When Captain Cook was killed, the man who precipitated the attack was wearing his war mat, and, on threatening Captain Cook with a dagger in one hand and a stone in the other, the captain was obliged to fire at him in self-defence. Not wishing to kill, but only to wound and terrify his adversary, he fired a charge of shot, which was resisted by the war mat, so that the man escaped unhurt, his impunity encouraging the natives to proceed with their attack. Had Captain Cook fired the other barrel, which was loaded with ball, against which the war mat would have been no protection, it is probable that the natives would have been deterred from their attack, and that Captain Cook might have lived to complete the voyage of discovery.
One of the most curious examples of defensive armor is a breastplate made entirely of teeth, so arranged that they overlap each other just like the plates of scale armor. One of these curious breastplates is in the United Service Museum. Teeth hung in a similar fashion are employed as castanets, and are hung to the legs of dancers.
Warfare as originally practised by the Sandwich Islanders was scarcely deserving of the name, being little more than a series of desultory skirmishes. They usually began by practising in earnest the skill in avoiding spears which has already been mentioned as exhibited in sport. When the opposing parties met, one of the chiefs, clad in his feather helmet and cloak, advanced in front of his own men, totally unarmed, having nothing in his hand but a fan, and challenging the enemy to throw their spears at him. This they did, and by means of wonderful agility in leaping, stooping, and twisting his body, when the weapons could not be struck aside by the fan or caught in the left hand, he often contrived to escape with his life.
Though it was a piece of military etiquette that he should take no weapon into the field, he was at liberty to hurl back at his adversaries any of the spears which he could catch. Should one of the enemy’s spears bring him to the ground, or should he be successful in killing an adversary, there was an immediate struggle for the possession of the dead body, which is looked upon much as is a flag among ourselves, to be defended or captured at all risks, even of life.
This statement naturally brings us to the disposal of the bodies of the slain, and to the practice of cannibalism. That the latter practice existed to a certain degree cannot be denied, but it is equally certain that the practice was always exceptional, and that it was followed rather as a portion of military etiquette than as a means of indulging the appetite. As may be imagined, the higher the rank of a slain man the greater the desire to eat a portion, however small of his flesh; and this theory will account for the fact that the remains of Captain Cook which were rescued from the natives bore evident marks of fire.
It has often happened that cannibalism has been thought to exist on the strength of native evidence, which has afterward been found to have been misunderstood. A remarkable instance of such an error occurs in the account of Captain Cook’s voyages. In vol. ii. p. 209, there is an account of a native who was observed to carry with him a very small parcel carefully tied up with string. After resisting many solicitations, he allowed it to be opened, when there appeared a small piece of flesh about two inches long, “which to all appearance had been dried, but was now wet with salt water.” On being further pressed on the subject, the man admitted that it was human flesh, and, pointing to his own stomach, indicated the portion of the body from which it had been cut.
Nothing could be clearer than this account, but in vol. iii. p. 133, the whole of this evidence is shown to be utterly untrustworthy. It seems that almost every Sandwich Islander was in the habit of carrying about with him a small piece of hog’s flesh very highly salted, which he was accustomed to nibble occasionally as a delicacy, or by way of sauce when eating vegetable food. By pointing to his stomach the man merely used the conventional sign expressing the excellence of the food; and as to his statement that the flesh was that of a human being, he was so eagerly and closely questioned that, being a mere lad of sixteen or seventeen, he gave an affirmative answer to leading questions. As far as we can see, the Polynesian race is not given to cannibalism, while the Papuans are devoted to it.
We now come to the various games with which the Sandwich Islanders amuse themselves. Chief among them is the sport of surf-swimming. This is practised in several of the islands of Polynesia, but in none is it carried out to such perfection as in the Sandwich group. The following spirited account of this sport is given in Captain Cook’s Voyages:—
“Swimming is not only a necessary art, in which both the men and women are more expert than any people we had hitherto seen, but a favorite diversion amongst them. One particular mode in which they sometimes amused themselves with this exercise in Karakakooa Bay, appeared to us most perilous and extraordinary, and well deserving a distinct relation.
“The surf, which breaks on the coast round the bay, extends to the distance of about one hundred and fifty yards from the shore, within which space the surges of the sea, accumulating from the shallowness of the water, are dashed against the beach with prodigious violence. Whenever from stormy weather, or any extraordinary swell at sea, the impetuosity of the surf is increased to its utmost height, they choose that time for this amusement, which is performed in the following manner:—