The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-02-14
MYTHS OF HAWAII.

NOthinS seems 10 be more nrmly
fixed In foreign opinion about the ma
live people of Hawaii than the idea
that they once We're cannibals and
that. at the time of Captain Cook :
visit, they numbered 100000 souls. \
recent issue of the Anglican Church
Chronicle quotes the Rev. DR.. Geo. w
Eandewater-the rotund and immat ter
ial and efflorescent Vandewater of the
old University days-as saying that a
congregation of 5000 native Hawaiians
showed what had been done by the
church with people who. but fifty
years ago were eaters of human flesh"
1t was a most amazing statement To
come from any pulpit-eXcept Vande-
waters-but it fairly represents the
average, unintelligent opinion of the
nasses- To such critics all islands be
tween Cancer and Capricorn were once
Inhabited by cannibals, though scien-
lists declare that very many of them
indeed. including particularly the Ha-
lraiiaD group, had no man-eating saw
ages.
The native traditions here. so far as
can be traced, are quite accurate. For
example. their mele which tells of the
arrival on the beach some three hun
bred years ago OF two white strangers
told their beads. corresponds almost
precisely as to date with the Spanish
narrative of the loss of ships by
SOna storm from a fleet of galleons.
passing south of here, while trading
between Acapulco and Manila. AS to
the Cook tradition, as ii exists in the
kona district, where the British nav
iSatOr was killed and where the natives
are more nearly in their primitive state
than elsewhere. ii discards the cannibal
theory by means of a simple eXpIana-
ton According to the account, after
the death of Captain Cook, who. during
most of his intercourse with the ma
lives had been regarded by them as a
god. il was decided by the natives to
make an Offering of his body to the
gods. The yiscera were taken out and
placed in a calabash. to be offered to
one of the powerful gods of the sea of
the Hawaiian theOgony, the viscera be-
ing considered a higher and better of
ferins than any other part of the body.
The remainder of the body was to be
offered to a less powerful god While
the Viscera was in the calabash it was
found by some children, who mistak-
ing ii for the viscera of a pig. which
was considered a great delicacy. built
a IRE. cooked and ate it or part of
H. Fhe remainder of the body, as all
accounts substantially agree. was af- /
rewards returned to Cooks successor
in command of the vessel"
DIT OF cirCumstantial evidence lies
in the fact that, many years ago. a ma
tive lived on Hawaii who was practi- !
caHy an outcast among his people be- !
cause he was believed to have once eat
en- human flesh. \ name Indicative of I
Aorror and contempt was coined for
him.
As TO the theory that 400. 900 paonIa !
hVee here in Cooks time it was disput- |
co ABOUT forty years ago by James !
jackson Jarves and has never appealed
strongly to other investigators. The !
4Vo'oVo estimate was Cooks own. and he |
BASED 1t on the vast crowds he met al |
every landing place and upon the num-
Der OF natives he saw along shore. He
iid not know that the Hawafians good
walkers and runners all, followed bis
snip from point to point and that he
Vas seeing thousands over and o,-.r
again Furthermore, there was not
Iooo enough in this group for 4oo ooo
.Op'~' nor was the social system of
the people calculated to stimulate the
Growth of population. Between tbs
wars and the sacrifice of the vouns aDd
lie occasional lean years. it is doubt
.tui IL the aborigines, when at ,beir
enerical zenith. had among tbar,
9re than 10000 souls.