Captain Cook's Last Days.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 156, 2 July 1892, Page 9

Captain Cook's Last Days.

By E. Ellsworth Caeey.

It haa been asserted that Capbain Cook, R.N., was nob aware that the natives of Hawaii regarded him as a superior being, and that) he was not conscious that he was worshipped as a pod. The following, adapted from Prof. Alexander's History of Hawaii, will give the salient points in the matter :— 'An aged priesb came on board and saluted Captain Cook with the utmost veneration. He then threw a piece of red cloth over Cook's shoulders, and stepping back made an offering of a pig, while he recited a lone; prayer. The same afternoon Captain Cook, accompanied by the officers and the priest, went ashore, and the people prostrated themselves at his approach. Cook was conducted to a temple, where various ceremonies took place, the object of which was to solemnly acknowledge Cook as an incarnation of one of the Hawaiian gods. He was first stationed in front of the sacred images, where he was robed with red native cloth ; long prayers were addressed .to him-by two priests, and the body of a hog was offered to him. Similar ceremonies were repeated in other parts of the temple, after which he was anointed-with the chewed kernel of a cocoanub, and baked pork, liquor, etc., were offered him.-

'A few days later Cook again came ashore, and he was worshipped with nearly the some ceremonies as before. Wherever he went he was accompanied by a priest, who carried a wand, and who ordered all people, to prostaate themselves. Jarves remarked that Cook moved among the natives as an earblily deity, observed, feared and worIhipped.' 'In the ' Legends and Myths of Hawaii,' by King Kalakaua, p. 390, are found the following words :

4 The visit was returned, and Cook, as before, was received on shore with divine honours, against which he offered no protest. >. He was placed among the gods in the temple and sacrifices were offered to him as one of th& Hawaiian trinity.

•Bub how were the devotion and kindness of the simple natives requited ? By eating out the substance of thepeople.'Violating the tabus of the priests and. trampling upon the edicts of the king. , Cook became exacting, dictatorial and greedy, and from his conduct ib almosb seemed that he began to consider himself in reality the god for whom he was mistaken by the superstitious natives. 1 , In passing, it might be noted that Cook was under no necessity of submitting to the adoration and worship of the natives ; there was no need for him to accept the homage of the people or the administrations of the priest. Men have sometimes submitted to be worshipped when a refusal meant death or ill-treatment, or when it was necessary to satisfy an ignorant community of savages. In Cook's intercourse with the Hawaiianß, no such occasion arose. He could by a motion of his hand have turned away all celestial honours ; he certainly knew enough of the language to explain to them his own humanity. . His Bailors were nob in need of'food, for with a few nails or scraps of iron he could have purchased sustenance for his men sufficient for a week.

Why, then, did Cook continue to masquerade as a god ? The reader of Hawaiian history will search in vain to find a reason that does not stain the character of Cook.

Such are the facts. Cook had twice circumnavigated the globe. He was well acquainted with the manners, cuatoma and ceremonial forms of different native tribes. He knew something of the Polynesian language, and the Hawaiian dialect. He knew what a temple was; he knew the office of the priest. He had witnessed heathen ceremonies,' and knew how the Polynesians worshipped their deities. He knew that prostration before an idol meant worship. He knew that offerings meant worship. He knew that the anointing of an idol by a priest meant worship.

Furthermore, he knew that white men, when first seen by ignorant natives, are always considered as beings of supermundane origin. Columbus was considered a god, when he first set foot on the shores of San Domingo ; homage was offered, but he refused to accept the worship of the natives, and disclaimed being a god.

Upon considering Prof. Alexander's testimony,—and the testimony "of every Hawaiian antiquarian is the same, —what conclusion must be accepted ? Either Captain Cook was fully aware, —fully conscious that he was regarded as a god, or he wa3 not.

It i 3 nob likely fcbat Captain Cook f uUy understood the special meaning and significance of the forms and ceremonies of which he was the central figure, but he certainly knew that he was being worshipped. He knew that ho was regarded as a celestial being. He knew that he was held in veneration and esteem ; he knew that he was considered equal to the idols of the temples, and the prostration of the people before him told him that he was regarded as a superior being. There is nothing to show that Cook protested against this homage either by word or action. He accepted the worship ; in co" doing he accepted the consequences, which, in his case, was death.

He stood before the people and tacitly admitted that ho was a god ; he allowed the people to believe that he had the attribute of a deity ; in the guise of a superior being, he robbed ; and ravished. Ho permitted -outrages to bo committed. He stols the sacred objeots from this temples. He outraged the feelings of the priest, disregarded their wlshea, and aitar be a»4

his men had sowed the seeds of physical and moral death among an innocent and helpless people, he died as be lived— a brave man, bub arrogant, insolent, overbearing. The visit of Captain Cook is the mosb calamitous event in the history of the Hawaiian people. Ib , waa their death knell. . Then they numbered half a million ; now a handful