Note (return) — Chapter V · CAPTAIN KING'S JOURNAL OF THE TRANSACTIONS ON RETURNING TO THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.1

As soon as the general consternation, which the news of this calamity occasioned throughout both crews, had a little subsided, their attention was called to our party at the morai, where the mast and sails were on shore, with a guard of only six marines. It is impossible for me to describe the emotions of my own mind, during the time these transactions had been carrying on at the other side of the bay. Being at the distance of only a short mile from the village of Kowrowa, we could see distinctly an immense crowd collected on the spot where Captain Cook had just before landed. We heard the firing of the musketry, and could perceive some extraordinary bustle and agitation in the multitude. We afterwards saw the natives flying, the boats retire from the shore, and passing and repassing, in great stillness, between the ships. I must confess, that my heart soon misgave me. Where a life so dear and valuable was concerned, it was impossible not to be alarmed, by appearances both new and threatening. But, besides this, I knew that a long and uninterrupted course of success, in his transactions with the natives of these seas, had given the captain a degree of confidence, that I was always fearful might, at some unlucky moment, put him too much off his guard; and I now saw all the dangers to which that confidence might lead, without receiving much consolation from considering the experience that had given rise to it.1