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THE NEW AMERICA AND THE FAR EAST
A picturesque and historic description of these lands and people
CAPTAIN COOK’S DISCOVERY
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he seafarer crossing the Pacific Ocean under the imaginary line of the Tropic of Cancer, sailing from Cape St. Lucas, at the southern extremity of Lower California, due west for over eight thousand miles, or one-third the distance around the globe, meets with only a solitary spot of land in all that long water journey. Should he traverse the sea in a slightly northwesterly direction, from Panama to Japan, he would make a trip of equal length and loneliness, passing midway on his voyage the same ocean isle as before. If he should start from San Francisco, bound to Queensland, he would again compass his stupendous passage greeted by the same lonely sentinel of the mighty deep. But this time he would find soon after passing this spot innumerable islands, isles, and coral reefs scattered along the way. On the north, however, not a speck dots the watery expanse until the polar lands are reached.
This breakwater of the Central Pacific, which old ocean has tried in vain to swallow for numberless ages, is Kauai, the most northerly of the Hawaiian Islands. Forming a happy resemblance to a huge cornucopia of 360 miles curve to southeast, between latitude 18 degrees, 55 minutes; and 22 degrees 20 minutes; N., and longitude 154 degrees 55 minutes; and 160 degrees 15 minutes; W., this group of islands is the most northerly cluster of the Polynesian Archipelago.
While numbering twelve in all, four of these islands are really nothing but the brown heads of rocky pillars thrust forbiddingly above the surface of the deep, and the fifth is too small and meager in its resources to afford a population, which leaves the poet’s “seven sunny isles of the southern seas.” Beginning with the point of this horn of plenty and running southward the list of eight comprises Niihau, 80 square miles in area; Kauai, 590 miles; Oahu, 600 miles; Molokai, 270 miles; Maui, 760 miles; Lanai, 150 miles; Kahoolawe, 63 miles; Hawaii, 4210 miles in extent. The entire group contains 6740 square miles, or about the amount of territory of the State of Massachusetts, Hawaii having almost two-thirds of the whole area.
The written history of the Hawaiian Islands covers a period of less than a century and a quarter, beginning with the discovery of Captain Cook in 1778. Running into this from the centuries before there is another story told by the tongue, the traditions of an uncivilized race. Behind these vague accounts of warlike deeds and religious mysticisms, there is yet another era on the scrolls of the silent ages. This takes us back into the misty past thousands of years, --- back to a period when all the waters were locked in crystal prisons, and plant and animal life were unknown. The war of the elements ensued; the ice king retreated before the equatorial god; the silence of the solitude was broken by the grinding and crashing of the glaciers. The white pinnacles of the ice-floes melted away, and in their place of desolation rose the mountains of a productive land; instead of the icy fields and frozen spikes came fertile valleys, with trees, plants, and flowers; in place of the bitter cold, the balmy climate; on the scene of lifelessness, a race of human beings. This is the mysterious and awe-inspiring picture of the birth of a world.
Captain Cook’s discovery of this group of islands was an accident. The British government, pleased with this great navigator’s previous voyages of exploration in the then unknown Pacific Ocean, with the counsel and assistance of Lord Sandwich of the Admiralty, fitted him out for a third trip, placing under his command the two ships Resolution and Discovery. He sailed from Plymouth, England, July 12, 1776, only eight days after the signing of the Declaration of Independence by the representatives of the thirteen colonies of America.
Captain Cook’s orders were to revisit the islands of the southern seas, where he had twice wintered, “to disseminate and naturalize” some of the useful animals of Europe in that remote region, and to find a northern passage to the Atlantic Ocean. He cruised around in the Polynesian Archipelago for a year and a half, leaving on the different islands those domestic animals which have proved of such value to the inhabitants. Then he sailed from the Society Islands on his way to the north.
On the eighteenth of January, 1778, he sighted the island of Oahu, and sailing along its southwestern coast, the next day he discovered the islands of Niihau and Kauai. The following morning, January 20th , he anchored at Waimea, on the shore of Kauai, a place noted in the traditions of the natives as having been the battle-ground of ancient kings.
As the vessels sailed up the coast, the inhabitants of the island began to appear in large groups, alarmed and mystified over the arrival of the strange ships. In such numbers did the natives rush to the water’s edge, as the first boat started for the shore, Captain Cook ordered a volley of shot to be fired over their heads. One of the excited mob was killed, but, as the firing was not continued, the natives received their visitors in a friendly manner. Presents were exchanged, and the newcomers were highly pleased with what they saw.
After staying on this island a few days, and laying in a fresh stock of water and provision, the English ships headed away to Niihau, where they remained until February 2nd . Believing he had discovered a group of islands, Captain Cook named them for his patron, Lord Sandwich, and set sail for the polar regions, on what he fondly anticipated was his homeward voyage.
In sight of the beach at Waimea is still pointed out a large, flat rock, bearing the mark of a broad arrow, claimed to have been made by Captain Cook to designate the place of his first landing. In the village are three other stones with similar markings made by the English commander for the same purpose.
His northern voyage proving a disappointment, though he explored the coast of Alaska, Bering Straight, and the Arctic Ocean until finding his progress stopped by the ice-fields, Captain Cook was glad to return to the south, where he might spend the approaching winter, to resume his search for the northern passage another summer.
On the morning of November 26th , he sighted for the first time the island of Maui, and he anchored at Waimea. The news of his visit to Kauai seemed to have preceded him here, for he was greeted by a larger crowd than before, that considered him a god, and his followers as supernatural beings. His ships were thought to be moving islands, which could send forth thunder and lightning at the command of their master. The natives showed no signs of hostility.
After laying off Maui several days, during which time he had a brisk trade with the inhabitants, Captain Cook sailed along the coast until, on the thirtieth, he discovered Hawaii. Judging this to be larger and of more importance than the others, he decided to make its circuit, which took him seven weeks before he dropped anchor in the ill-fated bay of Kealakekua. He had called at numerous villages on his trip, and everywhere had been treated with generosity and loaded with divine honors. Here over a thousand canoes swarmed in the waters around his ships, most of them crowded with people, and laden with the richest tributes the land afforded, choice fowls and hogs, fruits and vegetables of many kinds and rare excellence. In all that vast number not a weapon was seen, one and all having come to pay their free and spontaneous worship to the newcomers.
No sooner had the English commander and a portion of his crews gone ashore, than the natives announced a season of festivities and sacrificial ceremonies to their visitors. Captain Cook was looked upon as the reincarnation of their god Lono, whose return to the earth their high priests had prophesied, and he was escorted to the heiau or temple built in his honor, while the people and chiefs, even to the king, prostrated themselves before him.
Captain Cook and his reckless tars quickly caught the spirit of their tempters, and for eighteen days they reveled in the prodigal simplicity of their worshippers. There under the dome of the sleeping Hualalai, on the rich lava beds builded (sic) by this mighty volcano in the centuries unrecorded, and fringed with tall, sinuous, dark-crested cocoa-palms, half concealing the sea below, unrestrained nature ran riot with itself.
Then the visitors grew overbearing and independent. The temple of the gods was turned into an observatory; the consecrated platform was transformed into a sail-loft; the sacred palisades of the heiau were carried away to be used as fuel to cook the food of these newcomers! At first amazed, the spectators became indignant. It had been enough that their rich presents had been reciprocated by a few hatchets and knives, and their magnificent gifts of feather mantles and helmets had been taken without thanks.
Though they prudently remained peaceful, it must have been with secret pleasure that they saw the ships sail away with their visitors on February 4th .
The joy of the islanders proved short-lived. Off Kawaihae the ship Resolution sprung a foremast in buffeting a gale, and Captain Cook returned to his old anchorage to repair the damage. Carpenters were sent ashore to work upon the injured mast, when the natives treated them coldly. The king was away, but the priests remained friendly, and the sailors did not hesitate to show their authority, which further incensed the people. Some of them stole a pinnance for its iron fastening, which so angered Captain Cook that he resolved to capture the king, and hold him as a hostage until the stolen property had been restored. Protected by a body-guard of his marines, Cook went at once to the home of the aged king, who, like his priests, still kept his faith with them, and enticed him to go on board the ship.
Already the natives had swarmed in the waters about the vessels, and the officer left in command ordered that a shot be fired to frighten them off. One of the shots took effect in a chief. Meanwhile the chiefs and people on the shore were protesting against the treatment accorded their king. The islanders were now armed with spears and hatchets, and so threatening did the mob become that Captain Cook advanced with all haste possible. Upon reaching the beach a tall islander sprang in front of him, declaring that he had killed his brother. Thereupon Cook fired but missed him. At that moment some one from the wild rabble threw a stone, which struck Captain Cook and brought a groan from him. He now fired his second pistol, killing his man this time. But the cry of anguish coming from his lips caused one of his assailants to shout: “ He feels pain! He is not a god!”
The islanders now rushed upon the seamen so furiously that they were compelled to beat a disorderly retreat, four of their number being killed. The others escaped by swimming to the boats, leaving their commander surrounded by the excited natives. He signaled his men to stop firing and come to his assistance. At that moment a chief ran up behind him and plunged an iron dagger through his body. He fell face downward in the water, his body seized and dragged away by the infuriated mob.
Firing was resumed by the seamen, but the king called off his people and the scene became quiet. Captain Clark, now in command, as soon as he deemed it expedient, sent ashore for the body of Captain Cook, though only a portion of his lower limbs was to be found. The incensed islanders had burned the rest, except the heart, which was eaten by some children through mistake, which gave rise to the story that the natives were cannibals.
Now that the unhappy affair was over, the people showed genuine sorrow over the untimely fate of the great navigator, whose memory is revered to this day by the Hawaiians. Captain cook was a brave and efficient officer, doing more than all the others toward enlightening the world in regard to the islands of that remote quarter of the globe; but he was quick tempered, and possessed unbridled imperiousness, which brought him his death at the hands of those who had gratuitously provisioned his ships, and everywhere lavished upon him the attention and worshipfulness due a god. If carrying to the enlightened world a knowledge of their existence, these visitors were to leave with these simple people a disease which was to render sad havoc in their numbers and happiness.
The importance Captain Cook attached to his discovery of these islands is told in his own words, the last entry he made in his journal kept of that long and eventful voyage:
“We could not but be struck with the singularity of this scene; and perhaps there were few on board who now lamented out having failed finding a northern passage home last summer. To this disappointment we owed our having the power to revisit the Sandwich Islands, and to enrich our voyage with a discovery which, though last, seemed in many respects to be the most important that had hitherto been made by Europeans, throughout the extent of the Pacific Ocean.”
The memory of this great, but unfortunate, navigator is preserved by a white concrete monument, erected by some of his fellow countrymen on the spot, as nearly as could be ascertained, where he fell. It bears the following inscription:
“In memory of the great circumnavigator, Captain James Cook, R. N., who discovered these islands on the 18th of January, 1778, A.D., and fell near this spot on the 14th of February, 1779. This monument was erected in November, A.D. 1874, by some of his countrymen.”
Thus, while the united colonies of America were fighting their first war for independence with their mother country, a son of the latter discovered and explored those islands in the distant sea which were destined to become eventually a part of the rising republic.
posted by Don # 4:14 AM 
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