Historical Collections of The Hawaiian Islands -  Part 3 - The Ancients

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Historical Collections of Hawaii
Keepers of the Culture
Influence of Foreigners on the Ancients
Part 3. The Ancients
The Coming of Foreigners to Hawaii

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Part 3.

The appearance of Capt. James Cook's ships of his squadron, the
Resolution and the Discovery, just anchored off the village of Waimea,
was the like of which the Hawaiians of that day had never seen before.
It was a source of amazement and intense excitment among the natives. On
both sides the first approaches were made in a friendly if somewhat
cautious manner. As the ships coasted slowly along the southeastern and
southern shore of Kauai, a few canoes came out; it was noticed that they
had stones in the bottom, but the stones were thrown overboard, when no
need of them appeared. The occupants of the canoes had a few fish and
for these a ready sale was found. From this reconnaissance the Hawaiians
learned that the strangers had iron in abundance which they were willing
to give in exchange for foodstuffs, The natives had only a few small
bits of iron and were eager to get more of that precious metal; they
fairly loaded the ships with hogs, taro, potatoes, and other products of
the soil. Capt Clerke of the Discovery claimed that it was the cheaest
market he had ever saw, and that for a moderate sized nail they supplied
his ships Company very plentifully with excellent Pork for the day, and
as to the potatoes and tarrow, they attained upon still easier terms,
such is these peoples avidity for iron. Intrinsically the traffic was
ludicrously unequal, but no doubt the Hawaiians received an exchange for
their produce, that which appeared to them, at the time, to be
equivalent. There was some limit, however, to what the natives would
give in exchange for a nail. Lt. King noted in his log, that at one
time," they had brought down some very large hogs, but we had no iron
large enough to puchase them."

Captain Cook took advantage of the opportune discovery of these islands
and named them " The Sandwich Islands." which was in honor of the Earl
of Sandwich, the first lord of the admiralty. and continued to replenish
his supply of water and to obtain fresh meat and vegetables. Water casks
were sent on shore and a brisk trade for provisions was soon in
progress. The watering and trading parties were always accompanied by
armed guards in order to prevent any difficulty with the natives. "
During the first day, nine tons of water were gotten on board the
Resolution alone and by the exchanges, chiefly for nails and pieces of
iron, about sixty or eighty pigs. a few fowls, a quantity of potatoes, a
few plantains, and tarra roots. No people
[ writes Capt. Cook in his log ] could trade
with more honesty than these people, never once attempting to cheat us,
either ashore or alongside the ships. Some indeed at first betrayed a
thievish disposition, or rather, they thought they had the right to
anything they could lay their hands upon, but this conduct they soon
laid aside. " 

The Hawaiians were made acquainted very early with the terrifying power
of firearms carried by the foreigners. Before
the ships anchored, a party was sent toward land in small boats to
discover a suitable landing and watering place. The leading boat, as
soon as it touched land, was closely surrounded by a crowd of eager
natives seeking to pull it to shore. One of the natives made a
determined effort to get possession of the boat hook and was shot and
killed by the officer in command, Lieutenant Williamson. The lieutenant
afterwards said he had no idea that the natives intended him or his
party any injury, but " it was their great desire for the new things
they saw, which brought on them so unfortunate a business. Just prior to
this a native had made off with a butcher's cleaver while aboard the
Resolution."

When the two vessels were anchored off Waimea, Capt. Cook was ashore
three times. Wherever he went, the common people threw themselves prone
on the ground before him, just as they did before their own kapu chiefs.
From the first it was clear that the Hawaiians looked upon the principal
officers of the foreign ships as chiefs of the highest rank or as gods.

The two vessels remained only a few days at Kauai. Capt. Cook on the
Resolution, saw no chiefs of high rank, but after his departure Capt.
Clerke, on the Discovery, was visited by a handsome young couple, whom
he understood to be the King and Queen of the island. Of the chief,
Clerke writes. " I never in my life saw a person paid such abject homage
to; most of the Indians that were in the vessel, jumped overboard
....... the rest prostrated themselves before him, as soon as he got on
board ..... There were at least half a score principal people about him,
who took as much care in getting him in and out of the Canoe, as tho a
drop of Salt Water wou'd have destroyed him."

His attendants would not allow him to go farther than the gangway of the
ship. Capt. Clerke exchanged gifts with the two young chiefs.

From Kauai the ships sailed to Niihau where they obtained a large
quantity of very fine yams and salt. A party sent ashore to trade with
the natives was compelled, by the high surf, to remain on the island for
two days and two nights. At Niihau, Cook left a ram goat and two ewes, a
boar and a sow pig of English breed, and seeds of melons, pumpkins, and
onions.

From the first Capt. Cook gave orders intended to prevent the
introduction of the venereal disease among the natives of these newly
discovered lands. The precaution were almost impossible to enforce, and
Cook feared also that the inopportune detention of the trading party on
shore at Niihau would defeat his purpose to shield the Hawaiians from
that scorge. Since this question is one which has become inseparably
connected with the history of the discovery, it may as well
be started here as elsewhere that the original journels covering the two
visits of the expedition contain indubitable proof that Capt. Cook's
efforts were defeated and leave no doubt that the dreadful disease was
propagated among the native people by sailors of the exploring squadron.
It is no doubt other scourges of disease were put forth to this
unknowing people that were not known before.

After two weeks at the islands, the two ships sailed away to the north,
leaving Hawaiians to discuss among themselves tha astonishing happenings
of this fortnight and to ponder the question as to the identity of their
recent visitors. The news and the discussion spread quickly to the
windward islands and when, eight months later, the ships appeared again,
this time of the coasts of Maui and Hawaii, Capt. Cook was greeted as
the god Lono. Whether the conception of Cook as Lono occurred to the
Hawaiians at his first appearance or in the interval between the first
and second visits, it was a logical idea, for he came each time during
the makahiki season, and Lono, as we have seen, was the makahiki god.
There was among the Hawiians a tradition about Lono having gone away to
Kahiki, and it was now supposed that he had returned. The sails of the
foreign ships resembled the kapa banner attached to the image of Lono;
and the way in which Cook's squadron sailed leisurely along the coasts
of the various islands was more than a little suggestive of the progress
of the god around the island during the makahiki festival.

Late in the fall of 1778, Cook's squadron
returned south with the purpose of spending the winter at the Sandwich
Islands and making a fuller examination of the group. On the morning of
November 26, the ships came in sight of the north coast of Maui and
later in th day had a distant view of Molokai. The natives of these
islands gave evidence that they knew of the previous visit of the
exploring squadron to Kauai and Niihau. In the afternoon of November 27,
Kahekili, king of Maui visited the Discovery and gave Capt. Clerke a red
feather cloak. A few days later, when the ships were off the east end of
Maui, Kalaniopuu, king of the island of Hawaii, who was at war with
Kahekili, boarded the Resolution with a retinue of chiefs and remained
for two hours; six or eight of those who came with him spent the night
on the ship, one of them being the chief Kamehameha. No landing was made
on Maui, but a traffic for provisions was carried on alongside the
ships. From this time until the early part of January, the explorers
made their way slowly past the end of Maui and around the east side of
Hawaii, going in toward land only when they needed supplies. Cook was
well pleased with the conduct of the natives and in his journal pays
tribute to their trustfullness, honesty, and business sense. Having
rounded the southern point of the island, the Resolution and Discovery
on January 17,1779, came to anchor in Kealakekua Bay in the Kona
district of Hawaii. While coming into the bay and after anchoring, the
ships were surrounded by an immense throng of people who manifested
their joy and interest by singing, shouting, and gesticulating.
Lieutenant King estimated there were not less than ten thousand, most of
them afloat in canoes, on surf boards, or swimming in the water. Many of
them crowded into the ships, and it is not surprising that among so many
under such novel circumstances, a few exhibited
what the foreigners called a thievish dispostion.

In this bay Capt. Cook intended to remain long enough to put the ships
in a fit state for another cruise to the Arctic, and in the meantime to
refresh the ships' companies, take in water and such provisions as could
be obtained, make astronomical observations, and gain some additional
information about the islands and their inhabitants. All of these
objects were accomplished in the course of two weeks and a half, and
with remarkably little friction, considering the wide differences in
culture and habits between the native people and their foreign guests.

To the Hawaiians, Capt. Cook was the god Lono. As soon as he went
ashore, accompanied by some of his officers, he was taken in hand by the
priests and made the central figure of an elaborate ceremony in the
heiau of Hakiau, by which the priests meant to acknowledge him as the
incarnation of Lono; up to the last day of his life he was treated by
the natives with respect amounting to adoration. Whether Cook realized
the religious significance of all this is uncertain.

When the foreign ships anchored in the bay, the old king, Kalaniopuu,
was still on the neighboring island of Maui, but he returned from there
January 25 and immediately made an informal visit to the ships. On the
following day he paid a ceremonious visit to Capt. Cook, exchanged names
with him, and presented to him several feather cloaks and a quantity of
hogs, sugar cane, coconuts, and breadfruit. Cook in return gave
Kalaniopuu a linen shirt and a sword; later on, Cook gave other presents
to Kalaniopuu, among which one of the journels mentions a " complete
tool chest." The King likewise exchanged gifts with Capt. Clerke of the
Discovery; and just before the ships made their first departure from
Kealakekua, Capt. Cook received from the king a large and valuable
present consisting of pieces of kapa. feathers, hogs, and vegetables.
Throughout their stay the ships were plentifully supplied with fresh
provisions which were paid for mainly with iron, much of it in the form
of long iron daggers made by the ships' blacksiths on the pattern of the
wooden pahoa used by the Hawaiians. [ These iron daggers which were
about two feet long were much in demand. Capt Cook and Capt Clerke had
these dangerous weapons made at the request of the chiefs and gave them
on various occasions. When the ships were returning to Kealakekua Bay
after the storm damaged the Resolutions foremast, Kamehameha went on
board the Discovery and offered to sell the red feather cloak he was
wearing. but he insisted on being paid with iron daggers; he obtained
seven to nine daggers for the cloak.] The natives were permitted to
watch the ships' blacksmiths at work and from their observations gained
information of practical value about the working of iron. [ The forge
was set up on deck where they could see the whole process of working the
rough iron into the different forms that were wanted. One man was found
the next day on the shore heating his piece of iron in a large fire,
while two large stones served him as an anvil and hammer which he was
attempting to fashion it.]

Various entertainments were provided the foreigners. Among them being an
exhibition of wrestling and boxing by the Hawaiians and a display of
fireworks by the foreigners. Several parties from the ships made
excursions into the interior -- up through the cultivated areas and into
the forest where they saw partially finished canoes, brilliant hued
birds, and huts of the canoe builders and bird catchers-- and everywhere
received the most hospitable treatment from the people whom they met.

On the morning of February 4, the Resolution and Discovery sailed out of
the bay and headed north along the Kona coast. During their sojourn in
the harbor there had been some unpeasant incidents, provoked as much, at
least, by the foreigners as by the natives, but the good sense and good
will of those in authority on both sides had prevented any serious
trouble, and when the farewells were spoken the foreigners certainly had
little reason for any other than pleasurable and friendly recollections
of the days spent at Kealakekua. Then, however, came a series of events
which illustrate how easily small circumstances can change the current
of human history. A winter storm lashed the sea into a furry and a few
days later a tempest of human passion swept over the bay-- and when the
foreigners finally quitted the Kona coast, it was with sadly altered
feelings.

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Con't in part 4.