The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-03-31

The indian Version of the story

AT a meeting of the French Geograph-
ical Society, on the 18th ultimo. to cele-
brate the centenary of Captain Cooks
death, NJ Huber briefly adverted 10 the
native account of the tragedy, as pub
lished four years ago by NJ. de Varigny,
fourteen years member of the Sand
wich Islands Government. 1t is in the
shape Of poem on Captain Cook, attrib-
uted to Kupa, an eye witness of what
happened 1t describes how two forests
were seen gently floating on the waters;
how Kupa and others were ordered to
swim up to them; how they found
Goords, who breathed out fire and smoke
from their nostrils and mouths, had daz-
zling white skins and sparkling eyes,
wore skins of various colors, with h les
in the sides, into which they plunged
their hands, and which appeared to be
| full of treasures.
A god with his thunderbolt kills
Kupa's father whereupon the other
swimmers took to flight The priest de-
clares that the floating island is the war
vessel of the god Lono, who, after muir
dering his wife through jealousy,
left Hawaii long ago to explore
the seas, and had now returned, accord
ing to hispromise, after six generations
He bids the natives take them banan-
mas cocoanuts and oranges, which are ac-
cepted. At night Lono and his fellow
gods shoot kissing arrows of fire at the
stars, making some of them fall into the
sea. Flames of strange colors descended
from che trees OF the floating island, and
extraordinary sounds alarmed the ma
tives. Next morning Lono lands; is
treated as god, with sacrifices and pros
trations; but whether from anger or from
having forgotten the language he makes
no answer. Several of his inferior gods
seized on sacred fish destined for the al
tar.
Others begin pulling up the palisades
surrounding the sacred enclosure, the
Moral, where the elders meet. King Ka-
laimano demonstrates, but they laugh
and persist Lono comes up, crosses the
sacred boundary, and is about t, enter
the Moral. Kalaimano intercepts his
progress, but Lono rudely pushes him
away. Kalaimano takes Lono up in his
arms, and on his struggling to free him
self presses him lightly. Lono cries out
with pain. Gle cries, so he is not a
god" exclaims Kalaimano, and kills him.
The other gods who were pulling up the
stakes fly, but the natives fall on thcm,
and, strange TO say, their blood Howslike
that Of mortals. Kalaimano, however,
while launching arrows from the shore, is
killed by the invisible fire.
Thus your fathers, concludes Kupa,
saw the death in one day of their god
and their chief. In this song the two
visits of the vessel are fused into one;
and while Lieutenant King represents
that the natives had stolen boat and
attacked the sailors, that Captain Cook
was leading away the chief as hostage
to secure redress, that woman melted
an attempt to rescue him, and that Cook
and his men fired to drive them off, and
that they then rushed ON him and killed
him with their knives, Kupa lays the
blame on the sacrilege of the visitors,
and describes Cook as killed by the chief
alone. 1t is not often in encounters be-
tween Europeans. and barbarians that we
meet with the version given by the lat
ter, and nearly century elapsed before
it was committed to writing.