THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN COOK.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 26 October 1907, Page 4

THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN COOK.

MntJjKllKD AT TIIK SANDWICH ISLAM;-;. CKAPIIIC AU.UC.YT i.i- Till-; flwjlT SLAALLVS LAST MujlL'XTsj. The following are extracts from an article compihd from original sources by Agnes C. I.aiit, which was publish-d in Leslie'.-, Magazine: Situated midwav in the Pacific, the Sandwich Islands ' v ,-rre like an oa.sis in idiips had dropped anchor in the centre "I a horu-sfiaped hay called Karakooa. in Hawaii, about two miles from horn to horn. On |]„. s: , m i v n ;Us of t)lu north horn was the native village of Kuwrowa; amid the cocoanut groves of the other horn the village of Kakooa, with a well and "morai," or sacred burying ground, dose by. In all. there were, perhaps, four hundred houses in the two villages, with a population of from two to three thousand warriors; but the bay was the rallying place of the entire'group of islands! numbering in all several hundred thousand warriors.

Chief among (he visitors to the ship was Koah, a little, old, emaciated, shiftyeyed priest, with a wry ne -k, and a scaly, leprous skin, who al once led the small boats ashore, driving the throngs back with a magic wand and drawing°a mystic circle wilih his wizard stick around a piece of ground near the morai, or burying *d i'-e, where the while men could erci-t their tents beside the cocoanut groves. |> ils ( the tabooed line of magic wand nol a native would dare to go. Here Captain King, assisted by the young midshipman, Vancouver, landed with a guard of eight or ten mariners to overhaul the ship's masts, while the rest of the two crews obtained provisions by trade.

Cook was carried off (o the very centre of tho morai, a circular enclosure of solid stone with images and nriest's houses at one end, the skulls o'f slain captives at the other. Here priests and people did the white explorer homage as to a god, sacrificing their most sacred animal—a strangled pig. At the end of two weeks the while seamen were, perhaps, satiated with their own vices, or from the sore head that results from prolonged sprecing. At all events the thieving, which h.ad heen condoned at first, was now punished by soundly (logging the natives. The old king courteously hinted it was time for the while men to go. When the king commanded the natives to help the white men they answered liy showers of stones directed inside the taboo. Lcdyard was ordered out with a guard of sailors to protect the white men loading the Resolution. Iml Ihe guard was pelted Mack and blue. At last all was readiness to sail, one thing alone neing lacking—wood; and the white men dare not go inland for the needed timber. A FATAL ERIUIR. So far the entire blame rested on the sailors. Xow Cook committed his cardinal error. Willi Unit very daring and quickness to utili-c every available means to an end, whether or not the end justified the means. Cook ordered his men ashore to seize the rail fence round the top of the stone burying ground, the sacred morai, as fuel for his

ships. Out rushed the priests from the enclosure in dire distress. Two hatchets were offered the leading priest to pay for it. He spurned them as too loathing to be touched. Leading the way, Cook ordered his men to break the fence down, and oifernl three hatchets, trusting them into the folds of the priest's garment. Pale aud quivering witn rage, the priest bade a slave remove the profaning iron. Down tumbled the fence!—down the images on poles! Down the dead sacred to the savage as the sepulchre to the white man! It may lie said, to the credit ol the crew, that the men were thoroughly frightened at what they were ordered tc do; but they were not too frightened to carry away the images as relies. Cook alone was blind to risk. As if to add the last straw to the Ilawaiins' endurance, when the ships unmoored and sailed out from the bay, where, but two weeks l>pfore, they had been so royally welcomed, they carried eloping wives and children from the lower classes of ihe two villages. A violent gaie arose. Women am! children were seized with a seasickness that was no .joke. The decks resounded with such wails that Cook had to lie to in the storm, put off the pinnace, and send the visitors to the shore. What sort of a tale they carried back we may guess. Meanwhile the storm had snapped the foremast of the Resolution. As if rushing on to his ruin Cook steered back for the ha v. and anchored between the two villages! ' Again, the tents were pitched beside the nioi'ai under the coeoannt groves. Again the wand was drawn around the tailing place; but the white men had langlit Ihe savages that the taboo was no longer sacred. Where thousands had webomed the

ships before, not a soul now appeared. Not a canoe cut the waters. Not a voice broke the silence of the bay. The sailors were f our; Cook, angry. Only by tiring its great guns could the Discovery prevent forcible theft by the savages oll'eiing provisions. "I am afraid," remarked Cook, "these people will compel me to use violent measures." As if to le-t the nettle of Iks tacit threat, Sunday, daybreak, February 11, revealed the 'fad 'tliat the large rowboat of the Discovery had been stolen.

When Captain King, who had charge of the guard repairing the masts under the cocoanut grove, came on board Sunday morning, he found Cook loading his gun, with a line of soldiers drawn up to go ashore in order to allure the ruler of the inlands on board, and hold him as hostage for the restitution of the boat. ; Vrko. of the Discovery, was too far

gone in consumption, to take any part. Cook led the way on the pinnace with Ledyard and six marines. Captain King followed in a launch with as many more. All the other small boats of the two ships were strung across the harbor from Kakooa, where the grove, was, to Kowrowa, where the king dwelt, with orders to (ire on any canoe trying to escape. lieforc the fearless leader the savages prostrated themselves in the streets. Cook strode like a conqueror straight to the door of the king's abode. Old Terreeoboo, peace-lover and lazy, was just awake, and only 100 willing to go aboard witn Cook, as' the easiest way out of the trouble about the stolen boat. Hut just here the high-handedness of Cook :io Irated itself. That line of small boats stretched across the harbor began firing at an escaping canoe. A favorite chief was killed. 'Word of the killing came as the old king was at (ho water's ed"e to follow Cook; and a wife caught him by the arm to drag him back. Suddenly a throng of a thousand surround-

i iha white men. Someone stabs at Phillips of the marines. Phillips' musket comes out butt-end on the head of tne assailant. A spear is thrust in Cook's very face, lie (ires blank shot. The harmlessness of the shot only emboldens the savages. Women arc seen hurrying oif to the hills; men don their war mats. There is a rush of the white men lo get positions along the water's edge for striking room, and of the savages to prevent the whites' escape. A stone hits Cook. ''What man did that!" thunders Cook, and he shoots the culprit dead. Then the men in the boats lose their heads, and pour volleys of musketry into the crowds.

"Jt is hopeless," mutters Cook to Phillips; but, amid the shower of stone-*, he turns with his back to the crowd, and shouts for the two small boats to cease firing and pull in for the marines on hind. THE FINAL SCEXE.

His back to the assailants. A band with a dagger reached out, and the dagger rips quick as a flash under Cook's shoulder-blade, lie fell without a groan, face in the water, and was hacked to pieces before the eyes of his men. Four marine, had ;.!>••■ idv fallen. Phillips and Fedvaid and tho'r.-l jumped info the sea and swam for their lives. The small boats wiv Iwenlv yards out. Scarcely "'as I'hillips in tie- nearest when a wounded sailor, swimming fur rcfu"o. fainted and sank lo the bottom. Tlnae-h half stoned from a stone blow on hi- head, and bleeding from a slab in the back. I'hillips leaped to the rescue, died to the bottom, caught the exhausted sailor bv Mm hair of his head, and so snatched him into the boat. Thdead and the arms of the fugitive:-: had iii-iii deserted in (he wild scramble for life. I Meanwhile the masts of the Uesobition "Herded bv only six marines were imposed In I he warriors of the other vil-

!a-e at tic- coi-oanuf irrovo. Protected bv Hi- -1111- of the two ships under the diiveiiou of Clerk.-, who now became commander ma-Is and men were got ab-ard by noon. At four that afternoon Captain Win- r-.wed ashore for Cooks bode. ||,. „-,s ~„.( bv the lilllo leprous ~,-ic-t k„,i,. Kvinnnine- half-way out. Thoueh tears of sorrow were in Koah's (reach-roiis. .--I limine,! eves as he beeged that Clerks ;1 „d Ki„„' m ighl come ashore to parl.-v-. King j,,,].,,.,! i( prudent to hold tightly on (he priest's spear handle while they embraced. Night alter night for a week the

conch shells blew their challenge of defence to the white men. Fires rallving lo war darned on the hi|),ides. Howls and shouts of derision echoed from the shore. CooU Nothing, s \vurd, and hat were waved in .scorn under the sailors' ; very faces. The ivomen had hurried | to the hills. The old king w;u hidden m a cave, where he could be readied ™b' by a rope 'adder; and eitii.---.-d-v niter emissary tried to lure the while's ashore. One j,iu-Ti dark night paddles "ere heard under the keels. The : e nti"els fired; hut hv lantern light two terrified faces appeared over the'deck, pro"lraling Ihi'iiiMdves at Clerkc's feet, and slowly unrolled a small wrapping „,- doth that revealed a small piece of human llesh—the remains of Cool;. I>.id silence fell r,n the horrified crew. Then Clerkc's stern answer was that unless Ihe bones of Cook wcr.i brought to the slop both villages would he destroyed. 1 he two savages were former friends of Cook's, and warned the whites not to be allured on laud, not to trust Koah, the leper priest. Next morning the guns of the Discovery ware trained on Koah when he hied to come oa hoard. That day sailors were landed for water and set fire to the village of the cocoanut groves to drive assailants hack. ifow quickly human nature mav revert to the bast type! When the'white sailors returned from this skb-inish the',' carried back to the ships with I hem the heads of two Ifawaiins ihev had slain. By Saturday the 20th, masts were in place and the Boats ready to sail. Between ten and eleven o'clock in the morning a Ion;, procession of people was seen filing slowly down the hills preceded h'v drummers and a white flag. Word was Signalled that Cook's bones were on shore to lie delivered. Gierke put out in a small boat to receive the dead commander's remains—from which all the flesh had lieen burned. On Sunday, thf. 21st, the entire bay was tabooed". Not a native came out of the houses. The funeral service was read on board tho Resolution, and the coffin committed to the deep.