FEB. 1779.] STRANGE BEHAVIOUR OF TWO BOYS. very few men might have been severely felt by us during the remaining course of our voyage. Whereas the delaying the execution of our threats, though on the one hand it lessened their opinion of our prowess, had the effect of causing them to disperse on the other. For this day, about noon, finding us persist in our inactivity, great bodies of them, after blowing their conches and using every mode of defiance, marched off over the hills, and never appeared afterward. Those, however, who remained were not the less daring and insolent. One man had the audacity to come within musket shot, ahead of the ship; and after slinging several stones at us, he waved Captain Cook's hat over his head, whilst his countrymen on shore were exulting and encouraging his boldness. Our people were all in a flame at this insult, and coming in a body on the quarter-deck, begged they might no longer be obliged to put up with these repeated provocations, and requested me to obtain permission for them from Captain Clerke to avail themselves of the first fair occasion of revenging the death of their commander. On my acquainting him with what was passing, he gave orders for some great guns to be fired at the natives on shore, and promised the crew that if they should meet with any molestation at the watering-place the next day they should then be left at liberty to chastise them. It is somewhat remarkable that before we could bring our guns to bear the islanders had suspected our intentions, from the stir they saw in the ship, and had retired behind their houses and walls. We were therefore obliged to fire, in some measure, at random; notwithstanding which our shot produced all the effects that could have been desired. For soon after we saw Koah paddling toward us with extreme haste, and on his arrival we learned that some people had been killed, and amongst the rest Maihamaiha, a principal chief and a near relation of the King. Soon after the The word "matee" is commonly 815 arrival of Koah, two boys swam off from the "morai" toward the ships, having each a long spear in his hand; and after they had approached pretty near they began to chant a song in a very solemn manner, the subject of which, from their often mentioning the word "Orono" and pointing to the village where Captain Cook was killed, we concluded to be the late calamitous disaster. Having sung in a plaintive strain for about twelve or fifteen minutes, during the whole of which time they remained in the water, they went on board the Discovery and delivered their spears; and after making a short stay returned on shore. Who sent them, or what was the object of this ceremony, we were never able to learn. At night, the usual precautions were taken for the security of the ships; and as soon as it was dark our two friends who had visited us the night before came off again. They assured us that though the effects of our great guns this afternoon, had terrified the chiefs exceedingly, they had by no means laid aside their hostile inten. tions, and advised us to be on our guard. The next morning the boats of both ships were sent ashore for water; and the Discovery was warped close to the beach in order to cover that service. We soon found that the intelligence which the priests had sent us was not without foundation; and that the natives were resolved to take every opportunity of annoying us when it could be done without much risk. Throughout all this group of islands, the villages for the most part are situated near the sea, and the adjacent ground is enclosed with stone walls about three feet high. These we at first imagined were intended for the division of property; but we now discovered that they served, and pro used, in the language of these islands, to express either killing or wounding; and we were afterward told that this chief had only received a slight blow on the face from a stone which had been struck by one of the balls.— Note in Original Edition. almost the only crime for which they are accustomed to expect punishment, they learn to consider it as the only measure of right and wrong; and hence are apt to conclude that what they can do with impunity they may do with justice and honour. So that the feelings of humanity which are inseparable from us all, and that generosity toward an unresisting enemy which at other times is the distinguishing mark of brave men, become but weak restraints to the exercise of violence when opposed to the desire they naturally have of showing their own independence and power. bably were principally designed, for a | defence against invasion. They consist of loose stones, and the inhabitants are very dexterous in shifting them with great quickness to such situations as the direction of the attack may require. In the sides of the mountain which hangs over the bay they have also little holes or caves of considerable depth, the entrance of which is secured by a fence of the same kind. From behind both these defences the natives kept perpetually harassing our waterers with stones; nor could the small force we had on shore, with the advantage of muskets, compel them to retreat. In this exposed situation our people were so taken up in attending to their own safety, that they employed the whole forenoon in filling only one ton of water. As it was therefore impossible to perform this service till their assailants were driven to a greater distance, the Discovery was ordered to dislodge them with her great guns; which being effected by a few discharges, the men landed without molestation. However, the natives soon after made their appearance again in their usual mode of attack; and it was now found absolutely necessary to burn down some straggling houses near the wall behind which they had taken shelter. In executing these orders I am sorry to add that our people were hurried into acts of unnecessary cruelty and devastation. Something ought certainly to be allowed to their resentment of the repeated insults and contemptuous behaviour of the islanders, and to the natural desire of revenging the loss of their commander. But at the same time their conduct served strongly to convince me that the utmost precaution is necessary in trusting, though but for a moment, the discretionary use of arms in the hands of private seamen or soldiers on such occasions. The rigour of discipline and the habits of obedience by which their force is kept directed to its proper objects lead them naturally enough to conceive that whatever they have the power they have also the right to do. Actual disobedience being I have already mentioned that orders had been given to burn only a few straggling huts which afforded shelter to the natives. We were therefore a good deal surprised to see the whole village on fire; and before a boat that was sent to stop the progress of the mischief could reach the shore, the houses of our old and con. stant friends the priests were all in flames. I cannot enough lament the illness that confined me on board this day. The priests had always been under my protection; and unluckily the officers who were then on duty, having been seldom on shore at the "morai," were not much acquainted with the circumstances of the place. Had I been present myself, I might probably have been the means of saving their little society from destruction. Several of the natives were shot in making their escape from the flames; and our people cut off the heads of two of them and brought them on board. The fate of one poor islander was much lamented by us all. As he was coming to the well for water he was shot at by one of the marines. The ball struck his calibash, which he immediately threw from him and fled. He was pursued into one of the caves I have before described, and no lion could have defended his den with greater courage and fierceness; till at last, after having kept two of our people at bay for a considerable time, he expired, covered with wounds. It was this accident that first brought us acquainted with the use of these FEB. 1779.] RETURN OF KAIREEKEEA. caverns. At this time, an elderly man was taken prisoner, bound, and sent on board in the same boat with the heads of his two countrymen. I never saw horror so strongly pictured as in the face of this man, nor so violent a transition to extravagant joy as when he was untied and told he might go away in safety. He showed us he did not want gratitude, as he frequently afterward returned with presents of provisions, and also did us other services. 817 coming on board he had seen the heads of his countrymen lying on the deck, at which he was exceedingly shocked, and desired with great earnestness that they might be thrown overboard. This request Captain Clerke instantly ordered to be complied with. In the evening the watering party returned on board, having met with no further interruption. We passed a gloomy night, the cries and lamentations we heard on shore being far more dreadful than ever. Our only consolation was the hope that we should have no occasion in future for a repetition of such severities. It is very extraordinary that amidst all these disturbances the women of the island who were on board never offered to leave us, nor discovered the smallest or their friends ashore. So entirely unconcerned did they appear, that some of them who were on deck when the town was in flames seemed to admire the sight, and frequently cried out that it was "maitai," or very fine. Soon after the village was destroyed we saw coming down the hill a man attended by fifteen or twenty boys holding pieces of white cloth, green boughs, plantains, &c., in their hands. I knew not how it happened that this peaceful embassy, as soon as they were within reach, received the fire of a party of our men. This, how-apprehensions either for themselves ever, did not stop them. They continued their procession, and the officer on duty came up in time to prevent a second discharge. As they approached nearer, it was found to be our muchesteemed friend Kaireekeea, who had fled on our first setting fire to the village, and had now returned and desired to be sent on board the Resolution. When he arrived, we found him exceedingly grave and thoughtful. We endeavoured to make him understand the necessity we were under of setting fire to the village, by which his house and those of his brethren were unintentionally consumed. He expostulated a little with us on our want of friendship and on our ingratitude. And indeed it was not till now that we learned the whole extent of the injury we had done them. He told us that, relying on the promises I had made them, and on the assurances they had afterward received from the men who had brought us the remains of Captain Cook, they had not removed their effects back into the country with the rest of the inhabitants, but had put everything that was valuable of their own, as well as what they had collected from us, into a house close to the "morai," where they had the mortification to see it all set on fire by ourselves. On The next morning Koah came off as usual to the ships. As there existed no longer any necessity for keeping terms with him, I was allowed to have my own way. When he approached towards the side of the ship, singing his song, and offering me a hog and some plantains, I ordered him to keep off, cautioning him never to appear again without Captain Cook's bones, lest his life should pay the forfeit of his frequent breach of promise. He did not appear much mortified with this reception, but went immediately ons hore and joined a party of his countrymen who were pelting the waterers with stones. The body of the young man who had been killed the day before was found this morning lying at the entrance of the cave, and some of our people went and threw a mat over it. Soon after which they saw some men carrying him off on their shoulders, and could hear them singing, as they marched, a mournful song. The natives being at last convinced that it was not the want of ability to punish them which had hitherto made us tolerate their provocations, desisted from giving us any further molestation; and in the evening a chief called Eappo, who had seldom visited us, but whom we knew to be a man of the very first consequence, came with presents from Terreeoboo to sue for peace. These presents were received, and he was dismissed with the same answer which had before been given, that until the remains of Captain Cook should be restored no peace would be granted. We learned from this person that the flesh of all the bodies of our people, together with the bones of the trunks, had been burned; that the limb bones of the marines had been divided amongst the inferior chiefs; and that those of Captain Cook had been disposed of in the following manner: the head, to a great chief called Kahoo-opeon; the hair, to Maiamaia; and the legs, thighs, and arms, to Terreeoboo. After it was dark, many of the inhabitants came off with roots and other vegetables, and we also received two large presents of the same articles from Kaireekeea. the hill which is over the beach in a kind of procession, each man carrying a sugar-cane or two on his shoulders, and bread-fruit, "taro," and plan. tains in his hand. They were preceded by two drummers, who, when they came to the water-side, sat down by a white flag, and began to beat their drums, while those who had followed them advanced one by one; and, having deposited the presents they had brought, retired in the same order. Soon after, Eappo came in sight in his long feathered cloak, bearing something with great solemnity in his hands; and having placed himself on a rock, he made signs for a boat to be sent him. Captain Clerke conjecturing that he had brought the bones of Captain Cook, which proved to be the fact, went himself in the pinnace to receive him, and ordered me to attend him in the cutter. When we arrived at the beach, Eappo came into the pinnace and delivered to the Captain the bones, wrapped up in a large quantity of fine new cloth, and covered with a spotted cloak of black and white feathers. He afterward attended us to the Resolution, but could not be prevailed upon to go on board; probably not choosing, from a sense of decency, to be present at the opening of the bundle. We found in it both the hands of Captain Cook entire, which were well known from a remarkable scar on one of them that divided the thumb from the forefinger the whole length of the metacarpal bone; the skull, but with the scalp separated from it, and the bones that form the face wanting; the scalp, with the hair upon it cut short, and the ears adhering to it; the bones of both arms, with the skin of the forearms hanging to them; the thigh and leg bones joined together, but without the feet. The ligaments of the joints were entire, and the whole bore evident marks of having been in the fire, except the hands, which had the flesh left upon them, and were cut in several places and crammed with salt, apparently with an intention of preserving them. The scalp had a cut in the back part of it, but the skull The 19th was chiefly taken up in sending and receiving the messages which passed between Captain Clerke and Terreeoboo. Eappo was very pressing that one of our officers should go on shore, and in the meantime offered to remain as a hostage on board. This request, however, it was not thought proper to comply with; and he left us with a promise of bringing the bones the next day. At the beach the waterers did not meet with the least opposition from the natives, who, notwithstanding our cautious behaviour, came amongst us again without the smallest appearance of diffidence or apprehension. Early in the morning of the 20th we had the satisfaction of getting the foremast stepped. It was an operation attended with great difficulty and some danger, our ropes being so exceedingly rotten that the purchase gave way several times. Between 10 and 11 o'clock we saw a great number of people descending FEB. 1779.] COOK'S REMAINS COMMITTED TO THE DEEP. 819 As we had now everything ready for sea, Captain Clerke, imagining that if the news of our proceedings should reach the islands to leeward before us it might have a bad effect, gave orders to unmoor. About eight in the evening we dismissed all the natives, and Eappo and the friendly Kaireekeea took an affectionate leave of us. We immediately weighed and stood out of the bay. The natives were collected on the shore in great numbers, and as we passed along, received our last farewells with every mark of affection and goodwill. was free from any fracture. The lower | buried with him. We afterward de jaw and feet, which were wanting, sired him to take off the taboo, and Eappo told us had been seized by dif- to make it known that the people ferent chiefs, and that Terreeoboo was might bring their provisions as usual. using every means to recover them. The ships were soon surrounded with The next morning Eappo and the canoes, and many of the chiefs came King's son came on board, and on board expressing great sorrow at brought with them the remaining what happened and their satisfacbones of Captain Cook, the barrels of tion at our reconciliation. Several of his gun, his shoes, and some other our friends who did not visit us sent trifles that belonged to him. Eappo presents of large hogs and other protook great pains to convince us that visions. Amongst the rest came the Terreeoboo, Maiha-maiha, and him- old treacherous Koah, but was refused self were most heartily desirous of admittance. peace; that they had given us the most convincing proof of it in their power; and that they had been prevented from giving it sooner by the other chiefs, many of whom were still our enemies. He lamented with the greatest sorrow the death of six chiefs we had killed, some of whom, he said, were amongst our best friends. The cutter, he told us, was taken away by Pareea's people, very probably in revenge for the blow that had been given him, and it had been broken up the next day. The arms of the marines, which we had also demanded, he assured us had been carried off by the common people, and were irrecoverable; the bones of the chief alone having been preserved as belonging to Terreeoboo and the "Erees. Nothing now remained but to perform the last offices to our great and unfortunate commander. Eappo was dismissed with orders to taboo all the bay; and in the afternoon, the bones having been put into a coffin and the service read over them, they were committed to the deep with the usual military honours. What our feelings were on this occasion, I leave the world to conceive; those who were present know that it is not in my power to express them. During the forenoon of the 22d not a canoe was seen paddling in the bay, the taboo which Eappo had laid on it the day before at our request not being yet taken off. At length Eappo came off to us. We assured him that we were now entirely satisfied, and that, as the "Orono was buried, all remembrance of what had passed was CONCLUSION. [Nothing now remains but to give an outline of the last twenty-one months' voyage of the Resolution and Discovery, until their arrival in England in October 1780; and, as before, the synopsis has been taken from the Cabinet Cyclopædia, "Maritime and Inland Discovery," vol. iii., pp. 8692.] "After leaving Owhyhee, the ships touched at the Island of Atooe, which was found desolated by a war originating in the claims of different chiefs to the goats which Captain Cook had put on shore. These animals had increased to six when the war broke out on their account, in the course of which they were all destroyed. The history of the introduction of useful animals into the South Sea Islands affords many parallel instances of human blindness, and of that barbar |