For this the lieutenant had many reasons.

The common sentinels were in no degree fit to be entrusted with a power of life and death; neither did Mr.Cook think that the thefts committed by the Otaheitans deserved so severe a punishment.

They were not born under the law of England; nor was it one of the conditions under which they claimed the benefits of civil society, that their lives should be forfeited, unless they abstained from theft.

As the lieutenant was not willing that the natives should be exposed to fire-arms loaded with shot, neither did he approve of firing only with powder, which, if repeatedly found to be harmless, would at length be despised.

At a time when a considerable robbery had been committed, an accident furnished him with what he hoped would be a happy expedient for preventing future attempts of the same kind.