The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1892-04-22

leave them one of his officers whom
they thought to be his son, to which
the captain replied that he could
not spare the officer at present, but
that if he returned the next year
he would endeavor to please them.
Had Cook not been driven back
again by bad weather the Hawai-
ians would not have stolen the Dis
covery's cutter, and Cooks fame
might have rested on the recital of
long years of success, instead of as
is attempted now, on few days of
unavoidable quarrel.
Mr.. Davies is quite right when
he says "there was neither treach-
cry nor animosity on the part of
the Hawaiians ;" that is, there was
no treachery, for that would indi-
cate malice aforethought, which
did not exist, nor was there ami
mostly on either side till the last
few minutes.
There seems to be misapprehen-
sion as to the relative value of the
chieftain's feather cloak and the
captains uniform sword Git was
not cutlass which Cook gave to
Kalaniopuu). 1t should be borne
in mind that a feather cloak in
Hawaii a hundred years ago had
not the same intrinsic value which
the same article in a collectors
cabinet has to-day. Neither was
an officers sword at the same time
and place as familiar an object as
it now is in an outfitter's shop. The
fact is, the element of barter did
not enter into the transaction at
all. Both cloak and sword were
symbols of chieftainship-of au-
thority.
When the Hawaiian chief en-
dued the stranger chief with his
cloak of supreme authority, what
more fitting or gracious than that
the latter should unbuckle his
sword from his side and invest his
visitor with the same token of his
own rank among the strangers ?
Even as to relative value, the chief
got the better by the exchange. The
feather cloak was of no value what
ever to Cook except as a very beau
tiful curiosity. Even as such, it
was of no personal value to himself
as he would probably, had he lived
to reach home, have given it up
with the other fruits of his eApe,li-
ton to his Government. On the
other hand, the possession OF the
only steel sword in his dominion
| was far more than a mere curiosity
| to the Hawaiian chief.
The peculiar view of the char
acter and actions of Captain Cook
his, officers and men sought to
be established by certain unfriend-
ly writer's, must have taken it's
origin in the story as told to the
early missionaries by the natives
nearly fifty years after the events,
when the great majority of the
adult actors had passed away. The
natives gave the account Of events
necessarily as viewed from their
own standpoint, and were natur-
ally DESTROYS of making the actions
of their fathers appear in the most
favorable light.
They, apparently believed Cook
to be a temperance or reincarna
ton of their lost Lono. But Cook
knew nothing whatever of this anc
put up with their strange anC
sometimes disgusting ceremonie:
with such patience and good humo
as he could command.
; The fame of Cook for humanity
and considerateness both to hi
, ships company and to the savag
races he had to do with from Beh
! rings sea to New Zealand is suffi
l GENTLY assured, and is not ikel
to be brought into question by an
expressions of mere irrelevant AMI
6 mostly. Your obedient servant,
IT w MTcT