The Western news., 1903-01-14
MYTHS OF HAWAII.
Canniba1ism Not a Habit of the In
land Aborigines.

(0nn1DaI15m NOT q daD1C OF the In"
land Aborigines.
Nothing seems to be more firmly fixed
in foreign opinion about the native peO-
pie of Hawaii than the idea that they
once were cannibals and that, at the
time of Capt. Cooks visit, they num-
Dered 100000 souls. A recent issue of
the Anglican Church Chronicle quotes
the Rev. DR.. George w. Vandewater as
saying that a congregation of 5000 ma
tive Hawaiians showed what had been
done by the church with people who,
but fifty years ago, were eaters of hui
man flesh" 1t was a most amazing
statement to come from any pulpit,
says the Honolulu Advertiser, but it
fairly represents the average, unintelli-
gent opinion Of the masses. To such
critics all islands between Cancer and
Capricorn We're once inhabited by can
nibals, though scientists declare that
very many of them indeed, including
particularly the Hawaiian group, had
no man-eating savages.
The native traditions here, so far as
can be traced, are quite accurate. For
arrival on the beach some 300 years ago
of two white strangers, who, when they
got ashore, knelt and told their beads,
corresponds almost precisely as to date
with the Spanish narrative Of the loss
of ships by Kona storm from fleet
Of galleOns passing south Of here, while
trading between Acapulco and Manila.
q f0 40 fctc in
the Kona district, where the British
navigator was killed and where the ma
tives are more nearly in their primitive
state than elsewhere, it discards the
cannibal theory by means Of simple
explanation.
According to the account, "after the
death of Capt. Cocx, who, during most
of his intercourse with the natives, had
been regarded by them as god, it was
decided by the natives to make an offer
ing of his body to the gods. The WIS.,
cera were taken out and placed in a
calabash to be offered to one Of the
powerful gods of the sea Of the Hawaii
an theogony, the viscera being consid-
cred a higher and better offering than
any other part of the body. The re-
mainder Of the body was to be offered
to less powerful god. While the Wis.,
cera were in the calabash it was found
by some children, who mistaking 1t
for the viscera Of a pig, which was con-
sidered great delicacy, built a fire,
cooked and ate 1t or part Of it. The re-
mainder of the body, as all accounts
substantially agree, was afterward re-
turned to Cooks successor in command
Of the vessel
A bit Of circumstantial evidence lies
in the fact that, many years ago, ma
tive lived in Hawaii who was practi-
cally an outcast among his people be-
cause he was believed to have once
eaten human flesh.
A name indicative Of horror and con-
tempt was coined for him.
AS to the theory that 100000 people
lived here in Cooks time it was disput-
ed about forty years ago by James
jackson Jarves and has never appealed
strongly to other investigators. The
100000 estimate was Cooks own, and
he based it on the vast crowds he met
at every landing place and upon the
number of natives he saw along shore.
He did not know that Hawaiians good
walkers and runners ALL followed his
ship from point to point and that he
was seeing thousands over and over
again. Furthermore, there was not
food enough in this group for 100000,
nor was the social system Of the people
calculated to stimulate the growth Of
population. Between the wars and the
sacrifice of the young and the OCCASION
al lean years, it is doubtful If the abor~
igines, when at their numerical zenith.
mad among them more than 10000
souls.