOAH, AND THE CHIEFS.—INSOLENT BEHAVIOUR OF THE NATIVES.—PROMOTION OF OFFICERS.—ARRIVAL OF TWO PRIESTS WITH PART OF THE BODY.—EXTRAORDINARY BEHAVIOUR OF TWO BOYS.— BURNING OF THE VILLAGE OF KAKOOA.—UNFORTUNATE DESTRUCTION OF THE DWELLINGS OF THE PRIESTS.—RECOVERY OF THE BONES OF CAPTAIN COOK.— DEPARTURE FROM KARAKAKOOA BAY.