IN response to an appeal from the British Admiralty, Captain Cook left England to enter upon his third voyage in July, 1776, with the purpose of restoring some natives of the Society Islands to their home; examining islands of the Pacific for good harbours for future English use; and then to pass along the northwest coast of America to find, if possible, a sea passage from the Pacific Ocean to Hudson's or Baffin's Bay. During the year 1777 he felt his way from island group to island group. He recognised the close relationship in language and features, between inhabitants of many of these island worlds.
On January 18, 1778, he discovered Oahu and later Kauai, of the Hawaiian Islands. He named the group "The Sandwich Islands," in honour of Lord Sandwich, the patron of the expedition.
This name has never been accepted among the Hawaiians. The home name, the name used for centuries, could not be supplanted by an English discoverer. The Hawaiians have always called themselves "Ka poe Hawaii"--"the Hawaiian people."
There are four different sources of information concerning the coming to and death of Captain Cook in the Hawaiian Islands. Captain King wrote the account given in "Cook's Voyages."
Ledyard, an American petty officer on one of Captain Cook's ships, wrote a story published in America.
The surgeon on Captain Cook's boat kept a diary which has recently been published.
The historian must remember that there were thousands of native eye-witnesses whose records cannot be overlooked in securing a true history. The following account is almost entirely from the Hawaiians only:
Captain Cook came to Waimea, Kauai. He was called by the Hawaiians "O Lono," because they thought he was the god Lono, one of the chief gods of the ancient Hawaiians.
The ship was seen coming up from the west and going north. Kauai lay spread out in beauty before Lono, and the first anchor was dropped in the bay of Waimea, in the month of January, 1778. It was night when the ship anchored.
A man by the name of Mapua, and others, were out fishing, with their boats anchored. They saw a great thing coming up, rising high above the surf, fire burning on top of it. They thought it was something evil and hurried to the shore, trembling and frightened by this wonderful apparition. They had fled, leaving all they had used
while fishing. When they went up from the beach they told the high chief Kaeo and the other chiefs about this strange sight.
In the morning they saw the ship standing outside Waimea. When they saw this marvellous monster, great wonder came to the people, and they were astonished and afraid. Soon a crowd of people came together, shouting with fear and con-fused thought until the harbour resounded with noise. Each one shouted as he saw the ship with masts and the many things, such as ropes and sails, on them. One said to another, "What is this thing which has branches?" Another said, "It is a forest of trees." A certain priest, who was also a chief, said, "This is not an ordinary thing; it is a heiau [temple] of the god Lono, having steps going up into the clear sky, to the altars on the outside" (i.e., to the yards of the upper masts).
The chiefs sent some men to go out in canoes and see this wonderful thing. They went close to the ship and saw iron on the outside of the ship. They were very glad when they saw the amount of iron. They had known iron before because of iron in sticks washed up on the land. Then there was little, but at this time they saw very much. They rejoiced and said, "There are many pieces of pahoa" (meaning iron). They called all iron pahoa--a tool for cutting, because there was once a sword among the old people of the Islands.
They went up on the ship and saw "a number
of men with white foreheads, shining eyes, skin wrinkled, square-cornered heads, indistinct words, and fire in their mouths."
A chief and a priest tied the ends of their long malo-like sashes and held them up in their left hands. "They went before Kapena Kuke (Captain Cook), bent over, squatted down, and offered prayers, repeating words over and over; then took the hand of Kapena Kuke and knelt down; then rose up free from any tabu."
Captain Cook gave the priest a knife. For this reason he named his daughter Kua-pahoa, after this knife. This was the first present of Captain Cook to a Hawaiian.
When they saw the burning of tobacco in the mouth of a man they thought he belonged to the volcano family. When they saw peculiar and large "cocoanuts" (probably melons) lying on the deck, they said, "This is the fruit of a sorceress, or mischief-maker of the ocean, who has been killed." They saw the skin of a bullock hanging in the front part of the ship and said, "Another mischief-making sorceress has been killed. Perhaps these gods have come that all the evil kupuas [monsters] might be destroyed."
These messengers returned and told the king and chiefs about the kind of men they had seen, what they were doing, their manner of speech, and the death of some of the monsters of the ocean. "We saw the fruit and the skin hanging on the altar.
[paragraph continues] There is plenty of iron on that temple and a large amount is lying on the deck."
When the chiefs heard this report they said, "Truly this is the god Lono with his temple."
The people thought that by the prayer of the priest all troubles of tabu had been lifted, so they asked the priest if there would be any trouble if they went on this place of the god. The priest assured them that his prayer had been without fault and there would be no death in all that belonged to the gods. There was no interruption of any kind during the prayer.
Hao was another name for "iron" and also hao meant "theft."
A certain war-chief said, "I will go and hao that hao treasure, for my profession is to hao" (steal). The chiefs assented. Then he paddled out to the ship and went on board and took iron and went down. Some one shot him and killed him. His name was Kapu-puu (The Tabu Hill), The canoes returned and reported that the chief had been killed by a wai-ki (a rush of smoke like water in a blow-hole).
Some of the chiefs cried out, "Kill this people because they killed Kapu-puu!" The priest heard the cry and replied, "That thought is not right. They have not sinned. We have done wrong because we were greedy after the iron and let Kapu-puu go to steal. I forbade you at first, and established my law that if any one should steal, he shall
suffer the loss of his bones. It is only right that we should be pleasant to them. Where are you, O Chiefs and People! This is my word to you!"
That night guns were fired and sky-rockets sent up into the sky, for the sailors were glad to have found such a fine country. The natives called the flash from the guns "Ka huila" (lightning) and "Kane-hikili" (thunder of the god Kane). The natives thought this was war.
Then a high chiefess, Ka-maka-helei, the mother of Kaumu-alii, the last king of Kauai, said: "Not for war is our god, but we will seek the pleasure of the god." So she gave her own daughter as a wife for Lono--Captain Cook. After this there was promiscuous living among the men of the ship and the people of the land, with the result that the vile diseases of the white people were quickly scattered over all the islands.
A boat came to Oahu from Kauai with a chief. The Oahu people asked him, "What kind of a thing was the ship?" The chief said "it was like a heiau (temple) with steps going up to the altars, masts standing with branches spread out each side, and a long stick in front like the sharp nose of a swordfish, openings (portholes) in the side and openings behind. The men had white heads with corners, clothes like wrinkled skin, holes in the sides (pockets), sharp-pointed things on their feet, fire in their mouths, and smoke with the fire like a volcano coming from their mouths."
Kalaniopuu, king of Hawaii, was at Koolau, Maui, fighting with the people of Kahekili, king of Maui. Moho, a messenger, told Kalaniopuu and the chiefs the news about this strange ship. They said, "This is Lono from Kahiki."
They asked about the language. Moho, putting his hand in his malo, drew out a piece of a broken calabash and held it, out like the foreigners, saying: "A hikapalale, hikapalale, hioluio, oalaki, walawalaki, waiki, poha, aloha kahiki, aloha haehae, aloha ka wahine, aloha ke keiki, aloha ka hale." Of course, this was a jumbled mass of words or sounds with but very little meaning.
The natives relate how, with veneration, they received the white man. They robed Captain Cook with red native cloth and rich feather cloaks. They prostrated themselves before him. They placed him in the most sacred places in their temples. When he despoiled a temple of its woodwork and carried off idols for firewood to use upon his ships, the natives made no protest. They supposed that Lono had a right to his own. But afterward, when death proved that Captain Cook was "a man and no god," the feeling of resentment was exceedingly deep and bitter. This was the standpoint from which the Hawaiians welcomed their discoverers.
On the other hand, when Captain Cook saw the islands in 1778, he was impressed with the friendly spirit of the people, and with their hearty willingness
to give aid in any direction. There was also an appearance of manliness and dignity about the high chiefs. There was such respect and ready service on the part of the people--there were such prostrations before the kings of the various islands that Captain Cook accepted the "worship" offered him as the proper respect due to the representative of Great Britain. He was glad to receive a welcome that freed him from much anxiety. He was thankful that the chiefs accepted his superiority. He could easily procure the supplies needed for his ships. He could prosecute his investigations concerning harbours and resources without danger to himself or to his men.
After securing such supplies as he needed, in February, 1778, he sailed for North America. Here he spent the summer and fall, exploring the coast from San Francisco to Alaska. He consulted the Russians who were fur-hunting in this region. He became satisfied that there was no northwest channel across North America, to either Hudson's or Baffin's Bay. He made a chart of the coast. The winter came on suddenly and severely. He fled to the "Sandwich Islands," and in November, 1778, sighted the island of Maui, or, as Captain Cook phonetically spelled it, "Mowee." Soon he discovered the large island Hawaii, or "Owhyhee." He was surprised to see the summits of the mountains covered with snow. As he drew near the channel between Maui and Hawaii, Ka-meha-meha
with several of his friends went on board one of the ships and passed the night. He was at that time forty-three years of age.
Then for eleven days Captain Cook sailed in the channel between Maui and Hawaii. On the second day of December he anchored near Kohala, the northern point of the island Hawaii.
Captain Cook purchased pigs for a piece of iron or barrel hoop, to make axes or knives or fish-hooks. A pig one fathom long would get a piece of iron. A longer pig would get a knife for a chief. If a common man received anything, the chief would take it. If it was concealed and discovered the man was killed.
They brought offerings--pigs, taro, sweet potatoes, bananas, chickens, and all such things as pleased Captain Cook.
Lono went to the western bay Ke-ala-ke-kua and the priest took him into the temple, thinking he was their god. There they gave him a place upon the platform with the images of the gods--the place where sacrifices were laid. The priest stepped back after putting on Captain Cook the oloa (the small white tapa thrown over the god while prayer was being recited) and the red cloak laaena, as was the custom with the gods. Then he offered prayer thus:
"O Lono! your different bodies in the heavens, long cloud, short cloud, bending cloud, spread-out cloud in the sky, from Uliuli, from Melemele, from
[paragraph continues] Kahiki, from Ulunui, from Haehae, from Anaokuululu, from Hakalanai, from the land opened up by Lono in the lower sky, in the upper sky, in the shaking bottom of the ocean, the lower land, the land without hills.
"O Ku! O Lono! O Kane! O Kanaloa! the gods from above and from beneath, gods from most distant places! Here are the sacrifices, the offerings, the living things from the chief, from the family, hanging on the shining cloud and the floating land! Arama (amen); ma noa" (the tabu is lifted).
Several weeks passed by. Trivial troubles arose. The natives learned to steal some things from the supposed "heavenly" visitors. The harmony between the sailors and the Hawaiians was disturbed.
In February, 1779, Lono went on his ship and sailed as far as Kawaihae. He saw that one of his masts was rotten, so he went back to make repairs, and anchored again at Ke-ala-ke-kua. When the natives saw the ships returning they went out again, but not as before. They had changed their view, saying: "These are not gods; they are only men." Some, however, persisted in believing that these were gods. Some of the men said, "They cry out if they are hurt, like any man." Some of them thought they would test Lono, so went up on the ship and took iron. The sailors saw them and shot at them. Then the natives began to fight. The sailors grabbed the canoe of
the chief Polea, an aikane (close friend) of the king.
He opposed their taking his boat and pushed them off. One of them ran up with a club and struck Polea and knocked him down. The natives saw this and leaped upon the sailors. Polea rose up and stopped the fighting. Because he was afraid Lono would kill him he stopped the quarrel.
After this he no longer believed that Lono was a god. He was angry, and thought he would secretly take one of the ship's boats, break it all to pieces for the iron in it, and also because he wanted revenge for the blow which knocked him down. This theft of a boat was the cause of the quarrel with, and death of, Captain Cook.
Captain Cook and his people woke up in the morning and saw that his boat was gone. They were troubled, and Captain Cook went to ask the king about the boat. The king said, "I do not know anything about it. Perhaps some native has stolen it and taken it to some other place." Captain Cook returned to the ship and consulted with his officers. They decided they had better get the king, take him on the ship, and hold him until the boat should be returned, and then set him free. Officers and men took guns and swords and prepared to go ashore and capture the king.
Captain Cook tried to persuade the king to go to the ship with him. The king was held back by
his chiefs. They were suspicious, but the king could not readily give up his confidence.
Meanwhile, a chief living across the bay saw Captain Cook going ashore. He and another chief launched a double canoe and sailed quickly across.
Sailors saw these men in red cloaks, fired upon them from the ships and killed one of them. The other hurried his boatmen and escaped to the king's house. Captain Cook had issued an order forbidding canoes to come near the ships. When the chief saw the king by the side of Captain Cook he cried out: "O Kalani! O the sea is not right--Kalimu has been killed! Return to the house!" He told how the sailors had fired upon his friend and himself.
Kalola, wife of Kalaniopuu, heard the death-word, and that the chief had been killed by the gun of the foreigners, so she ran out of the woman's house, put her hand on the king's shoulder and said, "O Kalani, let us go back."
The king turned, thinking he would go back, but Captain Cook seized his hands. A chief thrust his spear between them, and the king and some of his chiefs went back to the house.
Then the battle commenced. When Lono (Captain Cook) saw the spear pushed between the king and himself he caught his sword and struck that chief on the head, but the sword slipped and cut the cheek. Then that chief struck Lono with his spear and knocked him down on the lava beach.
Lono cried out because of the hurt. The chief thought, "This is a man, and not a god, and there is no wrong." So he killed Lono (Captain Cook). Four other foreigners also were killed. Many daggers and spears were used in killing Captain Cook.
When the officers and men saw that Captain Cook and some others had been killed, they ran down, got on the boat, fired guns and killed many of the natives. Some natives skilled in the use of sling-stones threw stones against the boat. When the sailors saw that Captain Cook was dead, they fired guns from the ship. The natives held up mats as shields, but found they were no protection against the bullets.
The king offered the body of Captain Cook as a sacrifice. This sacrifice meant that the body was placed on an altar with prayers as a gift to the gods because the chief and his kingdom had been saved by the gods. When the ceremonies of the sacrifice were over, they cleaned off the flesh from the bones of Lono and preserved them. A priest kindly returned a part of the body to the foreigners to be taken on their ship. Some of the bones were kept by the priests and worshipped.
Eight days after the death of Lono at Ka-awaloa the natives again met those who remained on the ship.
Monday, February 23, 1779, the ship went to Kauai. On the 29th of that month they secured water and purchased food. Because they wanted
the yams of Niihau, they sailed over to that island and purchased yams, sweet potatoes, and pigs, and on March 15th sailed out into the mist of the ocean and were completely lost to sight.
This is the end of Captain Cook's voyage along the coasts of these islands.