Enter a name, company, place or keywords to search across this item. Then click "Search" (or hit Enter).
Volume 3 (1858-1859) (592 pages)
Go to the Archive Home
Go to Thumbnail View of this Item
Go to Single Page View of this Item
Download the Page Image
Copy the Page Text to the Clipboard
Don't highlight the search terms on the Image
Show the Page Image
Show the Image Page Text
Reset View and Center Image
Zoom Out
Zoom In
Rotate Left
Rotate Right
Toggle Full Page View
Flip Image Horizontally
More Information About this Image
Get a Citation for Page or Image - Copy to the Clipboard
Go to the Previous Page (or Left Arrow key)
Go to the Next Page (or Right Arrow key)
Page: of 592
HUTCHINGS’ CALIFORNIA MAGAZINE 196
hats to be part of their heads. Some
conjectured them to be women. The report of the great quantity of iron seen
on board the ships excited the cupidity
of the chiefs, and one of their warriors,
named Kapuapua, volunteered to seize it.
He went, and in the attempt was fired
upen and killed.
The night after the attempt of Kapuapua, the warrior chief, many guns were
discharged. The noise and fire were imagined to proceed from the god, Lono, or
Cook, and they at first thought of fighting him. But this design was frustrated
by the advice of a female chief, who
counseled them “not to fight the god,
but gratify him, that he might be propitious.” Accordingly, she sent her own
daughter, with other women, on board,
who returned with the seeds of that disease which so soon and so fatally spread
itself among the people of the whole
group.
Throughout all the intercourse, though
the nativés manifested the greatest respect and kindness towards their visitors,
and both parties indulged in a lucrative
trade, yet their propensity for thieving
was continually manifested. Perfectly
ready to yield their own property and
persons to the gratification of the whites,
it was but.natural that, without any particular sense of wrong, they should desire
the same liberties. Theft or lying were,
to them, no crimes. Success in either
was considered a virtue, and it was not
until several severe lessons had been received that their discretion got the better
of temptation.
The wonderful news of this arrival
spread rapidly throughout the different
islands, then under different sovereigns,
and the strange spectacle of the vessels,
with their sails, spars and flags, were
minutely described. ‘The men,” said
they, “had loose skins, (their clothes,)
angular heads, and they were gods, indeed! Volcanoes, belching fire, burned
at their mouths, (tobacco pipes,) and
there were doors in their sides, for their
property—doors which went far into their
bodies, (pockets)—into which they thrust
their hands and drew out knives, iron,
beads, cloth, nails and everything else.”
Their speech was also mimicked, and
represented to be rough, harsh and boisterous.
On the 2d of February, after two
weeks of agreeable intercourse with this
people, Captain Cook weighed anchor and
sailed for the north-west coast of America.
On the 20th of November, of the same
year, he returned to pay his second visit,
making his appearance off Wailuku, on
the north side of the island of Maui.
Kalaniopuu, the King, immediately sent
him a present of some hogs, and on the
30th made him a visit of State. On the
17th of January, 1779, he anchored in
Kealakekua bay. Trading again commenced, and the same kind of intercourse
as before, the natives paying him every
attention, more as a god than a man:
making him large and costly presents as
sacrifices.
Respect, kindness and hospitality, in
sits most bounteous form, continued until
the 2nd day of February, 1779—just one
year after his first departure. On this
day, Cook desired Captain King to propose to purchase the railing which surrounded the heiau, a sacred enclosure,
for fuel. Unfortunately, Captain Cook
showed no respect for the religious feelings of the natives. To the surprise of
King, this proposal was acceded to, and
nothing bargained for in return. Ledyard, who was one of the party employed
to remove the fence, states that Cook
offered two iron hatchets for the fence,
which were indignantly refused, both
from horror at the proposal and the inadequate price offered. Upon this refusal, he gave orders to his men to break
down the fence and carry it to the boats,
while he cleared the way. This was