From Tongataboo the expedition sailed to Tahiti, where they arrived on the 14th of August. Here Ledyard employed his leisure, which appears to have been considerable, in studying the character and manners of the inhabitants; and upon these points his opinions generally agree with the received notions respecting those people. In sailing northward from this group they discovered the Sandwich Islands, where they remained ten days; and then, steering still towards the north, arrived without accident in Nootka Sound, where they cast anchor in nearly five hundred fathoms of water. Ledyard was now on his native continent, and, though more than three thousand miles from the place of his birth, experienced on landing something like a feeling of home. The inhabitants he found to be of the same race with those on the shores of the Atlantic. In stature they are above the middle size, athletic in their make, and of a copper colour. Their long black hair they wear tied up in a roll on the top of the head, and, by way of ornament, smear it over with oil and paint, in which they stick a quantity of the down of birds. They paint their faces red, blue, and white, but refused to reveal the nature of their cosmetics, or the country whence they obtained them. Their clothing principally consists of skins, besides which, however, they have two other kinds of garments, of which one is manufactured from the inner bark of trees, and resembles our coarser cloths; the other made chiefly from the hair of white dogs, and wrought over with designs representing their mode of catching the whale, which our traveller considered the most ingenious piece of workmanship he anywhere saw executed by a savage. All their garments, like those of the Hindoos, are worn like mantles, and are invariably fringed, or ornamented in some fashion or another at the edges. This species of border ornament, denominated wampum on the opposite side of the continent, was found, not only all along this coast, but also on the eastern shores of Asia. On the feet they wear no covering; and if they occasionally cover their heads, it is with a species of basket resembling that which is sometimes worn by the Chinese and Tartars. In character they were cunning, bold, ferocious, and, like the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands, addicted to cannibalism.
From thence they sailed along the coast of America to Behring’s Straits, in passing through which they observed that both continents were visible at the same time. The expedition having in vain traversed the polar seas in search of a north-west passage, returned towards the south. Before issuing through the belt of the Aleeootskian Islands into the Pacific, Captain Cook remained some days at Onalaska, where Ledyard was engaged in an adventure highly characteristic of his intrepid and chivalrous disposition. Even on their first landing, many peculiarities in the appearance and costume, no less than in the moveable possessions of the people, strongly excited their curiosity; for it was at once perceived that there existed two races of men upon the island, of which one might be supposed to be aboriginal, while the other might be presumed to be adscititious; an offshoot, in all probability, from the great Asiatic stock. They were in possession of tobacco, and in many instances wore blue linen shirts and drawers. The circumstance, however, which excited most surprise was the appearance of a young chief, bearing with him a cake of rye-meal newly baked, and containing a piece of salmon seasoned with pepper and salt, as a present to Captain Cook. He informed them, by signs, that there were white strangers in the country, who had come, like them, over the great waters in a large ship.
This information excited in Cook a desire to explore the island. It was difficult, however, to determine in what manner the object was to be effected. An armed body would proceed slowly, and might, perhaps, be cut off,—an irreparable loss to the expedition. The risk of a single individual would be imminent, but his movements would be more rapid; and if he should fall, the loss to the public would not be great. Yet, as the commander did not think himself justified in ordering any person to undertake so perilous an enterprise, a volunteer was sought for; and Ledyard presented himself. The great navigator was highly pleased with this example of intrepidity, for the brave always sympathize with the brave; and after giving the traveller instructions how to proceed, “he wished me well,” says Ledyard, “and desired I would not be longer absent than a week, if possible; at the expiration of which he should expect me to return. If I did not return by that time, he should wait another week for me, and no longer.”
The young chief who brought Cook the rye-cake and the salmon, with two persons who attended him, were to serve as guides on the occasion. Being furnished with a small quantity of bread and some brandy in bottles, intended for presents to the Indians, our traveller departed with his Indian guides, and during the first day advanced about fifteen miles into the interior. About nightfall they arrived at a small village consisting of about thirty huts, some of which were large and spacious, though not very lofty. These huts were composed of a slight frame erected over a square hole sunk about four feet into the ground. Below the frame was covered with turf, which served as a wall, and above it was thatched with grass. Though the whole village, men, women, and children, crowded to see him, it was not with the intense curiosity which their behaviour would have exhibited had they never before beheld a white man. Here they passed the night.
Their course had hitherto lain towards the north, but they next morning turned round towards the south-west. About three hours before night they reached the edge of a large bay, where the chief entered into a canoe, with all their baggage, and intimating to Ledyard that he was to follow his other companions, left him abruptly, and paddled across the bay. Although rendered somewhat uneasy at this movement, he proceeded along the shore with his guides, and in about two hours observed a canoe making towards them across the bay. Upon this they ran down to the water’s edge, and, by shouting and waving bushes to and fro in the air, attracted the attention of the savages in the canoe. “It was beginning to be dark,” says he, “when the canoe came to us. It was a skin canoe, after the Esquimaux plan, with two holes to accommodate two sitters. The Indians that came in the canoe talked a little with my two guides, and then came to me, and desired I would get into the canoe. This I did not very readily agree to, however, as there was no place for me but to be thrust into the space between the holes, extended at length upon my back, and wholly excluded from seeing the way I went, or the power of extricating myself upon an emergency. But as there was no alternative, I submitted thus to be stowed away in bulk, and went head foremost very swift through the water about an hour, when I felt the canoe strike a beach, and afterward lifted up and carried some distance, and then set down again; after which I was drawn out by the shoulders by three or four men; for it was now so dark that I could not tell who they were, though I was conscious I heard a language that was new. I was conducted by two of these persons, who appeared to be strangers, about forty rods, when I saw lights and a number of huts like those I left in the morning. As we approached one of them, a door opened and discovered a lamp, by which, to my great joy, I discovered that the two men who held me by each arm were Europeans, fair and comely, and concluded from their appearance they were Russians, which I soon after found to be true.”
By these Russians, who had established themselves in Onalaska for the purpose of collecting furs for the markets of Moscow and Petersburg, Ledyard was received and entertained in a most hospitable manner; and when he returned to the ships was accompanied by three of the principal persons among them, and several inferior attendants. “The satisfaction this discovery gave Cook,” says he, “and the honour that redounded to me, may be easily imagined; and the several conjectures respecting the appearance of a foreign intercourse were rectified and confirmed.”
From Onalaska the expedition sailed southward for the Sandwich Islands, and in two months arrived at Hawaii. On entering a commodious bay discovered on the southern coast of the island, they observed on each hand a town of considerable size, from which crowds of people, to whom the appearance offered by the ships was totally new, crowded down to the beach to receive the strangers. Their number was prodigious. No less than three thousand canoes, containing at least fifteen thousand men, women, and children, were crowded in the bay; and, besides these, numbers sustained themselves on floats, or swam about in the water. “The beach, the surrounding rocks, the tops of houses, the branches of trees, and the adjacent hills were all covered; and the shouts of joy and admiration proceeding from the sonorous voices of the men, confused with the shriller exclamations of the women, dancing and clapping their hands, the oversetting of canoes, cries of the children, goods afloat, and hogs that were brought to market squeaking, formed one of the most curious prospects that can be imagined.” Yet, amid all this vast multitude, no signs of hostility, no disposition to insult or annoy the strangers appeared. Both parties were very far at that moment from anticipating that tragical event which shortly afterward died their shores with blood, and rendered the name of Hawaii memorable in the history of discovery.
However, for the first few days extraordinary harmony prevailed. Visits were made and returned; fireworks were exhibited by the English; wrestling, boxing, and various other kinds of athletic exercises by the savages. During this continuance of good-humour Ledyard obtained permission to make a tour in the interior of the island, for the purpose of examining the nature of the country, and of ascending, if possible, the peak of Mouna Roa, which, though situated in an island not exceeding ninety miles in diameter, is regarded as one of the loftiest in the world. He was accompanied by the botanist and gunner of the Resolution, and by a number of natives, some as guides, others to carry the baggage. Admonished by the snows which glittered in dazzling pinnacles on the summit of Mouna Roa, they provided themselves with additional clothing to guard against the effects of a sudden transition from the heat of a tropical sun to intense cold. Their road during the first part of the journey lay through enclosed plantations of sweet potatoes, with a soil of lava, tilled in some places with difficulty. Here and there, in moist situations, were small patches of sugar-cane; and these, as they proceeded, were followed by open plantations of bread-fruit trees. The land now began to ascend abruptly, and was thickly covered with wild fern. About sunset they arrived on the skirts of the woods, which stretched round the mountain like a belt, at the uniform distance of four or five miles from the shore. Here they found an uninhabited hut, in which they passed the night.
Next morning, on entering the forests, they found there had been heavy rain during the night, though none of it had reached them at the distance of about two hundred yards. They traversed the woods by a compass, keeping in a direct line for the peak; and, finding a beaten track nearly in their course, were enabled on the second day to advance about fifteen miles. At night they rested under the shelter of a fallen tree, and early next morning recommenced their journey. It was soon discovered, however, that the difficulties they had hitherto encountered were ease itself compared with those against which they were now to contend. To persons unaccustomed as they were to walk, a journey of so great a length would, under any circumstances, have been a grievous task. But they were impeded in their movements by heavy burdens; their path was steep, broken, and rugged; and the farther they proceeded the more dense and impenetrable did the thickets become. At length, it became evident that the enterprise must be abandoned; and with those unpleasant feelings which accompany baffled ambition, they returned by the way they had gone to the ships.
In less than a fortnight after their arrival at Hawaii, the discoverers, by their impolitic, or rather insolent behaviour, had contrived to irritate the savage natives almost to desperation. They saw themselves and, what perhaps was more galling, their gods treated with silent contempt or open scorn; while their wives and daughters were contaminated by the brutal lusts of the sailors. How far these circumstances were within the control of Captain Cook, or, in other words, to what degree of blame he is liable for what took place, it is not our present business to inquire. But assuredly, unless we choose wholly to reject the testimony of Ledyard, our great navigator seems, during the last few days of his life, to have been urged by a kind of fatality into the commission of actions highly despotic and unjustifiable in themselves, and, under the circumstances in which they were performed, little short of insane. The mere idea of converting the fence and idols of the morai—objects sacred to them, however contemptible in our eyes—into firewood, argues a reprehensible disregard of the feelings of the natives. His offer of two hatchets to the priest in payment reminds one of Captain Clapperton’s promise of a couple of guns, a few flasks of powder, and some rockets to Sultan Bello, as the price of his putting down the slave trade. But when the priest refused the proffered payment, not so much on account of its preposterous inadequacy,—of which, however, savage as he was, he must have been fully sensible,—because in his eyes no price was an equivalent for articles to destroy which would be sacrilege, to proceed with a strong hand in the work of destruction, profaning the spot which contained the ashes of their ancestors, and throwing down and bearing away the images of their gods;—this was an outrage which the tamest and most enslaved race would have found it difficult to endure.